Banking

Alicia A. Ritter has been appointed to the board of directors of Idaho Independent Bank.

Ritter is the president and principal of Ritter Public Relations, a public relations firm. Previously, she was a partial owner of California’s largest independent public relations agency and was managing director for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, one of the world’s most well-known public relations firms. Since moving to Idaho eight years ago, she has focused on public, business and community issues in the Boise area and the state.

Ritter has worked with corporate, government and nonprofit clients. She serves on numerous community boards. She is currently chairwoman of the board of the Arid Club, board member for the Lee Pesky Learning Center and a board member of Idaho Business for Education.

D.L. Evans Bank has donated $2,500 to the Idaho Future Farmers of America Foundation. This donation will help to fund career development and leadership programs for Idaho FFA members statewide.

FFA is a national organization preparing youths for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture. FFA has been an integral part of agriculture programs in Idaho high schools since 1929. There are more than 11,600 Idaho agricultural education students, 87 active chartered Idaho FFA chapters and 4,222 Idaho FFA members.

Construction & design

Cornerstone Design, an interior design firm, has received two awards for its work on the PINZ at Wahooz Family Fun Zone project in Meridian: The 2012 ASID Intermountain Chapter “Best Project by a Professional Designer,” and the 2012 Bowlers Journal International “Best New Interior.”

Education

Herbert Maschner, director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History and Idaho State University professor of anthropology, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Election as an AAAS fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. The association is the world’s largest general scientific society.

Maschner joins newly appointed Idaho State University Vice President for Research and Economic Development Howard Grimes, ISU professor of biological sciences Terry Bowyer, University of Idaho professor and IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Director Carolyn Bohach, U of I professor and Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Director Jean’ne Shreeve, and Boise State University Distinguished Research fellow Vernard Yurke as current faculty in Idaho’s universities to be awarded the honor. J. Rogers, associate director of the Idaho National Laboratory and director of Center for Advanced Energy Studies, also is a fellow of the AAAS.

Maschner, with more than 100 publications and nearly $8.2 million in research grants, was noted by the AAAS for his contributions to Alaska archaeology, archaeological method and theory, and complex systems in archaeology.

In 2006, Maschner was named Idaho State University Distinguished Researcher. In 2011, he was honored as the Idaho Academy of Science Distinguished Scientist. In 2012, he was awarded the Idaho State Journal Business Person of the Year — Education.

He also is one of 12 archaeologists appointed to the National Science Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Archaeology committee tasked to create a plan for the next 20 years of archaeology in the United States. As a result of his election as fellow, the Society for American Archaeology, the largest society of archaeologists in the world, appointed Maschner to be its representative to the AAAS.

Engineering

David Keil and Cyndy Bratz have joined the Idaho engineering consulting firm SPF Water Engineering, LLC, as principal engineers.

Keil will be business lead for SPF’s wastewater and reclaimed water engineering practice. He recently led the Northwest area water/ wastewater business for a national consulting firm. A professional engineer in Idaho and Washington, and a LEED-accredited professional, Keil helped Meridian use Class A recycled water. He also has provided wastewater management assistance to several other Northwest wastewater utilities, including helping Clean Water Services near Portland construct the first full-scale commercial nutrient-recovery facility in the United States.

Bratz will be technology lead for the wastewater and reclaimed-water engineering practice. She has 23 years of experience as a consulting engineer in Idaho and also is a LEED-accredited professional. Her background includes facilities planning, predesign, detailed design and services during construction for municipal water and wastewater treatment facilities. A recognized expert in the design of ultraviolet disinfection facilities, Bratz has provided engineering services to clients across the country. She is a past president of the Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association, a past president of the Southern Idaho Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a member of the Water Environment Federation.

SPF Water Engineering, LLC, is a water-resource consulting firm offering water-supply studies, well design and construction, water-system design, wastewater and reclaimed water-system design, aquifer modeling and water-rights consulting.

Government

Gary Mahn has been appointed to the Idaho Endowment Fund Investment Board by Gov. Butch Otter.

Mahn was appointed to fill the position left vacant when R. John Taylor of Lewiston chose not to seek reappointment after 15 years on the board.

Mahn started his business career in Boise in 1972 as a management consultant with Ernst & Ernst. In 1976, he co-founded Learned-Mahn, a Boise-based software company. In 1985, he purchased Fisher’s Office Equipment and expanded the company before selling the office-supply division in 1995 to Boise Cascade Office Products (now OfficeMax). He retained ownership in the equipment division, now known as Fisher’s Document Systems, which he recently sold to other senior managers of the firm.

In 1998, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne appointed Mahn as director of the Idaho Department of Commerce, where he served until 2002. He now serves on the board of directors of Idaho Independent Bank.

