Business Notes: May 9, 2021

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.

Information and photos can be submitted to Business Notes by email to businessnotes@thegazette.com, or on our site at thegazette.com/businessnotes.

New hires

Lori Frett joined Skogman Realty as a Realtor.

GreatAmerica recently hired Lauren Laven as a sales support specialist, Gerard Schwickerath; director of internal audit; and Kate Watts, property tax specialist.

It also hired Hunter Hormann as account support advisor; Jake Gillund and Cindy Brown, sales and ops support specialists; Kaitlyn Anderson, portfolio manager; Doug Smith, litigation specialist; and Sarah Olmstead, sales tax specialist.

Alexis Ahlberg joined the Mercy Gastroenterology Clinic in Cedar Rapids as a physician assistant.

Plaid Swan hired Josh Keldgord as a member experience manager and Lindsey Gruber as a community and business outreach specialist.

Loni Lerum is now a sourcing specialist II and Hailee McDonald a recruiter at Skywalk Group.

Elijah Decious now works as a features reporter for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

Board members

Viewpoint Molecular Targeting appointed Dr. Frank Morich to its board of directors.

Workshop

Buchanan County Economic Development along with Buchanan County Extension and the Independence Area Chamber of Commerce will host two workshops this month. “Learn to ROCK your LinkedIn Profile” will be 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Allerton Brewery. “Creating Content for Social Media” will be noon to 2 p.m. May 19 at Heartland Acres Event Center. More information is available at growbuchanan.com/workshops.

Kudos

The Iowa Tourism Office and the Travel Federation of Iowa presented 25 awards recognizing excellence in the tourism industry. Eastern Iowa honorees included Outstanding Community, Cedar Rapids (Metro); Outstanding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids (Metro); Outstanding Individual Leader, David Rettig, Amana Colonies (Rural); Outstanding Marketing Collaboration, Byways of Iowa Foundation, Postville (Rural); and Outstanding Lodging Property, Hotel at Kirkwood Center, Cedar Rapids (Metro).

Neumann Monson Architects received its third Impact award from the American Institute of Architects, for design of the Unitarian Universalist Society facility in Coralville. It’s the highest statewide award for designs that directly benefit social, humanitarian, community or environmental causes.

More

Deadline for the Tanager Place Bridge to the Future scholarship program is Friday. Criteria and applications are available online at tanagerplace.org/outreach/scholarships.

The second-quarter Gazette Business Breakfast Series panel will be live online at 9 a.m. June 8, on “The Power Grid of the Future.” Panelists will be Mayuri Farlinger of Alliant Energy; Michaela Freiburger, Dubuque County Energy District; Kerri Johannsen, Iowa Environmental Council; Dusky Terry, ITC Midwest; and Chad Wiltz, Van Meter. Viewers can submit questions to panelists during the 60-minute session. The event will be free, but registration is required at thegazette.com/special-events/business-breakfast. The discussion will be recorded and can be watched later on The Gazette’s site. BerganKDV, the business, financial and technology solutions company, is the series sponsor. Supporting partners are NewBoCo and Corridor Careers.