New hires, promotions and professional achievements in Whatcom County

Chris Collins, a former Whatcom County restaurateur, has joined Security First Mortgage in Bellingham as a loan originator. Collins is the former owner of Graham’s Restaurant in Glacier. He also owned CB’s Taqueria and What’s the Scoop ice cream shop, both in Lynden, during his 29 years in the restaurant business.

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Brian Fish, owner of WIN Home Inspection franchises in Whatcom County and Mount Vernon, has been named the company’s most improved strategic-partner of the year.

Fish had the highest percentage increase in inspections over the previous year, growing his business by 199.22 percent compared to 2012, according to WIN. He was also received a company award for performing nearly 400 home inspections in 2013.

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Ken Harrison, a real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker Bain in Bellingham, recently developed two real-estate specialty teams, WOW Team Commercial and WOW Team International, to serve clients inside and outside of Whatcom County.

Sunny Lake, an Internet and social-media specialist with a business-management background, and Monte Young, an agent with more than 23 years of experience, join WOW Team Commercial. Tina Mak, who is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, joins WOW Team International.

More information is online at www.bellinghamwow.com.

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Lynn Murphy has been named Puget Sound Energy’s community services manager for Whatcom County. Murphy has been with PSE for five years working in emergency management and as a liaison to municipalities in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

She earned a degree in public administration from the University of North Texas and currently serves on the board of directors for Mount Baker Red Cross and Whatcom Safe Kids Coalition.

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Slobodan “Bob” Pavlovic has joined the Detroit Tech Center engineering team of Bellingham-based Integral Technologies Inc. and its subsidiary, ElectriPlast Corp.

Pavlovic spent the past eight years at the Michigan-based Lear Corp., as vice president of global high voltage/high power systems and components. He will work in ElectriPlast’s recently opened Detroit facility alongside the company’s CTO, Mo Zeidan.

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Chris Weitzel of RE/MAX Whatcom County Inc.  qualified for the RE/MAX Chairman’s Club Award in 2013, which honors agents who earned at least $500,000 in annual commissions. Weitzel has worked in the real estate-industry for more than 37 years, with his experience focused in residential listings, sales and marketing, as well as working with investors and assisting distressed homeowners.

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Whatcom Women in Business has named its new board members for 2014:

Tally Rabatin, owner of Totally Unique Designs, as president; Lynne Henifin, owner of Henifin Construction, as past president; Evah Thurman, owner of V’s Barbershop, and Julie Guay, executive director of Blue Skies for Children, as co-secretaries; Renee Aase, operations manager of Bank of the Pacific, as treasurer; Cathy Campbell, owner of Sirius Medical Billing, as vice president of programs; Jamie Smeall, manager at Avenue Bread, as vice president of membership; Amy Zender, a luxury homes real-estate agent at eXp Realty International, as vice president of publicity; Sharon Yonally, brand partner at Nerium International, as member liaison; Sara Clement, senior director at Stella & Dot, as webmaster; and Kari Fenton, owner of Fenton Events, as banquet chair.

Email business announcements to editor@bbjtoday.com.