Business Notes for June 16, 2024

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

Design Engineers of Cedar Rapids has announced three hirings: Cam Bendixen, HVAC BIM technician; Matt Raia, electrical BIM technician; and Adrienne Schroeder, electrical engineer.

GreatAmerica Financial Services in Cedar Rapids has hired three employees and nine interns: Trevor Lundquist, sales support specialist; Derick Frabotta, documentation specialist; Liz Thomas, legal analyst; Morgan Bossler, Hannah Houtakker and Joe Tucker, all marketing interns; Reese Ohde and Nathan Kramer, both credit analyst interns; Lauren Maras, finance rotation intern; Jonathan McCrea, financial analyst intern; Jack Teller, service desk analyst intern; and Andrew Formanek, sales professional intern.

Appointments

Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust announces the appointment of Trent Tillman to its board of directors, effective May 17. Tillman is president of TrueNorth.

BankIowa has named Jeff Triplett to its board of directors. Triplett is a past member/chairman of the Professional Accounting Council in the University of Iowa Accounting Department.

Awards

Attorney Travis Cavanaugh of the Cedar Rapids-based Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman law firm, has graduated from the Heart of America Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Kudos

Cedar Rapids-based TrueNorth has been selected for a 2024 Top Workplace USA award recipient for the third year in a row. The award recognizes organizations with 150 or more employees that have built great cultures.

Other news

The Play Café expansion: The Play Cafe has moved to an expanded location at 153 Marion Blvd. in Marion. The move nearly doubled its space to 2,900 square feet with a dedicated space for parties, a quiet room for overwhelmed or nursing mothers and an outside area for a “fun and safe” playground. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held June 13.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named Details Flowers of Sac County in northwest Iowa as her small business of the week. Cheryl Gerry founded Details Flowers in 2000 to provide in-home visits for floral design, wedding services and home decor. The business grew and expanded into the upper floor of its original Sac City location. Ernst, the ranking member on 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.