116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Business Notes for Dec. 17, 2023
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
The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art has named Melissa Conroy as its new registrar/preparator. Conroy’s professional career in the arts began at Glasgow Life, Scotland, where was curatorial consultant before becoming museum educator at the Hunterian Museum in Scotland. Conroy also was the collections assistant-inventory specialist at the York County History Center. Before joining the CRMA in November, Conroy was at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque where she was the collections technician and did records research.
Heath Jamison has joined Design Engineers in Cedar Rapids as a technology consultant. Jamison has nearly 25 years of experience in technology systems, including in the higher education industry and working with technology contractors in Eastern Iowa and the Des Moines area.
Appointments
NewBoCo has named Jill Wilkins is its new executive director. Wilkins had been serving as interim executive director since April, when Aaron Horn resigned to take a job with Benchmark, a roof and pavement consulting firm in Cedar Rapids. Wilkins spent 10 years with the Cedar Rapids Downtown District and the Metro Economic Alliance, where she led the newly established Downtown Farmers Market. She joined NewBoCo in 2016 and became chief operating officer in 2020.
Kudos
Kevin Visser of Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman has been recognized by Best Lawyers as 2024’s “Lawyer of the Year” for litigation-labor and employment in Cedar Rapids.
Other news
GREEN STATE SURPASSES $500M IN BIPOC LOANS: GreenState Credit Union has announced it has loaned more than $532 million in mortgages to Iowans of color, half way to its goal of investing $1 billion in mortgage lending to Black, Indigenous, People of Color.
The 10-year goal was set three years ago and helped along by more than $980,000 in down payment assistance grants to BIPOC families from the GreenState Foundation.
Ryan Doehrmann, chief mortgage officer for the North Liberty-based credit union, said he and his colleagues were “thrilled to celebrate the incredible milestone for our communities.”
GreenState, with 447,000 members in 33 branch locations, is Iowa’s largest credit union.
GET GIFTS WRAPPED IN MARION: Members of this year’s Marion Leadership in Action class will be wrapping gifts Tuesday evening in exchange for donations.
The event runs 5 to 7 p.m. at the Marion Public Library, 1101 Sixth Ave. Donations will be passed along to Marion city projects. The Marion Chamber of Commerce began the nine-month community leadership program in 2011.
INVESTMENT ADVISER WITH C.R., I.C. LOCATIONS CITED: Savant Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser with locations in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, has been recognized in the 2023 rankings by InvestmentNews.
The honors were for fastest-growing, fee-only registered investment adviser, and placement in the top 25 fee-only firms in the Midwest. The company has its headquarters in Rockford, Ill.
McCLURE ENGINEERING OPENS IN DOWNTOWN: The Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for McClure, a civil engineering firm at 411 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids.
Founded in 1956, McClure now has more than 250 professionals in 13 offices. The firm specializes in aviation, bridge, community development, environmental, geotechnical, GIS, landscape architecture, mechanical/electrical/plumbing, structural, survey, traffic, transportation, wastewater and water projects.
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