Change Ups: Dentler receives Golden Pelvis Award

Change Ups: Dentler receives Golden Pelvis Award

Jennifer Dentler, coordinator of the Allegan Pelvic Wellness Center and Allegan General Hospital’s Spirit of Women program, recently earned the Golden Pelvis Award during the Improving Outcomes in Pelvic Health conference in Chicago. Dentler received the award for exemplifying excellence in the advancement of women’s pelvic health awareness and action, and because of her dedication to improving the lives of women in an underserved market by focusing on quality of life and promoting pelvic health.

ACCOUNTING

Brickley DeLong PC announced four new full-time employees and three interns starting in January. Grand Rapids office: David Hendrickson and Michael Glowacki, staff accountants, and Jacob Barton, intern. Muskegon office: Bryan Jacques and Evan Patterson, staff accountants, and interns Joey Nejedlo and Zachary Meyers.

AWARDS

Jennifer Cross of Modiv Coach, a Muskegon-based life coaching business, was named a 2014 Outstanding Young Michigander for exemplifying the best attributes of the state’s young people by the Michigan Jaycees Foundation.

Michigan Business and Professional Association named Applied Imaging the MichBusiness Champion of the Year in the Mid-Size Company (50-250) category for its impressive revenue growth and customer focus culture.

Michigan Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan has received the Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award. Corrigan left the Michigan Supreme Court in 2011 to become director of the Department of Human Services, and is retiring at the end of this year.

BANKING

Bank manager Melody Butters recently transferred from Independent Bank’s Alpine Avenue branch in Grand Rapids to its Rockford branch. She has been working for Independent since 2006 and was the manager of the Alpine branch from 2012-2014.

BUSINESS SERVICES

Kurt M. Brauer, a partner with Warner Norcross & Judd LLP, has been selected to serve as chair of the newly created Great Lakes Ag-Tech Business Incubator.The statewide nonprofit will help farmers and entrepreneurs in the agricultural technology industry develop successful business strategies.

CONSTRUCTION

CSM Group of Kalamazoo has named Shouldice Brothers, R.W. LaPine Inc., Lounsbury’s Excavating Inc. and Circuit Electric Inc. as recipients of its 2014 Key Performer Award. These companies have demonstrated dedication to excellence in the CSM Select program and performed in the top 1 percent of eligible candidates. CSM Group also welcomed project engineer Mike Dietz to the team.

Rockford Construction announced the additions of Dan Buskirk as project executive of the company’s education team, and several superintendents: Brent Hillard, Glenn Hutchinson, Dave Matelski, Daniel Ruppert, Matthew Wenzel, Dan Kowalski and Doug Schroeder. Neil Gillett is a new preconstruction manager, and Jim Klunder is a project manager and estimator for the trades group.

EDUCATION

Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo is among 30 organizations nationally that receive nearly $12.5 million from AT&T to strengthen and expand their evidence-based programs that help students graduate from high school and prepare for college and a career.

Hope College engineering major Daniel Vessells won second place in the General Engineering and Engineering Education category for his presentation, “A New Approach to Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium Property Prediction from Cubic Equations of State,” at the National Student Conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineersheld in Atlanta. Hope engineering majors Gavin Donley, Scott Essenmacher, Andrew Harrison, Skylar Heidema and Minchul Kim also presented their research.

Hope College has received a $3 million gift from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Down Foundation of Midland, which will enable the school to establish a new residential learning community in the sciences focused on helping improve the Macatawa watershed.

The Office of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Grand Rapids has hired two staff members for two newly created positions: Dan Plachta, admissions enrollment field consultant, and Annalise Kransz, marketing communications coordinator.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Waddell & Reed’s financial wellness program was cited in a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, Financial Wellness at Work: A Review of Promising Practices and Policies.

GRANTS

Grand Rapids Symphony has been recommended to receive a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Artsto support its annual presentation of the Symphony with Soul concert, as well as collaborative workshops involving GRS musicians and local students.

The West Michigan Center for Arts + Technology has received a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its Teen Arts + Tech program, empowering urban teens through high engagement in the visual arts and technology.

HEALTH

CrossFit Luminary, 610 Maryland Ave. NE, has re-opened with new programming, expanded offerings and equipment following a fire that temporarily closed the new business earlier this year. CrossFit offers strength and conditioning programs, traditional CrossFit classes, a competition program and private coaching. Expanded programming is planned for next summer with an Olympic weightlifting class.

Spectrum Health announced it is the leading enroller in an international clinical trial for a new investigational device designed for the repair of some abdominal aortic aneurysms.

LEGAL

Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC announced the arrival of five new associates: Allison M. Collins, Leslie A. Dickinson, Julie C. LaVille, Emory D. Moore Jr. and Michael C. Zahrt.

Law Weathers announced the addition of associates Brett Liefbroer, with a focus in real estate and business law, and Brad Fowler, whose focus is on public sector law and litigation.

Miller Canfield announced Lisa J. Zigterman has joined the firm as an associate in the banking group in the Grand Rapids office. Her practice focuses on financial institutions and includes preparing and negotiating commercial lending agreements.

Matthew M. O’Rourke has joined Miller Johnson as an associate in the Grand Rapids office. 

Rhoades McKee announced Jackie M. Appleman has joined the firm as a litigation associate. Appleman interned with the firm in 2012 and 2013 as a Grand Rapids Bar Association and Floyd Skinner Bar Minority Clerkship Program participant.

Varnum announced the additions of attorney Eric R. Post, who joined the firm's Grand Rapids office, and the following associates, also to the Grand Rapids office: Nicholas C. Heinz, Sherry X. Lin and John W. Sturgis VII.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

GrandPR, Grand Valley State University’s student-run public relations firm, was granted national affiliation recognition by the Public Relations Student Society of America for the second time since its establishment in 2007.

RETAIL

Biggby Coffee’s newest location is at 1033 Gezon Parkway SW in Wyoming. It features free Wi-Fi and a full menu of gourmet coffee, tea and frozen drinks. Hours are 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.

SERVICES

Centre Spa and Wellness has opened a 5,850-square-foot spa and salon at 2276 E. Centre Ave., Portage. The full-service salon provides hair, nail and makeup services, spa manicures and pedicures. A grand opening is planned for early 2015.