Business Notes for Aug. 10, 2025

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 https://www.thegazette.com/business-notes/submit/

New hires

Dawn Sloan has joined His Hands Free Clinic as communications specialist.

Other news

Free small-business seminars: FSB is launching and hosting “From the Ground Up — A Small Business Series,” a free, four-week program designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners gain knowledge and tools to build sustainable success. Sessions will be held at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE, on Mondays, Sept. 8, 15, 22 and 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Each week will focus on a key area of business development: laying the groundwork, financing your business, promoting and protecting, and working smarter. Additional details and registration information are available at myfsbonline.com. For questions, call (319) 377-4891 and ask to speak to a small business commercial lender.

Small Business of the Week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has announced Hall Roberts’ Son of Allamakee County in northeast Iowa as her small business of the week. Hall Roberts’ Son began in 1864 as a family-run general mercantile company and has transformed into a wholesale distributor of agricultural products that serve customers across Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. After being passed down through three generations of the Roberts family, Chris Hoffert took over as president. For over 160 years, Hall Roberts’ Son has stayed true to the family’s mission of community involvement and service, while serving the agricultural community. Ernst, chair of 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.