Business Notes for Aug. 18, 2024

The Gazette’s Business Notes is a compendium of the week’s promotions, new hires, certifications, added business lines and business events, among other items, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the rest of the Corridor.

New hires

Teri Paulsen and Hanna Yeager have joined Skogman Realty as Realtors.

GreatAmerica Financial Services in Cedar Rapids has hired Gabe Jones as a portfolio manager; Annika Zimmer and Katie Shatzer as business unit financial analysts; Claire McAllister as sales support/development; and Jacob Christensen and Simon Novak as account support advisers.

Appointments

The following have been appointed as new board members of the Community Health Free Clinic: Krista Fox, Transamerica; Niki Lee, QCR Holdings; and Ann Sealy, UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids. The clinic’s executive committee for 2024-25 are Dr. Dave Muller, president; Ethan Benton, vice president; Sue Lowder, secretary; Amy Vaske, treasurer; and Dr. Thomas Schroeder, medical director.

Honors

Daniel Joiner, chief diversity and community impact officer for UnityPoint Health, has been named a 2024 Diversity Leader by Modern Healthcare, one of 35 health care executives named to this year’s list. He was recognized for spearheading the development of a Cultural Resource Guide aimed at improving interactions between team members and patients from varied backgrounds and for helping strike a partnership with a national bank to boost access to health care careers for members of underrepresented groups. He also established a program that increased the number of diverse suppliers to UnityPoint Health by 10 percent. In addition, Joiner was named to Becker’s Healthcare “Black Healthcare Leaders to Know” and “Hospital and Health System Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officers to Know” lists.

Other news

Corda gives $50K to NewBo City Market: The Corda Credit Union, formerly the Linn Area Credit Union, has presented $50,000 to sponsor a new balcony for the NewBo City Market as part of the market’s $6.2 million “Next Level Local” capital campaign now underway. The check was presented Friday evening during Rock the Block at the market, 1100 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids.

The capital campaign plans to add a grocery store to its first level. It also plans to renovate and relocate the NewBo Bar to the market’s west side and install a glass elevator to access the market’s second level.

The market’s second floor will be expanded to include a Delta Dental Therapy Clinic providing mental health services; an ImOn Recording Studio; a new kitchen relocated from the first floor; a new boardroom; a new bar; and two balconies overlooking the Market Yard.

Details and donation information can be found at newbocitymarket.org/next-level-local.

Axiom joins Wisconsin engineering firm: Iowa City-based engineering firm Axiom Consultants, with an office in Cedar Rapids, is joining Ruekert & Mielke, a Wisconsin-based, employee-owned provider of municipal and agricultural engineering services.

UI Venture School accepting fall applications: The University of Iowa Venture School entrepreneurial training program is accepting applications for its fall programs beginning around the state the week of Sept. 23.

The sessions meet one night a week for seven weeks as either hybrid (in-person/online), fully remote, or in-person classes, depending on the location. The program concludes the week of Nov. 4 with the Venture School Launch Day Competition.

Cost is $299 per team. Each Venture School team will be assigned a local entrepreneur as its coach.

For more information on the program, go to venture-school.com. The deadline to register is Sept. 20, with application forms on the website.

In the Corridor, the training will meet Tuesdays at the BioVentures Center in Coralville starting Sept. 24. Other programs are being offered in Des Moines, Dubuque, Mason City, the Quad Cities and Sioux City.

Questions can be directed to Shannon Henderson at [email protected].

Networking event: SCORE in-person round tables for networking and business skills will be held Thursday, Aug. 22 in Cedar Rapids. The round tables meet from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Scott’s Family Restaurant, 1906 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Chrome Horse, 1201 Third St. SE. For more information, email mark.[email protected].

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named the Great Day Cafe of Van Buren County as her small business of the week. Jennie Lee opened the cafe in 2015 for breakfast and lunch in Keosauqua, offering fresh pies, scratch fudge and homemade biscuits and gravy. Ernst, the ranking member on the Senate’s Small Business Committee, is naming one exceptional small business of the week in each of Iowa’s counties during this congressional session.