NEW HIRES

• Kristopher Dahir is the new executive director for the Columbia Basin Veterans Center in Pasco. He relocated to the Tri-Cities from Sparks, Nevada, where he served on the city council. He also served as the board chair and founding president of the Nevada Veterans Memorial, a statewide Gold Star memorial honoring fallen service members. For over five years, he was a chaplain at the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home, offering spiritual care and support to residents and their families. He also was selected as Veteran Supporter of the Month by Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and the Nevada Department of Veterans Services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in Christian counseling from Liberty University, a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Regent University, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education in organizational leadership. Dahir has served as a pastor at churches in Las Vegas and Reno, traveled to more than 40 countries teaching leadership principles, and supported private Christian education for more than two decades. He also served as a professor for eight years at Multnomah University, where he taught courses in principled leadership.

• Dr. Amber Charoen, a board-certified specialist in gastroenterology, has joined Prosser Memorial Health’s Digestive Health Center team. She completed medical school at Rangsit University in Thailand with first class honors and was named valedictorian of her class. In recognition of her achievements and peer nominations, Dr. Charoen was recognized as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor in 2025 (Top 7% of U.S. physicians), following her Rising Star honor in 2024.

• Tammi Oldham is the new engineering projects manager at Energy Northwest. She joined the agency in 2012 and has more than two decades of experience in the nuclear energy sector. She holds a Master of Science in accounting from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University and a bachelor’s in business administration from Washington State University.

• Daneli Atilano is the new editor of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Confederated Umatilla Journal. She attended Eastern Oregon University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in business administration. As editor, Atilano will oversee operations of the monthly newspaper as well as its daily website and social media, writing and editing local, community-focused news stories, designing and laying out the newspaper, selling advertisements to generate revenue and establishing and maintaining subscriptions.

• Alexa Kestler is the new client service specialist at Petersen Hastings Wealth Advisors in Kennewick. She was born and raised in Hermiston, Oregon and brings administrative and customer service experience to the team.

• Dr. Guadalupe G. Gomez is a new eye doctor at Center Vision Clinic in Kennewick. Gomez is a residency-trained optometrist and proud Washington native, born in Toppenish and raised in Mabton. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature from the University of Washington, she worked for several years as an ophthalmic technician in Kennewick. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Washington State University Tri-Cities and later completed her Doctor of Optometry degree at Pacific University College of Optometry. She further advanced her clinical training through a residency in ocular disease and refractive and ocular surgery at Chu Vision Institute in Bloomington, Minnesota.

• Nikki Mahaffey-Berglund is the new outreach coordinator for At Home Staffing in Richland. She has a background rooted in volunteerism, communications and local networking. 

• Dr. Mantinderpreet Singh is a new board-certified neurologist at Good Shepherd Health in Hermiston. Neurology is a new line of service at Good Shepherd Health. Singh completed his neurology residency at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis in June 2018, following his internship at the same institution in June 2015. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from Dayanand Medical College in Ludhiana, Punjab, in June 2013.

• Rene Apodaca joined Edward Jones as a financial advisor in Richland. She previously worked as a financial advisor for TruStage, which had a partnership with HAPO Community Credit Union. She brings more than 25 years of industry experience. She focuses on helping clients achieve their long-term financial goals and wealth planning.

BOARDS

• Cara Hernandez, the director of community care at Tri-Cities Chaplaincy, has been elected as the Eastern Washington regional representative for the National Association of Social Workers Washington Chapter.

• Edison Valerio is the new board president of The Children’s Reading Foundation of the Mid-Columbia. He brings over 18 years of leadership experience in banking, finance and small business development. He is the owner of State Farm, Edison Valerio Insurance Agency Inc. in Pasco and an active civic leader currently serving on the Pasco Chamber of Commerce Board and as Chairman of the Latin Business Association Foundation.

• Fred Brink of West Richland has been elected president of the Association of Washington Cities. The election was conducted by city leaders from across Washington state during AWC’s annual conference in Kennewick, held from June 24-27. Brink will lead the AWC Board of Directors, the association’s governing body. The board is comprised of 25 directors, 23 of whom are mayors or city councilmembers from Washington cities or towns, and two non-elected city officials representing the Washington City/County Management Association.

