CAREER
Hynes celebrates 50 years in banking
Karen Hynes started her 50-year banking career at Citizens State Bank on July 25, 1961, after graduating from Brainerd High School at age 17.
The bank was located at the corner of Seventh and Laurel streets at what is now the Downtown Art and Frame business. Her first job was as a messenger. In 1974, a new bank was built on the corner of Seventh and Maple, where it still exists . Hynes worked her way up to assistant vice president, specializing in personal banking and home equity lending.
After 39 years with Citizen State Bank (which went through several name changes during those years), Hynes moved on to a new bank in Baxter named Liberty Savings. Three years later it was bought out by Midwest Bank with headquarters in Detroit Lakes. Midwest built a bank a few years later on Highway 371 in Baxter and after five years sold that branch to the Deerwood Bank. Shortly after the sale to the Deerwood Bank, Hynes received a job offer from Brainerd Savings & Loan at the downtown office.
Hynes said in 50 years she’s seen a lot of changes, some good and some questionable, but through it all she enjoyed every minute in the industry and never thought of changing professions.
Roggenkamp attends workshop
Tim Roggenkamp, certified public accountant, recently attended a two-day workshop in Omaha on representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service.
The workshop, sponsored by the American Society of Tax Problem Solvers, is for CPAs, enrolled agents and tax attorneys who specialize in helping clients solve tax problems such as liens, levies, garnishments and other tax assessment and collection issues.
Scott obtains certification
The members of the Brainerd Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals announced Naomi Scott obtained the Certified Administrative Professional certification.
Naomi Scott, CAP, Mission Township, sat for the Certified Administrative Professional examination on May 6-7 and was recently notified of successful completion of the test.
This certification is recognized internationally and is the highest designation for the profession. Less than 200 administrative professionals in Minnesota have the CAP designation.
Scott serves as administrative assistant for Productive Alternatives in Brainerd and serves as chair of the Brainerd IAAP Chapter’s Programs Committee and also is Webmaster for the chapter. She and her husband own Chris Scott Masonry.
Schmitz retirement open house planned
Dr. Peter Schmitz, founder of Northern Orthopedics, Brainerd, is having a retirement open house from 1-4 p.m. Aug. 5 in the Northern Orthopedics lobby, 2014 S. Sixth St.
Schmitz was the first orthopedic surgeon in the Brainerd lakes area and practiced medicine for 36 years.
Deerwood Technologies receives national recognition
Deerwood Technologies was named an “elite” partner of Quest Software.
Deerwood Technologies reported it is the only elite partner of Quest Software in the four-state area. Deerwood Technologies deploys Quest IT management, Server Forensics Auditing, Active Directory and Email Archiving tools to customers throughout the United States.
Jason Przymus, vice president Business Development for Deerwood Technologies, said in a news release deploying advanced solutions has also intensified the company’s rapid expansion in the enterprise Healthcare IT arena, nationally.
Peterson wins performance award
Kevin Peterson of the financial services firm Edward Jones recently won the firm’s Century Award for outstanding performance during 2010.
James D. Weddle, the firm’s managing partner, calls Peterson a leader in the firm and an example of what a dedicated Edward Jones financial adviser can achieve. Peterson was one of only 625 of the firm’s more than 12,000 financial advisers to receive the Century Award.
Summer interns join LHS
STAPLES — Each year, Lakewood Health System, Staples, hosts students for a paid summer job-shadow opportunity, available to any high school junior, senior or post-secondary student with a desire to pursue a health care-related career. This year, there are 20 students in the program.
Lakewood Health System providers and staff teach students about daily job functions, schooling requirements and career opportunities within areas of the students’ interests. Students often receive hands-on experience while working in each department.
Through this internship opportunity, students are afforded the valuable opportunity to see behind-the-scenes, and also learn about some of the non-traditional careers that are available in healthcare. Karen Treangen, registered nurse, is the clinical instructor at LHS. She works with each student to customize schedules based on their interests.
Students are chosen through an application process. Program brochures and applications are sent each year to area school counselors for distribution.
Integra Telecom earns certification
Integra Telecom Inc. earned Digium’s Session Initiation Protocol Trunking Interoperability certification with Digium’s Switchvox SMB unified communications solution.
Ward’s 50 Top recognizes Thrivent Financial
LITTLE FALLS — Thrivent Financial for Lutherans was included among the 2011 Ward’s 50 Top Performing Insurance Companies.
The list was released July 12 by Ward Group, an operational consulting firm and provider of benchmarking services to the insurance industry.
Of nearly 800 life-health insurance companies analyzed in the survey, Thrivent Financial was placed among the top 50. Each Ward’s 50 company passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five-year period of analysis (2006-2010).
Ward Group evaluates company performance based on the following criteria: Five-year average return on: average equity, average assets, total revenue; growth in revenue; growth in surplus.
LHS begins fundraising campaign
STAPLES — Lakewood Health System has officially begun its capital campaign to raise money to revitalize the care center.
The hope is to add various technological, logistical and aesthetic improvements, such as a new call light system, improved family gathering and resident rooms and a private hospice room for residents and their families.
This renovation calls for a community investment of $400,000, with a 2-to-1 match from the state, making it a total of $1.2 million to complete the project. With a donation, comes the opportunity to name a wing or room of the care center. So far, 100 percent of the LHS Foundation and System board members have pledged to participate in the campaign.
Zimmerman is LF employee of the month
LITTLE FALLS — Ashley Zimmerman, Little Falls, was selected as the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce employee of the month for August.
Zimmerman has three jobs — as cashier at Coborn’s, personal care assistant at Accurate Home Care and a waitress at The Fork Steakhouse.
