Automotive

Colby Porter has joined Lyle Pearson Acura as a sales associate. Previously, he was an insurance salesman for Primerica Life. Porter worked 16 years with Corco Mineral Resources.

Construction & Design

Steve Pierce has joined the McAlvain Group of Companies as an estimator.

Pierce is an Idaho native with 31 years' experience in commercial estimating and has been involved in local and regional projects ranging up to $50 million. His responsibilities include soliciting bids from subcontractors, preparing bid spreadsheets, reviewing and qualifying subcontractors' bids, and participating in structural concrete and site concrete bids.

Education

Larry Harmon has joined Boise State University as Internal Audit & Advisory Services' executive director.

Harmon served as vice president of internal audit and financial controls for Super valu in Boise from 2006 to 2012. Previously, Harmon was vice president of internal audit for Albertsons Inc. from 1999 to 2006. He held the same position with American Stores Co. in Salt Lake City from 1993 to 1999.

Harmon will conduct an annual university-wide risk assessment, develop an annual and long-range audit plan, represent Boise State to the Idaho State Board of Education Audit Committee, and make recommendations to university administrators.

He holds a bachelor's degree of business administration in accounting from California State University, Hayward, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Michael Sumpter has been named director of Facilities, Operations and Maintenance at Boise State, effective Monday, Feb. 11.

Sumpter comes to the Division of Campus Planning and Facilities from Intercollegiate Athletics, where he served as the associate athletic director for facilities and operations. He has been with the university since 2006.

During his tenure in athletics, he was responsible for facility operations and maintenance of 12 athletic department venues. In his previous roles, he supervised facility and event management staffs, managed operational and maintenance budgets and assisted in new construction.

Before coming to Boise State, Sumpter held jobs in the athletics and event facilities-and-operations field in higher education and private industry.

Akira Tokuhiro, director of the University of Idaho's Nuclear Engineering Program, has been recognized by the Partnership for Science and Technology for his role in moving nuclear initiatives forward in the state.

Tokuhiro received the 2012 Individual Energy Education Advocate Award at a Feb. 13 awards banquet in Idaho Falls held by the partnership and the Idaho Section of the American Nuclear Society.

Tokuhiro's work is based at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls. CAES is a public-private partnership that includes the University of Idaho, Boise State University, Idaho State University and the Idaho National Laboratory. His research interests include reactor design, safety, accident analysis, convective heat transfer, biometrics, human factors, and modeling and simulation of complex processes.

While working at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokuhiro gained the foundation for his expertise on Japanese nuclear power plants, the nation's fuel cycle, and the associated research and development. He was interviewed worldwide for his insights into the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011. He served on the American Nuclear Society President's Committee on the accident, and he has taught a popular seminar course on Fukushima for the past three semesters at U of I.

He also has been involved with the Korea-West Internship program in Idaho Falls. The venture has brought 12 South Korean scholars to work at companies and organizations, including the U of I, Melaleuca and Grow Idaho Falls. The program is a cooperative agreement between the government of South Korea and the U. S. State Department.

Energy

Scott Madison, Mark Chiles and Michelle Harris have been promoted at Intermountain Gas Co.

Madison has been named executive vice president and general manager of Intermountain Gas and Cascade Natural Gas. He succeeds Frank Morehouse, who was promoted to president and chief executive officer of MDU Resources Group's utility division. Madison has been with the company since 1997, most recently as vice president, regulatory, chief accounting officer, assistant secretary and assistant treasurer for Intermountain and Cascade. Cascade Natural Gas is a sister company and serves customers in Washington and Oregon.

Madison, a native of Mud Lake, earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Idaho and a certified public accountant. He spent 10 years with Arthur Andersen before joining Intermountain Gas. He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Better Business Bureau of the Snake River Region and as the state treasurer for Idaho Ducks Unlimited.

Chiles has been named vice president and controller for Intermountain and Cascade. He will be responsible for the accounting and finance functions of both companies. Chiles joined Intermountain in 1992 and has held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as manager of accounting and finance.

He is a certified public accountant with a bachelor's degree in business administration/accounting from Boise State University. He serves as a board member and treasurer of the Boys and Girls Club of Ada County.

Harris has been promoted to manager of accounting and finance. She previously worked for KPMG LLP. She joined Intermountain in 2004 and has held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as corporate tax manager and manager of accounting systems.

Harris earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Montana and is a certified public accountant. She is a Salvation Army advisory board member.

Engineering

These five JUB Engineers Inc. projects received recognition in the American Council of Engineering Companies of Idaho 2013 Engineering Excellence Awards competition:

• Idaho Transportation Department Public Outreach Planner: first place in the Studies, Research, and Consulting category. This project completed by The Langdon Group, a JUB company, has gone on to the American Council of Engineering Companies national competition.

• City of Buhl Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements: first place in the Water and Stormwater category.

• City of Twin Falls Water System Improvements: first place in the Water Resources category.

