Business Notes for Dec. 18, 2022

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

Amperage Marketing & Fundraising, with offices in Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls and Wausau, Wis., has hired Megan Stull as an account manager, where she will assist clients with projects.

Recruiting and human resources consulting firm Skywalk Group, with offices in Iowa City, Williamsburg and Barron, Wis., has hired Paige Timm as a sourcing specialist.

Promotions

Hills Bank has promoted Katy Thomas to a learning and development manager in the bank’s Coralville office, 1009 Second St.

Kudos

Amy Delay, a patient advocate at His Hands Free Clinic in Cedar Rapids, received the Waypoint Tribute to Women Achievement Award.

Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa announced it received a grant for $15,000 from Bayer Fund, which will be used to help Eastern Iowa students with career readiness and STEM education.

Per Mar Security Services, a Davenport-based provider of security solutions for residential and commercial clients, was named Critical Infrastructure Partner of the Year by Axis Communications.

The Iowa State Fair board elected six board members at its annual meeting in December in Des Moines. VerDon Schmidt from Everly, representing northwest Iowa, was newly elected. Directors re-elected were Deb Zumbach, Coggon (northeast); Tennie Carlson, Stratford (north central); Gary Van Aernam, Exira (southwest); Jo Reynolds, Indianola (south central); and Gary McConnell, Bloomfield (southeast).

Insights and sessions

The Gazette Business Breakfast panel’s third-quarter discussion, “A Small Business’ Tool Kit for 2023: Lessons we’ve learned and challenges — and opportunities — for which we can be prepared,” is now online at https://bit.ly/3eD04Wv. Panelists are Paul Andreasen, founder and owner, Saucy Focaccia; Sydney Rieckhoff, CEO, Almost Famous Popcorn; and Kymberly Stevenson, Targeted Small Business Development Program manager, Iowa Economic Development Authority. The discussion series was sponsored by BerganKDV.

The final 2022 installment of the “Gazette Spotlight on …” series of recorded interviews also is available to view at business.thegazette.com. This group recognizes businesses and organizations for their focus on growth. Interviewed are Luke Bishop of BAE Systems; Matt Swift of Big Grove; Sarah Nelson of Comm-Unity Crisis Service; and Drew Martel of Foundation 2. Also, the Better Business Bureau Cedar Rapids office joined The Gazette in speaking with Marc Meyer of Inteconnex. The series was sponsored by TrueNorth Cos.