Business Notes for Jan. 26, 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

GreatAmerica Financial Services has announced the following new team members: Adeline Shaw, portfolio manager; Alivia Steitz, client reporting analyst; Donna Weiss, cash applications specialist; Emma Sweeney, tax accountant; Jason Samec, portfolio manager; Madison Jantzen, legal analyst; Mallory Duggan, account support adviser; Max Rohret, tax accountant; Minela Kajtezovic, documentation specialist; Mitch Lauer, vice president, internal audit; Olivia Martinson, portfolio manager; Sean Ortgie, vice president, tax; Tasha Greiner, cash applications specialist; Tess Keeney, director, human resources business partner; Tommy Dyer, treasury analyst; and Tucker Dickson, software engineer.

Promotion

At Hills Bank, Chelsea Marsengill was recently promoted to commercial loan workflow manager, officer, in the Hills office.

Other news

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named Jones Dairy of Dickinson County as her small business of the week.

In 1903, Minor Jones and his wife, Emma, rented 160 acres of farmland in Milford in northwest Iowa and founded Jones Dairy, buying the land 30 years later. Their son James and his wife took over the business and raised their five children on the farm. In 1982, the James’ youngest son, Patrick, became the third-generation owner. Jones Dairy now has 1,800 cows with a viewing area to teach students about where milk comes from.

Ernst, chairman 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.