SVC business students reap awards

Thirteen students from the Skagit Valley College business management program recently competed in the Delta Epsilon Chi Career Development Conference in Bellevue. The entire team qualified for the international competition in Salt Lake City.

Some of the awards the students brought home:

The Evergreen, a scrapbook of the year in review - First place: Cynthia Tyler, BMT historian.

Civic Consciousness award – First place: Skagit Valley College Business Management Organization.

International marketing – First place: Rich Riehl and Natalie Vanderstuyft.

Human resource management – First place: Aquila Firstenburg

Third place: Kraig Rosencrantz

Advertising campaign – Third place: Cory Miracle, Shari Whealy, and Shoko Saji.

Travel and tourism – First place: Jennifer Korn-Leech.

Restaurant/food service marketing/management – Third place: Julia Dekiewiet.

Management decision making/merchandising – Finalist: Kelly Jewett.

Retail merchandising – Finalist: Gary Curry.

National Management Institute qualifiers – Cynthia Tyler and Lindsay Richardson.

Advisors for the students are Laura Cailloux, business management instructor and department chair, and Marie Johnson, business management instructor.

 

Burlington man shines

By figuring out a better way to bring out the shine in his car, Tim Thompson, of Burlington, has won recognition from the Invention and New Product Exposition. The exposition was held last month in Pittsburgh, PA. An international jury awarded Thompson a Bronze Medal in the Industrial Equipment category for his Self-Applicating Buffer. The tool eliminates the need to continuously stop and start buffing to apply compound.

 

Honors to Linda Cole

Gallery owner Linda Cole has been named the American Business Association’s Small Business Person of the Year for La Conner. Cole has been in business in La Conner for more than nine years and operates three stores – Class Act, Class Act II and Amenities, her newest store at Morris and Second Streets.

Cole led a successful fundraising effort to bring back the town’s annual July 4th fireworks show. She also serves on the La Conner Chamber of Commerce advertising and beautification committees.

 

Designer has new business

Guy D. Corp, graphic designer, publisher and internet web site developer has started his own business, called grafixCORP. The business will be located in Mount Vernon and will focus on servicing local businesses that have marketing, printing and web development needs.

Corp has worked with local businesses such as the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce, Skagit Transit and Graham Kerr.

Joining Corp in the venture will be his wife, Lisa, also a graphic designer and illustrator.

For more information, call 360-424-5268.

 

GEICO is MADD about Thein

Cathy J. Thein, of La Conner, recently received the GIECO Public Service Award for her work in traffic safety. Thein has served as chair, vice-chair and treasurer of the Skagit County chapter of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

 

Porter heads Tesoro Anacortes

Dan Porter has been appointed to head the Northwest Region of the Tesoro Petroleum Co. He assumed management of operations of Tesoro’s Anacortes Refinery on June 1.

Porter replaced Anacortes refinery manager Wally Groda, who will remain at the Anacortes plant as vice president of Technology and Operations Support.

Before moving to the Anacortes refinery, Porter was president of the company’s Northern Great Plains Region and manager of the Mandan, North Dakota refinery. He has been in the oil refinery business for 24 years.

Before joining Tesoro in 2001, Porter worked for BP Amoco and Standard Oil of Ohio. From 1996 to 1998 Porter was manager of BP Oil Europe Manufacturing, Supply & Distribution Strategy and Planning. He also served at BP’s London office.

He was active in the Bismark, N.D., community, serving on the boar of trustees for the Bismark/Mandan Chamber of Commerce, the MedCenter One board and the board of the Bismark State College Foundation. He was also co-chairman of the Special Gifts Committee for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.

Porter and his wife, Lynda, have two teenage sons.

 

Skagit engineer gets “good practice” award

The Skagit County Board of Commissioners has presented the “Certificate of Good Practice” to Assistant County Engineer Steve Flude. The certificate is awarded by the County Road Administration Board (CRAB) for compliance with provisions of law relating to county road administration and ensures the continued distribution of monthly state gas tax allotment from the Office of the State Treasurer.

