Business Notes for Sept. 15, 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 emailed to businessnotes@thegazette.com.

New Hires

Eli Nesmith has joined Gutschmidt Properties in Cedar Rapids as property manager.

GreatAmerica Financial Services has announced the following new team members: Carley Balachio, operations support, development; Levi Brodrecht, service desk analyst — enterprise; Matthew Slechta, sales tax specialist; Preston Hayes, account support adviser; Yen Tran, cash applications specialist; and Lucas Everman, service desk analyst.

Other news

CCR Technologies holding company: Circle Computers Resources has launched a holding company, CCR Technologies, which brings together brands the Cedar Rapids company has created and developed over the past five years: BeyondReach, ConstructEdge, CCR Media, Orbit Farm Technologies, and Sandwire.

Circle Computers Resources was founded in 1986 in Cedar Rapids as a computer repair business and has grown into a global technology provider. Its mission, according to a news release, is to empower the future of business, innovating with teams and clients, to solve complex business problems with technology solutions.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named Van Denover Jewelry of Fayette County, a three-generation business, as her small business of the week.

Jim Van Denover completed watch, clock and jewelry courses at Gem City College before buying Davis Jewelers in Oelwein in 1962. He ran Van Denover Jewelry for more than 25 years, collaborating with 14 local jewelry store owners to establish the Regional Jewelry Organization, a hub for reasonably priced jewelry.

In 1988, Van Denover’s daughter, Linda, took over the company until 2019 when her son, Chad Benter, stepped into the leadership role. He updated the store’s packaging and completed the store’s first major renovation since a tornado hit Oelwein in 1968.

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.