Cedar Rapids convention bureau names director of sales

NEW HIRES

Employee benefits company Acumen hired Brian Doyle (see photo), formerly in the financial advising industry, and Aaron Loan (see photo), formerly in the life and health insurance industry, as advisers.

Great America Financial Services hired Aly Barger (see photo), formerly with Hy-Vee, as account support adviser.

The Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau hired Angela Vande Wall (see photo), formerly with CRST, as its director of convention sales.

Julia Hawkins (see photo), previously with Mercy Physicians Services, has been named senior account manager at Holmes Murphy & Associates.

Urbana-based Clickstop, an e-commerce company, has hired Kala Liebe (see photo), formerly with Energy Data Resources, as payroll and benefits specialist, and Ben Dudley (see photo), formerly with URrelay Inc., as IT manager. Within its U.S. Cargo Control division, it added Lisa Finn (see photo) as purchasing specialist; Joe Rauch (see photo), formerly with West Side Transport, as sales specialist; and Ethan Miles (see photo), formerly with FedEx, Matt Bolden (see photo), formerly with the U.S. Army, and Daniel Garloff (see photo), formerly with McDonald's, in the U.S. Cargo Control Watehouse and Fullfillment team.

PROMOTIONS

Nikki Dudley (see photo), Clickstop wellness coordinator, has been promoted to vice president of operations-Bing Miller Brands.

BOARD OFFICERS

Swisher-based Miracles in Motion Therapeutic Equestrian Center elected Fred Zehr (see photo), retired from Rockwell Collins, as president of its board of directors. Other officers are Jackie Wallace (see photo), retired from Cornell College, vice president; Chad Zenisek (see photo) of Klinger, Robinson and Ford, secretary; and Carley Umstead (see photo) of McGladrey, treasurer.

AWARDS

Cynthia A. Baldwin, a certified industrial hygienist at Terracon Consultants Inc. in Cedar Rapids, has been nominated a Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Gaylon Heetland (see photo), a financial consultant with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has qualified for the Pinnacle Council conference.

John Westfall (see photo), an Edward Jones financial adviser in Marion, has been named to Barron's magazine list of the Top 1,000 Financial Advisors in the United States, ranked at No. 5.

Recipients of the Iowa City 2011 Million Dollar Round Table and Lili awards were Mike Stimmel, Farm Bureau Iowa City; Denny Visser, Northwestern Mutual; Tim Meyer, Meyer Financial Amana; Merle Miller, Hawkeye Brokerage Iowa City; Anthony Schau, North Star Resource Group Iowa City; and Allen Leichty, Leichty Insurance Wellman. Other recipients recognized were Nanci Kohl, Women's Impact Award; John Farraj, Longevity Award; and Joseph Campanelli, Elwin K. Shain Award.

The American Advertising Federation honored individuals and companies at its 45th ADDY Awards Gala. Special recognition was given to Kevin Northway (see photo), senior art director at JW Morton, inducted into the AAF: Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Hall of Fame; Scott Gasway (see photo), president of JP Gasway, Ad Person of the Year; Diane DeBok (see photo), editor and content manager of Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center at the University of Iowa, Service Person of the Year; and Arsalan Monawar, videographer for deNovo Alternative Marketing, Ad Apprentice of the Year. See the list of winners at http://www.aafcric.com/addy-awards.

Stamats, Inc., was awarded Best of Show in the national awards sponsored by Higher Education Marketing Report for its in-motion virtual tour for Florida International University, and five gold awards.

Des Moines-based EMC Insurance Companies recognized AW Welt Ambrisco Insurance Inc. in Iowa City for outstanding performance.

CERTIFICATIONS

Brian Drahos (see photo) of Advanced Technology Solutions Inc., Fairfax, has been certified as a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional.

CONFERENCES

The sixth-annual McGladrey Emerging Technology Conference will present new innovations for resetting technology strategies Tuesday at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Coralville. Registration and breakfast begins at 8 a.m., and global futurist Jack Uldrich will give the keynote address at 9 a.m. To register, go to http://mcgladrey.com/Events/2013-Emerging-Technology-Conference or call Nancy Nafziger, (612) 455-9482.

Michael Gerdin, chief executive officer, and John P. Cosaert, chief financial officer, of Heartland Express Inc. participated at the 2013 J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Defense Conference in New York City on March 5.

WORKSHOPS

A Lean Six Sigma Leadership Training workshop will be held Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Kirkwood Training & Outreach Services, Marion, and sponsored by Iowa Quality Center. Call 398-7101 to register.

MORE

Laura Wheeler, a nurse with the

Cedar Rapids Community School District, has joined the National Association of School Nurses as an epinephrine resource school nurse.