Mahn is a Certified Public Accountant and received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Idaho and a master’s of business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The EFIB is an agency of the state responsible for managing $2 billion of investments consisting of state land grant endowment funds, the financial assets of the State Insurance Fund, the assets of the Judges’ Retirement Fund and the assets of certain state park endowments.

Health care

Rebecca Schlabs has joined Children’s Therapy Place as a physical therapist.

Schlabs earned her doctorate in physical therapy with distinction from Pacific University in Hillsboro, Ore., after earning her Bachelor of Arts from Notre Dame. She has a passion for helping others and found her path to physical therapy when volunteering at a pediatric therapy clinic in high school.

St. Luke’s Health System has provided an $800 grant to support the Terry Reilly SANE Solutions program that provides treatment for 250 victims of child abuse a year. In addition, St. Luke’s also funded a $4,000 sponsorship for the Bob LeBow Bike Tour and Terry Reilly’s Eat, Drink and Be Healthy Gala.

Terry Reilly is a 41-year-old nonprofit serving the Treasure Valley from locations in Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Homedale, Melba, Marsing and Middleton.

Natural resources

United Water Idaho has donated two large diesel engines to the College of Western Idaho’s Professional-Technical Education program in Nampa. The utility gave the school’s Diesel Technology and Heavy Equipment programs two large Caterpillar diesel engines.

The engines were no longer usable in United Water’s facilities. Instead of selling the items for scrap, the company approached CWI to see if the engines could be valuable teaching tools.

Rocky Church, CWI’s program head for the Diesel Technology program, said the program’s 50 students will be able to use the equipment to learn diagnostic and monitoring techniques when working with large diesel engines.

The donation also included numerous accessories and spare parts for both rail-mounted engines.

Media

Carol Carreau has joined KBOI-TV as news director. She will make the transition to the Treasure Valley in January.

Carreau comes from CNN in Atlanta, where she is a producer and writer for various CNN News broadcasts.

Carreau is originally from Montana and graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of Montana. She has held positions in Montana, Washington and Oregon, among others.

KBOI-TV is the CBS affiliate in Boise. KBOI-TV also operates the Treasure Valley CW station. KBOI-TV is owned by Fisher Communications Inc., a Seattle communications company that owns and operates 13 full-power TV stations, seven low-power stations and three radio stations in the western United States. It also manages one radio station.

Nonprofits

Melissa Thomsen has been appointed to serve as interim executive director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho, a youth-mentoring organization. Thomsen, a nine-year employee, is chief operating officer and leads the organizations’ youth-mentoring programs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is searching for a full-time executive director.

Real estate

The Women’s Business Center of Idaho has been awarded a $5,000 donation from Keller Williams Realty and a $2,500 donation from Bank of America.

Both organizations’ grants will help support programs that aid women entrepreneurs start and build businesses. The WBC assists all entrepreneurs with a primary focus on women-owned businesses, especially those in underprivileged demographics.

Since opening in January 2012, the center has counseled 136 clients, assisted in the startup of 17 new businesses and helped to create 32 jobs.

The center is funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

John Knipe has been awarded the Certified Land Consultant designation by the American Land Institute. This designation is awarded to real estate agents and brokers who specialize in marketing and selling land — farms, ranches, timber, land for use in development and other uses — and who also have demonstrated skill and professionalism through actual, closed sales and successfully completed advanced educational requirements.

Knipe also was awarded the American Land Institute’s highest award, the Chartered Land Broker award and designation.

Knipe is the president of Knipe Land Co. in Boise.

Technology

Steve Hodges has joined the Social Good Network board of directors.

Hodges is a member of the Idaho Technology Council Hall of Fame and has started several successful technology companies, including M2M Communications, which was acquired by EnerNOC in 2011, as well as Telemetric, Design Concepts International and Computrol. These companies operate energy, information-technology and fishing businesses.

Social Good Network turns part of the referral fees it receives for online purchases made through its site into donations that customers can direct to any of the 1.6 million nonprofits on the site, without any added cost.

Adam Hegstrom, Boise, has joined the sales team at Social Media Gurus.

Hegstrom earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boise State University. He then joined Quest Groups as a technical recruiter, finding engineers for venture capital-funded tech startups in the Silicon Valley.

Social Media Gurus, located in Caldwell, works with business owners and organizations to develop and build their social media presence.

Balihoo has been listed among the world’s most prestigious technology companies on this year’s Red Herring Global 100. Previous winners include Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube and eBay.

The Red Herring Global 100 focuses on innovation coupled with business success. Red Herring is a media company that covers technology.