Business Notes for Nov. 17, 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 at thegazette.com/business-notes/submit/

New hires

Physical therapists Kris Mace and Teal Rounds have joined Balanced Fitness & Health to provide physical therapy services in Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha.

GreatAmerica Financial Services has announced the following new team members: Amy Russell, operations project manager/legal; Christyn Breja, sales support specialist; Debbie Burns, tax support specialist; Jessen Weber, videographer; Sara Eike, portfolio manager; and Will James, cash applications specialist.

Houston Harreld recently joined Hills Bank as first vice president, commercial banking, in the Coralville office.

Kudos

Carmen Kleinsmith, chief nursing officer at UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids, was named to Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Chief Nursing Officers to Know” list for 2024. Chief nursing officers (CNOs) are responsible for addressing nurse staffing challenges, managing budgets and fostering growth opportunities for nurses. She also manages three service lines: emergency services, the Women’s and Children’s Center, and acute adult and critical care. She also was previously cited with the “100 Great Iowa Nurses” award.

Other news

Grant goes to St. Luke’s Child Protection and dental centers: UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Foundation was awarded $200,000 from the Carleen and Eugene Grandon Charitable Foundation to support St. Luke’s Child Protection Center and St. Luke’s Dental Health Center. The funds will be used to assist with the clinical operations for each program.

Children are referred to the Child Protection Center, established in 1987, when investigations begin into child abuse. The dental center provides low-cost dental services to infants, children and adolescents in need of financial assistance.

World Class Displays acquired: TentCraft, a U.S. manufacturer of custom tents and structures, has acquired World Class Displays of Marion, a custom exhibit company that creates trade show booths.

World Class Displays will retain its name and operate within the TentCraft family of companies. Its existing facilities in Marion will continue production, with TentCraft’s Traverse City, Mich., headquarters set to handle overflow production during the peak trade show season.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week announced a veteran-owned business, Sergeant Bluff EyeCare, as her small business of the week.

Ben Uhl served in the U.S. Army Reserves as a Patriot missile officer in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan for 24 years. He is now a colonel in the Iowa Air National Guard in Camp Dodge. He earned a degree in optometry from the University of Houston in 2008 and fully acquired Sergeant Bluff EyeCare in 2014, expanded it to five locations in Iowa and Nebraska, offering primary eye care, glasses, contacts and medical optometry.

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.