• City of Post Falls Water Reclamation Facility: third place in the Water and Stormwater category.

• Coeur d'Alene Education Corridor: fourth place in the Transportation category. This project also received first place in the 2011 Grow Smart Awards.

JUB works in municipal, traffic/transportation, water/wastewater, airport, land development, construction, and structural engineering. The company also includes Gateway Mapping Geographic Information Systems services; The Langdon Group, a public involvement and strategic communications group; and landscape architects, planners, funding and grant administrative specialists, and surveyors.

Incorporated in Nampa in 1954, the company employs nearly 300 people in 14 offices, including offices in Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Lewiston, Pocatello, Sandpoint, and Twin Falls. JUB also has a presence in Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Utah.

Financial services

William Campbell, a corporate retirement director in Morgan Stanley's wealth management office in Hailey, was recently recognized by Planadviser magazine as one of the nation's Top 100 retirement plan advisers.

Campbell is part of the Campbell Group of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. From offices in Hailey and Boise, the group advises more than 35 retirement plan sponsors and their participants throughout the Intermountain West.

Health care

First Choice Home Health & Hospice, Boise, has been named to the Top 100 of the 2012 HomeCare Elite, a compilation of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States.

Winners are ranked by an analysis of publicly available performance measures in quality outcomes, process implementation, patient experience, quality improvement, and financial performance. The list is prepared by the National Research Corp., the parent company of OCS HomeCare; and DecisionHealth, publisher of Home Health Line, a newsletter.

First Choice Home Health & Hospice is a locally owned and operated home health and hospice care agency serving Treasure Valley residents since 2004.

Nonprofits

Nicole L. Glisson has been appointed the Idaho Foodbank's vice president of finance and administration. She previously served as senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of T.J.T. Inc. in Eagle. Glisson has also served as director in the financial planning and analysis department at Supervalu Inc., and manager of the truck division financial planning and analysis group at Navistar Inc.

Glisson received a master's of business administration degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, with concentrations in finance, economics, strategic management and organizational behavior.

The Idaho Foodbank is an independent, statewide nonprofit organization and the largest distributor of free emergency food in Idaho.

Matt Blandford, Sharon Patterson Grant, Wyatt Johnson and Hethe Clark have joined the board of Idaho Smart Growth.

They join board members Gary Allen, Kate Eldridge, Michelle Groenevelt, Stacey Alexander, Bill Clark, Doug Fowler, Rob Hopper, Sherry McKibben, Steve Lockwood and Laurie Barrera.

Blandford works for Elite Edge Engineers as a LEED-accredited structural engineer. Patterson Grant, managing member of Eco Edge, focuses on creating healthy indoor environments alongside reducing utility costs and using resources more wisely. Johnson is a civil trial lawyer with Angstman Johnson and engages in a transactional practice involving real estate and related business ventures. Clark is a land use and real estate attorney and partner at Spink Butler LLP.

The Idaho Smart Growth board also announces the election of the following officers for 2013: Gary Allen, president; Kate Eldridge, vice president; Michelle Groenevelt, secretary; and Stacey Alexander, treasurer.

Real estate

Juniper Cooper, Tanja Cullum and Tom Hicks of the Juniper Realty Group have been awarded the Circle of Excellence award by the Ada County Association of Realtors. The three were honored for sales volumes in the past year.

Other businesses

Andy Johnson is joining Price Associates, a leadership development firm, as a team dynamics specialist.

Johnson works with groups to prevent, reduce, manage and eliminate conflict and its detrimental effect on the workplace and the bottom line. He will be based in the Treasure Valley and will serve Price Associates' clients throughout the United States.

A strategic partner to organizations, Johnson has served as an executive coach, organizational adviser and consultant. As a certified professional behaviors, motivators and emotional intelligence analyst, Johnson uses a variety of assessment driven best practices to help groups focus on improving teamwork, appreciate differences, reduce conflict and increase overall team morale and effectiveness.

Before joining Price Associates, Johnson worked for many years in architecture, founding a successful practice in Meridian, Johnson Architects PC. He is also a licensed professional counselor and an ordained minister in the Evangelical Methodist Church. He holds a bachelor's degree from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and a master's degree in community counseling from Northwest Nazarene University.

Also a speaker and writer, Johnson is the author of the soon-to-be-released "The End of Conflict: Wisdom on the Journey Until Then."

Metro Express Car Wash has donated free car washes for a year for two vans used by Life's Kitchen, a Boise nonprofit that helps teenagers and young adults learn life and job skills. Metro Express gave them their first washing Jan. 31. The donations have a total value of $420 per van.

Life's Kitchen provides a 16-week program for young adults ages 16-20. Students learn skills to make them employable in the food service industry by working in the Life's Kitchen contract foods, catering, and café. Students are typically struggling with addiction, behavioral issues or a difficult past. They also learn life skills like health, interpersonal relationships, financial literacy, job interviewing and more. Students may complete their GED and earn the ServSafe certification, an important accreditation that will help them find a job in the industry.