Lisa Hulbert recently was hired as AIS’s new direct-sales representative and territory manager covering Michigan. She will be responsible for educating dealers and growing market share in the state for the commercial office furniture and seating manufacturer. Hulbert previously worked as an independent furniture representative for Workplace Resource Inc., where she represented AIS. Hulbert also worked as the North America workplace strategy manager for CBRE on the Dow Chemical account. Before that, she co-owned SPACE Inc., a Haworth dealership, for 15 years.
ACCOUNTING
Hungerford Nichols CPAs + Advisors announced the additions of Brett Watson, tax manager, and Tom Caryl, business adviser.
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Paradigm Design Inc. promoted Brian Sinnott to associate, serving as the civil engineering practice area leader.
ARTS
The Grand Rapids Public Museum intends to showcase the work of 17 artists on the museum’s grounds from Sept. 19 through Oct. 7. The GRPM will once again host an outdoor exhibition in which the artwork will visually lend itself to the setting of the museum grounds.
ASSOCIATIONS
APICS – Grand Rapids announced its 2018-19 board of directors: president, Tracy Knuff, L3 Technologies Inc.; president-elect, Derek Wood, West Michigan Transport LLC; past president, Randy Gilbert, ETNA Supply Co.; vice president of finance, Catherine Bosscher, Bay Valley Foods, vice president of marketing, Ron Kopp, Flexco; in-house and continuing education director, Tod Schwartz, Fogg Filler; public certification education director, Shridhar Bhat, Steelcase Inc.; membership director, Jerry Bays, director-at-large, Michael Gray, Meijer Inc.; director-at-large, Chip Henry, National Nail Corporation; and director-at-large students, Lozjana Aziri, student at Grand Valley State University.
APICS – Grand Rapids announced the following who recently earned their APICS certification: Certified in Logistics, Transportation and Distribution: Jill Split; Certified in Production and Inventory Management: Dustin Hernke and April Stora.
AWARDS
Matt Clauser is the recipient of Kalamazoo-based Principal Financial Group’s Pacesetter Early Achievement and Century Club Awards. Clauser earned the awards for his commitment to a high level of activity and production, while also focusing on education and development that aligns with the firm’s culture.
BANKING
Fifth Third’s Private Bank announced the addition of Jim Anderson as a senior portfolio manager for Grand Rapids, Lakeshore and Kalamazoo clients.
BUSINESS SERVICES
The Flying Locksmiths West-Michigan opened its doors at 2215 Oak Industrial Drive, Suite 116. This is the 91st location for the national franchise that is locally owned and operated by Mike and Sue Lewis.
Gallagher announced the promotion of Steve Kluting, Esq. to national director of product recall of its food and agribusiness practice group. Kluting helps Gallagher’s food, beverage and restaurant clients prepare for food safety incidents, and manages the negotiation, structuring and placement of product recall insurance coverage. He is a certified Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point manager.
CONSTRUCTION
Wolverine Building Group announced the additions of Paul McGuire as senior project manager, Adam Groulx as project manager and Joel Gritzinger as a superintendent. In addition, Marcus Ringnalda accepted a new position as business development manager.
EDUCATION
Divine Providence Academy in Wright Township hired Kate Beuschel as school principal. Previously, she was the early childhood director for Divine Providence Academy for two years. Beuschel’s experience also includes three years as the early childhood director for Steepletown Preschool, three years as a teacher in Sparta and three years as an early childhood special education teacher in Rigby, Idaho.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
USA Financial in Ada launched the Advisor Advancement blog for advancing the adviser profession one blog, podcast and tweet at a time and its companion mobile app, Advisor Advancement, for iOS and Android mobile devices.
GOVERNMENT
The Kent County Purchasing Division implemented a public bid calendar for upcoming business opportunities. The tool can be used for outreach to the business community and increases transparency. The calendar is located at accesskent.com/RFPWorkbench/LoadBidScheduleAction.action.
Kent County and Airbnb recently entered into a tax agreement that authorizes the company to collect hotel taxes on behalf of its Kent County hosts and remit the revenue directly to the county.
GRANTS
The Grand Rapids Public Museum received a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities toward improved museum archival preservation and access planning.
HEALTH
Allegan General Hospital welcomed orthopedic surgeon Christopher Koziara to its medical staff.
LEGAL
Foster Swift attorney Laura J. Genovich earned the 2018 Michigan Assessors Association’s Michigan Property Tax Achievement Award.
Rhoades McKee attorney Thomas Flickinger was named as a 2018 Rising Star in Business and Corporate Law by the annual publication of Michigan Super Lawyers.
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP again was recognized with a 2018 Pro Bono Circle of Excellence Award from the State Bar of Michigan. The firm was recognized at the leadership level for the pro-bono contributions of partners, associates and of-counsel attorneys.
LEISURE & RECREATION
SMG named Chris Anderson as director of facilities. Anderson will have oversight at Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place and DeVos Performance Hall.
SMG announced DeVos Performance Hall instituted an enhanced security policy for all events, requiring all show-goers to pass through metal detectors at all entry points. Bag searches also will be performed, and all bags must measure 14-by-14-by-6 inches or smaller in order to be brought inside. The number of stalls has been increased for men’s and women’s restrooms, and planters are being installed on Monroe Avenue, as well as on the Grand River side of DeVos Place, to provide outside beauty and support the city of Grand Rapids’ tree canopy goals.
MEDIA
13 ON YOUR SIDE morning news anchor Dan Harland announced he is leaving the station to start a new career in real estate, joining Keller Williams East in Grand Rapids. His last day is Nov. 2.
NONPROFITS
D.A. Blodgett – St. John’s achieved national accreditation through the New York-based Council on Accreditation for implementing best practice standards in the field of human services.
MOKA’s newest residence, the Crescent Home, 472 W. Hile Road, Norton Shores, will be the residence of six individuals with developmental disabilities.
The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors moved into the 525 Ottawa Ave. NW building.
Wedgwood Christian Services welcomed Kori Thompson as advancement officer.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Austin Metz joined Holland-based Boileau Communications as writer and content strategist.
TECHNOLOGY
Blue Medora announced its Hybrid Platform Operations solution for a new level of operational visibility into Pivotal Cloud Foundry, including Pivotal Application Service, Pivotal Container Service built on Kubernetes and other Kubernetes distributions on AWS or Dell EMC VxRail hyper-converged infrastructures.
WEBSITES
West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum launched its new website at wmsbf.org.