She’s been working at Corborn’s for more than four years, almost three years at Accurate Home Care and nearly a year at The Fort Steakhouse.
Greg Zylka, a supervisor, said Zimmerman is noted for a “great attitude” and consistently receiving positive comments on her customer service.
DONATION
Wells Fargo employees contribute volunteer hours
Wells Fargo employees and customers contributed volunteer hours on a Habitat for Humanity/ Thrivent Build in Brainerd on July 12, 13 and 14.
As a result, the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation awarded Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity $15,000 towards the building project. To qualify for the $10,000 grant level, Wells Fargo Team members must contribute at least 60 hours of their time as well as recruit customers and other volunteers to help on site.
Since Lakes Area Habitat meets the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation Green Building standards, they qualify for an additional $5,000. In addition to volunteering their time, their $15,000 donation will supplement the Thrivent/Lutheran contributions helping to pay for many of the materials needed on site the first week including lumber, doors, windows, shingles, siding & trusses. The Wells Fargo Housing Foundation will contribute up to $30,000 per year to help eliminate sub-standard housing in the Lakes Area.
Bremer Bank campaign focuses on hunger
During its sixth annual “Taking Action to End Hunger” Campaign, Bremer Bank’s $50,000 matching gift was met and exceeded when donations jumped 65 percent year-over-year.
Donations were made during the month of June through a combination of online giving, as well as employee and client events. This year’s campaign raised $84,614 — up from last year’s final tally of $51,133. In six years, the campaign has raised $847,434 for Feeding America and local foodshelves.
This year, the campaign kicked-off with a flash mob video that triggered an additional $10,000 donation from Bremer with $1 donated every time the video was played, up to 10,000 views. The flash mob to end hunger video can be found at www.youtube.com/bremerbanks. In addition to monetary donations, Bremer employees also donated their time and energy in the form of volunteerism by stocking local food shelves and preparing food packages in various communities.
“Our employees really stepped up this year getting behind this issue and raising awareness to end hunger,” said Mike Riley, market manager of Bremer Bank Brainerd in a news release. “I would like to extend a big thank you to employees, clients, friends and family in Bremer Bank communities who supported this campaign.”
AWARDS
Nor-Son places in top international award
Summit International Awards announced that Nor-Son Inc. is a two-time winner in the 2011 Summit Creative Award competition for its creative marketing efforts in its Redesign/Rebranded campaign.
Nor-Son received a Silver Award for its website redesign and bronze for its proposal cover redesign/rebrand.
The Summit Creative Award recognizes and celebrates the creative accomplishments of small and medium sized advertising agencies and other in-house marketing groups.
Entries in 23 major categories are judged against a stringent set of standards. During the blind judging events Judges search for innovative and creative concepts, strong executions and the ability to communicate and persuade.
This year’s creative competition included companies from the following twenty-two countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, China - Hong Kong, Denmark, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Oman, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Spain, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States and United Kingdom.
For more information, go online to http://www.summitawards.com/winners/summit-creative-award/redesignrebran....
CenterPoint Energy receives Telly Award
CenterPoint Energy recently received a Telly Award, which honors the finest video and film productions and work created for the Web, as well as the very best local, regional and cable television commercials and programs.
The winning video explains the company’s new inverted block rate structure and encourages customers to conserve energy.
CenterPoint Energy’s video was produced by Studio 120, a Plymouth-based advertising agency. Dan Hagen, division vice president of gas regulatory activities for CenterPoint Energy recognized Studio 120 for “creating a video that explains the complexities of our regulated rates in an easy, understandable way, which can be a daunting task.”
The Telly Awards are given out each year to inspire local and regional organizations to produce creative ideas and support the fine arts. This year, the Telly Awards had over 11,000 submissions of video, film and web productions.
For more information, http://www.centerpointenergy.com/promo/ratecase/MN.
Roehl receives Signature Award
Bill Roehl, senior cabinet designer of Nor-Son, Inc., earned the Signature Award from Crystal Cabinets for a fifth year in a row.
The Signature Award is the top regional award that an individual can receive within a five-state area and is given in recognition of sales volume. Nor-Son, Inc. ranked fourth in the nation of nearly 700 Crystal Cabinet dealers nationwide. Roehl’s extensive design capabilities and 30 -plus years of experience in the cabinet industry has given him the ability to reach this goal. Roehl is currently studying for a Certified Kitchen Designer degree with the National Kitchen and Bath Association.
Meyer receives national recognition award
LITTLE FALLS — Dan Meyer, CEO of Atomic Learning Inc., was honored with the Making It Happen jacket for his contributions to the successful integration of technology in education in K-12 schools.
While attending The International Society for Technology in Education 2011 conference in Philadelphia, Meyer was honored by the ISTE for his dedication to education and successful integration of technology in the classroom.
The Making It Happen program has made a commitment to work with U.S. state and national organizations and conferences to identify individuals who are truly Making It Happen within their respective state or region and to recognize them publicly.
Successful integration of educational technology requires a common passion, initiative and pledge that can best be summarized by the Making It Happen Formula of Success.
Meyer joins a prestigious group of Making It Happen honorees, including classroom teachers, school principals, district superintendents, legislators, governors, and even former Secretary of Education Richard Riley.
Submit a business note
To submit a business news note, contact Renee Richardson, senior reporter, by e-mail at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com, by fax to 829-0211, by mail to P.O. Box 974, Brainerd, MN 56401, or via a drop box at the side of the Dispatch along the alley.
Photos may be submitted as jpegs via e-mail or sent in by mail or taken at the Dispatch by appointment.
Questions are welcome through e-mail or by calling 855-5852.
