Business Notes for Jan. 5, 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

Mary Cannon, ARNP, has joined MercyCare Medical District as a nurse practitioner.

Brent Meskimen recently joined Hills Bank as financial crimes risk management officer in the bank’s Hills office.

Appointments

Cassandra (Chalhoub) Kotek has been named chair of the Marion Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Kotek, who’s been on the chamber’s board since 2022, is vice president of marketing at Farmers State Bank.

Kudos

Mercy Medical Center has announced that Kathy Good — senior director of the Chris & Suzy DeWolf Innovation Center for Aging & Dementia and the Family Caregivers Center of Mercy — has been named a 2024 Worldmaker Honoree. The Community Weaver Award is presented to individuals who exemplify community-based collaboration and foster a sense of belonging for all. The awards, now in their third year, are a global recognition program spotlighting remarkable individuals who make a difference in their communities.

Other news

Free ice skating: The ImOn Ice arena in Cedar Rapids, 1100 Rockford Rd. SW, is celebrating its 25th anniversary, with an afternoon of free ice skating on Jan. 18, from 1 to 4 p.m. A DJ will provide music, plus there will be cake and giveaways.

Teddy Bear Toss: The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders collected around 1,300 teddy bears from their fans before Christmas, and PuroClean, a Cedar Rapids business that restores homes and businesses after water and fire damage, cleaned and dried the bears for donation to Waypoint, a nonprofit that assists families in Cedar Rapids, Toys for Tots and the Boys and Girls Club in Cedar Rapids.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst last week named Iowa Spring Manufacturing of Dallas County as her 99th small business of the week.

James Bianco leveraged his experience working at a mechanical spring company to launch the company in 1976, manufacturing large, heavy-duty metal springs for agricultural and mechanical equipment and overhead garage doors.

In 1979, he and his wife, Kathy, moved the company to Adel, in west-central Iowa. The company has added operations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and now has more than 450,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Ernst, the ranking member on the Senate’s Small Business Committee, named one exceptional small business of the week in each of Iowa’s counties in the past congressional session. She will chair the committee this year.