Business Notes for Aug. 25, 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.

Promotions

Travis Robinson was recently promoted to senior vice president/digital wealth and business development lead at the Hills Bank North Liberty office, 590 W. Forevergreen Rd.

Hunter Bernhagen has been promoted to senior accountant at the Dahm, Knapp & Associates office in Hiawatha.

RSM, a provider of audit, tax and consulting services, recently announced the promotion of 27 employees in its Cedar Rapids office:

Audit Services: Brant Barnhart, senior associate; Sam Conlan, senior associate; Jacki Danover. supervisor; Katie Kerker, senior manager/director; Matt Van Waning, managing director; and Alec Wulfekuhle, senior associate.

Tax Services: Meghan Clark, senior associate; Madi Fleming, senior associate; Demi Halloran, supervisor; Shawna Huls, senior manager/director; Neil Marshall, senior manager/director; Luke Martin, senior associate; Chelsea Nunn, senior manager/director; Michaela Sinnwell, manager; and Lexi Soldwisch, manager.

Consulting Services: Tara Funk, manager; Alex Gade, manager; Ted Graves, manager; and Markell Kuper, senior manager/director.

Honors

Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman attorney Darrel A. Morf was recognized by Best Lawyers as 2025 “Lawyer of the Year” for Trusts and Estates, Cedar Rapids.

Other news

Collins Aerospace gives NewBoCo $100K for STEM: Collins Aerospace, an RTX company and the largest employer in Cedar Rapids, has awarded NewBoCo a $100,000 grant to assist with the nonprofit’s STEM education programs.

The programs include computer science professional development for 2,100 educators, to date, in programs like Tiny Techies, Project GUTS and AI, as well as the CoderDojo and “Girls Who Code” training and clubs for young students.

The grant will support the training of at least 100 more Iowa teachers in computer science, who are expected to teach more than 2,750 students in the first year alone, according to a NewBoCo news release.

SCORE roundtable in Waterloo: A SCORE in-person roundtable for networking and business skills will be held in Waterloo on Tuesday from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Cabin Coffee Co., 2040 Kimball Ave. For more information, email mark.hermann@scorevolunteer.org.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named Juniper & Olive Co. of Hamilton County as her small business of the week. Cyndi Gryte, a graduate of Iowa State University, worked in New York and Texas before returning to Iowa and opening Juniper & Olive Co. in Jewell in north-central Iowa in 2020, transforming a former 1920s speakeasy into a restaurant, bar and bridal boutique. 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.