Business briefs

Faces and places

US Bank recently named Jim Colahan, Lawrence, as vice president and managing director of the Private Client Group offering trust and investment services in the Lawrence and Topeka areas. Colahan graduated from Kansas University and was a partner with a Salina CPA firm for 14 years. He most recently worked as a financial and investment consultant in the Salina A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. office.

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Ryan Wedel, vice president of Central National Bank in Lawrence, has completed the three-year program at the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado. He received the Award for Outstanding Achievement, an award given to the top 10 percent of the graduating class.

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Pratt-based Stanion Wholesale Electric Co. recently announced that Otto Buche, Lawrence, will serve as executive vice president and as a member of the board of directors for the company. Dan Casey will serve as vice president of sales and as a member of the board of directors. Monty Matthews will serve as vice president of operations and as a member of the board of directors.

Bob Heitman, Pratt, is retiring as vice president of operations but will continue to serve on the board of directors.

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Spread the News Public Relations Inc., Lawrence, has added a new service to help its clients with their publicity and advertising needs. Kathi Eubank of ReilandEubank will provide media buying and planning services to Spread The News clients. Eubank has more than 20 years of experience in helping businesses get the most out of their advertising budgets. Spread The News specializes in generating publicity and media exposure for products, businesses, inventions and experts.

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Ranelle Fischer, Barbara Starr and Jamie Smith have received promotions at Emprise Bank in Lawrence. Fischer, who has been with the bank for seven years, has been promoted to assistant vice president overseeing consumer lending and loan operations. Starr has been promoted to teller operations officer and has worked for the bank since 1999. Smith has been promoted to consumer lender/credit analyst and has been with the bank since 1999.

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The Kansas Department of Human Resources has announced that its Registered Apprenticeship program is the recipient of a $220,000 grant from the State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The grant will target expansion into energy, health care and social service industries where Registered Apprenticeship can help employers meet their needs for a skilled workforce. The grant will help promoted the benefits of Registered Apprenticeship and assist employers to develop or expand a program to train their employees through Registered Apprenticeship. The grant also will help fund Web-based instruction for certain occupations.

For more information on becoming involved with Registered Apprenticeship, call Loretta Shelley of the Kansas Apprenticeship Council at (785) 296-4161.

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Pro-Print Inc., an area printing firm, celebrated its 20th anniversary on Friday. The company is owned by Don and Shirley Grantham, Topeka. The Granthams established the company, then called Seabrook Print Shoppe, in 1983 in Topeka. The owners opened a Lawrence store at 838 Mass. in 1987. The Lawrence store is managed by Rhonda Gibler.

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Shelley Davis has been named director of major gifts on the Institutional Advancement staff at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. Davis will be responsible for cultivating gifts and donor relations. Davis previously was development director for the School of Social Welfare for the Kansas University Endowment Association. She also was the director for the Annual Funds program for the KU Medical Center. Davis received a bachelor’s degree in communication studies at KU. She is working on a master’s degree in management at Baker University.

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Joel Mermis, a medical student from Kansas University’s School of Medicine-Wichita, is studying in Lawrence for four weeks with Gerald Pees, a clinical assistant professor in internal medicine. He is participating in the rural internal medicine program.

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Kasey Gooch has joined Lawrence Therapy Services and Baldwin Therapy Services as an occupational therapist. Gooch received a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from Newman University in Wichita. Gooch specializes in shoulder and hand injuries and in working with older adults in their home to address fall prevention and safety.

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Sonya Maness-Turner and Janet Scott of Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate earned the nationally recognized real estate designation of GRI or Graduate Realtor Institute. To achieve the title, a real estate professional must be a member of the national, state and local board/association of realtors and complete 90 hours of advanced coursework.

Honors and awards

Edward Jones received the top ranking by Fortune magazine in its annual listing of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America. The listing will appear in the magazine’s Jan. 20 edition. Fortune’s editors cite the firm’s profit-sharing program and significant employee ownership.

The company operates several investment offices in Lawrence. Lawrence investment advisors who work for the firm are: Harley Catlin, Richard Brooks, Kevin Burenheide, Stephen Carttar, Brad Lemmon, and Ryan Catlin.

Coming events

The Lawrence Apple User’s Group 2.0 will have its first meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt. User groups are a unique way to network with other Macintosh users and fans. An attendee of the MacWorld convention will be the speaker. There also will be a discussion of the benefits of upgrading to OS X and Jaguar. For more information, contact Dave at dsg@mac.com.

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The Twilight Chapter of the American Business Women’s Assn. will be at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 20th at the American Legion, 3408 W. Sixth St. Networking will be from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The cost of the dinner buffet is $10.

The program will feature Sidney Sutton of Taste of Yoga. She will discuss the art, techniques and benefits of yoga. Members should wear casual clothing if they would like to participate in her demonstration.

For more information or to make a reservation, contact Val Kampfer, chapter president, at 842-0301 or Paula Commons, membership chairwoman, at 749-8102.

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The College Boulevard Breakfast Club will meet from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the Marriott Hotel, Interstate 435 and Metcalf Street, in Overland Park. The speaker will be Chris Watkins, a marketing strategist with Mind Share Inc. Watkins will discuss target marketing and present “Can You Hit the Target if Your Eyes are Closed?” Watkins is an adjunct instructor in management and marketing at Baker University’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies. She is a certified trainer for the Center for Business and Technology at Johnson County Community College.

The club meets from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. every Thursday at the Overland Park Marriott. No reservations are required. For more information, click on www.cbbc-op.org.