Portland Pacesetters Briefs: March 5, 2007

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Mar 5, 2007 by DJC Staff

EDUCATION

The George Fox University Master of Business Administration program has hired Jeff VandenHoek to serve as director of the program's executive track. He also will be an assistant professor, teaching and administering the community consulting and service- learning portions of the MBA's executive and professional tracks.

VandenHoek, formerly program director for the university's Tilikum Center for Retreats and Outdoor Ministries, replaces Debora Sepich, who resigned from the position to serve as a business consultant and teach at the university as an assistant professor of management and marketing.

VandenHoek brings extensive teaching, corporate team-building and organizational development consulting experience. He has spent the last year working as an independent consultant for local businesses while also serving as program director at Tilikum, a position he has held since 1998.

VandenHoek has also been an adjunct professor in George Fox's health and human performance department, teaching a one-semester course in experiential learning and leadership development each year since 2003. He has also led seminars on project management, conflict resolution and personal/business leadership development through the university's School of Professional Studies.

ENGINEERING

Degenkolb Engineers, one of the nation's leading structural and earthquake engineering firms, has promoted Kent Yu to associate principal.

Yu's experience includes seismic evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings, structural design for new construction, nonstructural bracing and post-earthquake inspections. He has been with the firm for eight years and is recognized for his research work on steel moment-resisting frame construction, as well as advanced analyses of a wide variety of building structures. He was a co-recipient of the 2001 ASCE Raymond C. Reese Research Prize.

Yu earned his Ph.D. in structural engineering from the University of California, San Diego.

FINANCE

OnPoint Community Credit Union has hired Leslie VanBlaricom as branch manager in McMinnville.

VanBlaricom has 17 years of experience in financial services, including as a branch manager for Bank of America in McMinnville and as vice president of market growth and development for Wells Fargo.

VanBlaricom, who has resided in McMinnville for 18 years, is active in the McMinnville chamber of commerce and previously was a volunteer with Women Build, a division of Habitat for Humanity, and with the Oregon Food Bank.

SALES

Mount Bachelor Village Resort has hired Leslie Caldwell as director of group sales. In her position, Caldwell will focus on attracting conventions, conferences, retreats and other group events to the resort.

Since 2003, Caldwell has been the owner of Hospitality Business Solutions, a Portland-based hotel/resort business consulting firm. She has functioned as a group sales representative for Mount Bachelor Village Resort for the past two years, in addition to working with other hotel and resort properties in the Northwest region.

Caldwell has more than 20 years of experience directing the group sales and marketing effort for hotels and resorts both in Oregon and nationwide, which included stints with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Doubletree Hotels and Resorts, and independent boutique-style properties.

TRANSPORTATION

Courier Direct Inc., a Tualatin based courier and freight company, has hired Melissa Howes as administrative assistant to president Barry Miller.

Howes comes to Courier Direct Inc. with an extensive background as an administrative assistant along with a successful background in sales.