Business Notes for Feb. 15, 2026

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.

New hires

GreatAmerica Financial Services has announced the following new team members: Justin Smith, team leader; Clayton Dietz, property tax specialist; Luke Schumacher, accountant I; Cynthia Rasch, director, operations risk and control; and Nathan Martinek, documentation specialist I.

Promotions

Charles Paul has become a full equity partner at Nidey Erdahl Meier & Araguás, PLC. He joined the firm in 2020 and became a partner in 2022.

Appointments

Nate Dunn, F&M Bank president and CEO, has been selected to join the Community Depository Institution Advisory Council.

Shar Jones, manager of Work Well Solutions at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital; and Marcia Baumann, AVP, consumer lender at Farmers State Bank, have been appointed to the His Hands Free Clinic board of directors.

Elections

Bart Floyd, chief banking officer, Central State Bank-Coralville; and Mary Nicknish, recently retired after working for 40 years for software startups in Silicon Valley, have been elected to three-year terms on the board of directors of TRAIL of Johnson County, the aging-in-place nonprofit headquartered in Iowa City.

Kudos

Dupaco Credit Union President and CEO Joe Hearn has been named the Credit Union Executive Society Outstanding Chief Executive, one of the industry’s highest individual honors. The award recognizes a CEO who demonstrates visionary leadership, organizational transformation, strong advocacy for the credit union movement and an unwavering commitment to members, employees and community impact. Hearn has led the financial cooperative since 2012. During this time, the credit union experienced sustained growth, with membership increasing from 68,000 to more than 179,000, assets expanding from $1.06 billion to $3.5 billion, and service area broadening from 28 to 118 counties.

Other news

Small Business of the Week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has announced the Mescher family’s collection of retail clothing businesses in Plymouth County in northwest Iowa as her small business of the week. This group of clothing shops got its start in 2013 when Jill Mescher founded Sugar N Spice in downtown Le Mars. A mother of three with a passion for fashion, she set out to create a children’s boutique that reflected the individual styles of her own children. As her young customers grew up, Mescher made sure her business expanded along with them, opening Lily Zita as a teen boutique in 2021. To complete the trifecta and truly become a family destination, Mescher and her husband, Chad, added menswear and dry cleaning to their portfolio when they launched Mescher’s Clothing in 2024. In addition to maintaining their businesses, the Meschers are engaged in their community, serving on the local Chamber of Commerce and regularly participating in collaborative downtown events with other businesses. 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.