GRANTS

• Dušan Veličković, mass spectrometry imaging scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, recently received a $2.1 million grant to develop techniques to understand how changes in carbohydrate structure affect human health. Through the five-year National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, Veličković plans to establish a high-throughput capability for precise carbohydrate imaging that could lead to the design of more effective drugs for the treatment of diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. The MIRA grant is awarded to early career investigators whose work supports NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

• The City of Richland Fire & Emergency Services received a $15,900 grant from the Wildhorse Foundation to buy a hydraulic rescue device to remove victims stuck in vehicles after a crash.

SCHOLARSHIP

• The 2025 Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE) has been awarded to 145 high school seniors and community and technical college students. This scholarship, managed by the Washington Workforce Board, honors Washington’s top career and technical education students. The award helps students afford their next education and training goals at Washington schools, colleges and universities. Six of these winners are from Mid-Columbia schools: Kaitlyn Baune, Columbia Basin College in Pasco, radiologic technology; Leiloni Bustos, Endeavor High School in Kennewick, health sciences; Anja Powers, Richland High School, family and consumer sciences; Julia Allen, Walla Walla Community College, health information technology; Hardy Shattuck, Connell High School, agriculture education; and Madison Gonzalez, Hanford High School in Richland, health sciences.

RETIREMENT

• Fire Chief Tom Huntington of city of Richland Fire & Emergency Services has announced plans to retire, effective January 2026. Huntington’s three-decade career with the city of Richland began as a firefighter. He spent 15 years in operations before leading the department as chief for nearly 11 years. His successor is Randy Aust, who will become chief on Jan. 1, 2026.

AWARDS & HONORS

• Christina Lomasney of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was selected to lead a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable panel. Lomasney is the chief commercialization officer at PNNL with two decades of experience in technology innovation and commercialization. She moderated the session, “Developing Robust Commercialization Pathways for Emerging Technologies in AI and High-Performance Computing,” bringing together entrepreneurs, innovators from national laboratories and academia and global security experts.

• Jacqueline Brewster, a family and consumer sciences teacher at Pasco School District, has been named the Graduation, Reality and Dual-Role Skills (GRADS) Teacher of the Year by the Washington Association of Family and Consumer Science Educators. The GRADS program recognizes educators who provide exceptional instruction, demonstrating innovation in career and technical education. Brewster teaches a wide range of family and consumer sciences classes at New Horizons High School, including GRADS, prenatal, early childhood education, clothing design, clothing construction, human development and financial algebra. For the 2025-26 school year, she will be teaching at Sageview High School, the district’s newest high school, located at 6091 Burns Road.

• Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco earned a Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) Critical Access Hospital Achievement of Excellence distinction. WSHA honored 20 rural hospitals for outstanding quality improvement efforts with this distinction during the association’s annual Rural Hospital Leadership Conference at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan. To earn recognition, each hospital achieved an average score of at least five out of 10 across eligible measures. Lourdes was one of six silver winners.

• Petersen Hastings Wealth Advisors in Kennewick has been recognized on Financial Advisor Magazine’s Top Registered Investment Advisory Firms list for the seventh consecutive year. Financial Advisor Magazine annually reports a list of the nation’s leading independent financial advisory firms based on their total discretionary and nondiscretionary assets under management, as reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Petersen Hastings is the only firm in eastern Washington to be recognized on the list.

• Two Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers, Niranjan “Niri” Govind and Srinivas Katipamula, were recently named Laboratory Fellows. This title recognizes individuals with a sustained record of excellence, innovation and leadership in research and a strong commitment to institutional service, enhancing the culture and elevating the external visibility of PNNL. Govind has spent 18 years at PNNL, becoming a leader in theoretical X-ray spectroscopies and ultrafast dynamics. Katipamula’s career has spanned 30 years and centers on improving the operating efficiency of commercial buildings, with a focus on how to maximize the benefit to the building owner and occupants.

