Business Notes for April 7, 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.

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

Diana Binti Habimana and Leslie Berger have joined Skogman Realty as Realtors.

Barb Roth has joined Mercy Family Counseling as a nurse practitioner, and Kassiani Kelleher has joined as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.

Promotions

Veridian Credit Union has promoted Ana Hernandez to community inclusion strategist.

Kudos

Amy Belice, of Amy Belice Graphic Design and Agile Aquatic, recently was honored with membership in the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, aiva.org, and served as a juror for the Communicator awards this year.

Roger Stone of Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman, a Cedar Rapids law firm, has been recognized by Best Lawyers as 2024’s “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation-Construction, Cedar Rapids.

Other news

Business Breakfast Series: The Gazette’s Business Breakfast Series is hosting another gathering of business and community leaders on April 16 at The James Theater in Iowa City from 8 to 9:30 a.m. for networking, breakfast and a panel discussion on the tension that develops in the push to keep taxes and fees low. How can we meet the demand for local services and also deliver what residents expect?

Panelists will be John Landon, vice president, Shuttleworth & Ingersoll; Geoff Fruin, city manager, Iowa City; Ryan Heiar, city administrator, North Liberty; and Jaron Wilde, director, RSM Institute of Accounting Education and Research, University of Iowa.

Zack Kucharski, The Gazette’s executive editor, will moderate. Doors open at 7:30 a.m. Tickets are $5.50.

Swamp Fox Bookstore reopening: Swamp Fox Bookstore will celebrate its grand reopening from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 27 at its new Uptown Marion location, 1375 Seventh Ave., Suite A. Following a ribbon cutting at 9:30 a.m., the shop will host book signings children’s author and comics illustrator Eric Gapstur, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and young adult author Jen Ferguson, from 1 to 3 p.m.

Grant Wood Studio reopens: The Grant Wood Studio and Armstrong Visitor Center, 810 Second Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, has reopened for the season. Admission to the studio is free during regular studio hours, courtesy of a grant from the Esther and Robert Armstrong Charitable Trust. Studio tours are offered from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, beginning on the hour and half-hour. For more information, visit www.crma.org or call (319) 366-7503.

IntelliSee partners with Atlas IED: Coralville-based IntelliSee, an AI risk-mitigation platform, last week announced a partnership with AtlasIED, a leader in the commercial audio and security industries that will now offer IntelliSee as part of its threat detection and mass communication system.

IntelliSee overlays existing video surveillance systems and uses advanced AI to monitor live camera feeds and detect threats in real time. Once IntelliSee detects a threat, AtlasIED will initiate preprogrammed notification processes to alert staff, stakeholders and law enforcement.

“We founded IntelliSee to make the world a safer place through the ethical use of our advanced AI,” Scott Keplinger, CEO of IntelliSee, said in a news release. “We’re excited to partner with AtlasIED … to make a bigger impact on schools, hospitals, and other places where people gather.”

Volunteers sought: SCORE is a volunteer organization looking for individuals who would be willing to give back a few hours a month to help small business owners. You do not need to be retired to get involved. If you have an interest, please contact Mark at mark.hermann@scorevolunteer.org or visit https://www.score.org/eastcentraliowa for more information.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named Brownells of Poweshiek County as small business of the week. Founded in 1938 by Frank “Bob” Brownell II, Brownells is a third-generation, family-owned business that sells gunsmithing tools and gun supplies in Grinnell, where it operates a retail store. It maintains a supply of more than 50,000 gun parts it sells throughout the United States and around the world. The Brownell family also advocates for Second Amendment rights, with Pete Brownell serving as president of the National Rifle Association from 2017-18. 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.