Public Works Operations Division Manager Cliff Butler reported to the Commissioners that Skagit County maintains 798 miles of roads and has the lowest maintenance expense per mile of any county in the region. According to a report by the CRAB Board, Skagit County expended $6,354.39 per road mile for maintenance in 2001 compared to $7,226.56 in Island County, $9,821.72 in Whatcom County and $10,749 in Snohomish County.

“This reflects the efficiency and experience of our road crew. They’re doing a great job out there,” said Public Works Director Chal Martin.

Commissioners Don Munks, Ted Anderson and Ken Dahlstedt each congratulated the Public Works staff for their high level of performance.

 

Wick is “distinguished alumnus”

Don Wick, executive director of the Economic Development Association of Skagit County was honored last month as a “distinguished alumnus” of Edmonds Community College.

The honor was given by the Edmonds Community College Foundation, which celebrated its 20th year of existence on June 11. Wick was the first student body president of Edmonds Community College, in 1967.

The non-profit foundation was established in 1982. Since then, it has created awards to recognize outstanding faculty and staff, completed a $1.2 million campaign to renovate the college library and recently completed a $4 million campaign to build the Center for Families, a childcare and parent education facility.

The foundation has provided numerous grants for innovative faculty and staff projects throughout the years and awarded more than a million dollars in scholarships to thousands of students. The foundation will award $105,000 to more than 200 students for the 2002-03 school year.

 

New HR manager at Shell refinery

Gretchen Buchmeyer has joined Shell Puget Sound Refinery as the Human Resources Manager, replacing Paul Hawes. Hawes served the refinery for over two years and has relocated to Shell Oil Products US headquarters in Houston.

Gretchen brings to the refinery broad experience in human resources, most recently serving in the Shell US headquarters in Houston as a Human Resources Advisor. She joined Shell nine years ago after completing a Masters of Business Administration degree at the University of Iowa. Prior to that, she received a degree in Business and Political Science from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

She has experience with Shell in a variety of assignments, most recently in-depth work with corporate policies and benefits programs relating to mergers and acquisitions.

Gretchen is joined in her move to Skagit County by her husband Andrew Buchmeyer, an information technology specialist, and their two children, daughter Abigail, age seven, and son Jackson, age nineteen months. The family makes their home in Mount Vernon.

 

Photographer a finalist in contest

Cathy Stevens, of Peeps Photography of Mount Vernon, was a finalist in the AN-NE awards, a national competition for marketing professional photography. The annual constest is sponsored by the Professional Photographers of America. Her entry in the direct marketing category was a wedding brochure, codesigned by Janeen Penzotti of Penzotti Graphics.

 

Boatman buys full control of business

Brent Boatman has bought out a partner in Boatman’s Coffee and will now be directly involved in the company’s operation. He will be assisted by Leslie Gamble, Chris Reynolds and the rest of the staff.

Boatman announced that the shop at 1633 Riverside Drive, Mount Vernon, will now be open 24 hours a day. Morning commuters can call in their orders in advance (848-1665) to get faster service.

 

Mayer leaves Anacortes Chamber job

Andy Mayer has left his job as executive director of the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce after serving for 7-1/2 years in the post. He is to be replaced by Michael Broome, who operated his own event-planning company in Seattle.

Mayer and his family are moving to the Phoenix area, where he will launch his own insurance agency.

 

Birdsview photographer wins honors

Annette Medford, of Birdsview, has received honors in a Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Awards of Excellence competition.

Medford received two honorable mentions in a high school senior category and an honorable mention in an individual category. She competed against photographers worldwide.

 

Hess earns MA in counseling

Mount Vernon’s Lisa Hess has received a Master of Arts degree in counseling psychology from City University in Bellevue. She completed her course of studies with a grade point average of 3.78, which landed her on the Dean’s List.

Hess is also a 1999 graduate of Western Washington University, with a bachelaureatte in psychology. She is working as an intern at Children and Family Services of Community Mental Health in Mount Vernon.