• Two Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers, Paul Humble and Huidong Li, were recently named as Distinguished Inventors of Battelle. The recognition places Li and Humble among a select group of inventors across Battelle-managed national laboratories whose innovations have made significant impacts in materials science, energy, national security, health and data analytics. Li is a materials scientist on the Environmental Sensors team in the Energy and Environmental Directorate’s Earth Systems Predictability and Resiliency group. Humble is a chemical engineer in the Energy and Environmental Directorate’s Advanced Energy Systems group.

• Alex Beliaev, a biologist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), was selected as a fellow of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. The nomination highlighted Beliaev’s leadership and dedication to advancing industrial microbiology, particularly his research focused on understanding microbial processes and integrating cutting-edge technologies into systems biology methodologies for field applications. He currently leads genomics-enabled research on microbial energy-producing systems and uses systems-level information to develop modeling approaches for engineering platforms that produce next-generation biofuels and bioproducts.

• Pasco’s Keystone Club, a teen leadership program from Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, was recently named National Keystone Club of the Year at the 58th annual National Keystone Conference in Chicago. Made up of high school teens, Keystone Club programs across the country provide teens with leadership development opportunities in areas such as academic success, career preparation and community service. The Pasco club was specifically recognized for implementing a bullying awareness program, organizing community service projects, creating a homework cafe and more.

• Roger S. McDowell from the Eastern Washington General Office of New York Life has been listed on the 2024 Forbes Top Financial Security Professionals Best-In-State list. The individuals’ named to this list of distinguished professionals were chosen based on many criteria considered by an independent research firm. McDowell has been a New York Life Agent for 30 years and has several degrees from The American College of Financial Services.

• Dr. Saira Tandon of Kadlec Clinic Associated Physicians for Women in Richland received a Partners in Health Award from the University of Washington School of Medicine-Gonzaga University Health Partnership for exceptional commitment to improving the health of her communities.

• Scott Harper, a scientist at Washington State University and director of the Clean Plant Center Northwest, received the Excellence in Regulatory Affairs and Crop Security Award from the American Phytopathological Society in August. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to regulatory plant pathology, crop security and trade enhancement efforts. Harper is originally from New Zealand, where he earned his doctorate. He later moved to the University of Florida, where he worked on citrus diseases for six years. Harper came to WSU in 2017 to run the Clean Plant Center Northwest, which is based at the WSU Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser. He plans to step down from his director’s role later this year so he can focus more on his research program.

• James Nagle, the former Walla Walla County prosecuting attorney, was recognized as a local hero by the Washington State Bar Association. The Local Hero accolade is presented to legal professionals who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication and service to their communities and the legal profession. The bar association President Sunitha Anjilvel presented the award at the July 17 meeting of WSBA Board of Governors in Walla Walla. Throughout his career, including 33 years as Walla Walla County prosecutor, Nagle advocated for justice, served as mentor to young attorneys and became a respected leader within the legal community, the association noted.

• Nayeli Aranda Hernandez, a migrant program graduation specialist at Pasco School District, was named the 2024-25 Washington State Migrant Graduation Specialist of the Year by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. She was selected for her outstanding commitment, innovative practices and tireless advocacy on behalf of migrant students, empowering them to succeed academically and pursue their goals. Hernandez was named a 2025 winner of the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business’ Young Professionals Award.

• Laura Jones, the career and technical education (CTE) director at Pasco School District, was named the 2025 Washington ACTE Administrator of the year by the Washington Association for Career and Technical Education. This statewide award recognizes administrative leadership in advancing technical education programs. Jones began her CTE career in 1996 as a marketing teacher and DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) advisor at Pasco High School, bringing with her real-world industry experience and a passion for preparing students for their futures.

• Jim Millbauer, a Kennewick City Council member, earned the Certificate of Municipal Leadership from the Association of Washington Cities. The program recognizes city and town elected officials for accomplishing training in legal, budget, land use, community and leadership. Millbauer completed more than 30 hours of training to earn the distinction.