Chris Allen
Robert Jones
• Ann Arbor-based real estate management firm McKinley recently promoted two employees. Chris Allen, formerly a commercial portfolio manager in the commercial client services division, and Robert Jones, who has been with McKinley for four years, have both been promoted to assistant director of commercial portfolio management.
• Chelsea-based Dayspring Gifts recently promoted Melinda Schmidt to the position of store manager. Schmidt worked as a part-time associate in the store on two separate occasions before being promoted to her new position.
• The Ann Arbor location of Cole Taylor Mortgage has made several charitable contributions at the requests of employees. This holiday season, Cole Taylor teamed with the Magic of Christmas Adopt a Family program and Big Brothers and Big Sisters Adopt a Family in Ann Arbor. The employees at CTM donated more than $3,000 in gifts in addition to a corporate sponsorship. Additionally, CTM recently teamed with Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley to sponsor a whole house renovation; employees will make a major contribution in sweat equity to the renovation of this home. The renovation will begin in February 2013.
• A new affiliation between Lansing-based Sparrow Children’s Center and the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital was announced in mid-December. The affiliation will promote collaboration between physicians at U of M’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Sparrow Children’s Center, providing Sparrow patients access to specialized pediatric care, making clinical research trials more readily available in each community and enhancing neonatal intensive care transport when the University of Michigan Survival Flight takes over as Sparrow's air medical transport service Jan. 1.
• The Ann Arbor-based Toyota Technical Center, a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing - North America, has promoted two employees: Andrew Lund was promoted from executive program manager to chief engineer for the Toyota Sienna, and Kristen Tabar was promoted from general manager of electrical systems-2 to vice president of electrical systems engineering.
• Transportation logistics company J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. has selected Supply Chain Guru software by Ann Arbor-based LLamasoft to aid in simulating and optimizing supply chain networks for J.B. Hunt.
• Dr. Kyung Cho , an Ann Arbor physician who is board-certified in vascular and interventional radiology, has been selected by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. for inclusion in its guide of the nation's top 1 percent of medical specialists, America's Top Doctors. Dr. Cho is a physician with the U-M Medical Center's Department of Radiology and also serves as a professor of radiology with the U-M Medical School.
• The Ann Arbor Art Center recently received $22,500 for capital improvements from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The nonprofit art center also received a $12,000 operational grant from MCACA which will go toward expanding the organization’s programming efforts.
• French company Faurecia, with help from Ann Arbor SPARK, recently announced it plans to invest significantly in its Saline operations. Ann Arbor SPARK officials visited Faurecia’s headquarters outside of Paris to tout the benefits of its location in Saline and also facilitated connections between the company and the City of Saline. Faurecia’s Saline operations, which employ approximately 1,200 workers, focus on technologies such as injection molding, skin manufacturing and foam operations. The company, headquartered in Nanterre, France with North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, is the world’s sixth-largest automotive equipment supplier. The City of Saline recently granted Faurecia an Industrial Facilities Tax incentive on its investment, which the company will use for facility improvements.
• NSF International, a independent public health organization based in Ann Arbor, announced its 2012 "Employee of the Year" and "Team of the Year" award winners. Lead Office Administrator Kate Principe was honored with the employee of the year award, while the NSF Green Chemistry Team - consisting of Anne Labut, Brad Lampe, Nancy Linde, Teresa McGrath and Mahya Wood - received the team of the year award. NSF writes standards and tests and certifies products for food, water, health sciences and consumer goods industries.
• The Fabulous Mr. Fix It, based in Saline, has been awarded the 2012 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on approximately 5 percent of all the businesses rated at www.angieslist.com, a site for consumer reviews on local service and health providers.
• Charter One has expanded banking hours at its full-service Hiller's branch at 3615 Washtenaw Ave. The bank’s new hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
• Ann Arbor-based nonprofit Arbor Research Collaborative for Health has been approved for a research award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study how patients with kidney failure select from two different types of dialysis.
• John A. Lingl, an attorney in the Ann Arbor office of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S., has been elected a shareholder in the firm effective January 2013. Lingl focuses his practice on patent, copyright and trademark litigation.
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