Business After Hours; AEA; Cambridge; Royal Concrete; more

Business After Hours at Walton Club

The Walton Club will host Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce?s Business After Hours for chamber members, spouses and guests from 4-6 p.m. Thursday.

Appetizers and beverages will be served, a cash bar for mixed drinks will be available and a raffle for 18 holes of golf for two, with a cart, will be held, while guests meet and socialize with Walton Club staff and club members.

AEA has new associate administrator

Dr. Angelisa Fynaardt has been named the new associate administrator of Great Prairie Area Education Agency.

Fynaardt assumes the position created by the recent retirement of Pam Rubel, special education director. Fynaardt has extensive experience in special education and working with response to intervention strategies. She holds a doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon and a master?s degree in education administration from Viterbo.

Great Prairie Area Education Agency is a regional organization providing school improvement services for students, teachers and administrators. The agency is an educational partner with 33 public school districts and six accredited, private schools in a 14-county area of southeast Iowa. The agency has main offices in Ottumwa and Burlington.

Promotions made at Cambridge

Cambridge Investment Research Inc. has announced recent promotions at its headquarters in Fairfield.

Audrey Brown has been promoted to supervisor of the NFS operations team. Brown joined Cambridge in 2006 as a member of the customer service team. She moved to the NFS operations team in 2007, where she was promoted to senior coordinator in 2008 and team lead in 2011. In her new position, she will supervise daily activities and quality assurance, including measurement of service level standards. In addition, she will provide training and create efficiencies and procedures to improve service.

Matt Clendineng has been promoted to supervisor of the disclosure and dispute resolution team in the compliance department. Clendineng joined Cambridge in 2008 and has served the company in a variety of roles including complaints analyst, senior complaints analyst and team lead. In his new role, he will supervise the disclosures and dispute resolution team and continue to work with regulatory disclosures, while becoming more involved with Cambridge?s errors and omissions policy and escalated compliance issues.

Courtney Belzer has been promoted to team lead, managed accounts, rep-advisor managed platforms. Belzer began her career with Cambridge as a managed accounts specialist in 2007. In her new position, she will assist in the day-to-day processing of management fees, answer team questions and continue to help the managed accounts team meet their deadlines.

Stacia Wright has been promoted to associate regional director, advocacy and supervision. Wright joined Cambridge in August 2009 as a member of the direct account services team. In her new role as associate regional director she will ensure the proper supervision of Cambridge rep-advisors in addition to relationship management.

Pam Neeley has been promoted to database administrator. Neeley joined the firm in April 2007 as a database programmer. In her new position, she will monitor Cambridge?s database servers, looking for underperforming codes and determining how they can be improved or fixed. She will work closely with the development teams.

Toni Tedrow has been promoted to team lead, CLIC coordinators. Tedrow started with the company in 2009 as a CLIC coordinator in the advisor services/tech services department. In her new role, she will be responsible for overseeing daily team activities, assisting the team with complex issues, and facilitating the training of CLIC coordinators.

Barry Waugh has been promoted to associate director, project management. Waugh joined the firm in 2011 as a senior project manager, introducing and implementing project management as a new department within Cambridge. In his new position, he will be responsible for overseeing the activities of the project management team and play a critical role in managing cross-departmental efforts toward successful project launches.

Jeff Miller has been promoted to supervisor of operations development and technology. Miller has been with the firm since 2008. In his new role he will monitor team workflow, review clearing firm bulletins, and oversee access/maintenance processes for all system-related entitlements. In addition he will handle escalated issues, create and maintain training plans for advisors and internal associates, and supervise the risk management process related to block trading system access.

Magazine features Royal Concrete job

Royale Concrete?s project for Valley Oil Distribution Corp. in Burlington is the cover story for the summer edition of Polishing Contractor magazine. Ken Reif, president of Valley Oil expanded his business in 2011 and took over an old chemical warehouse that also houses his office. Reif chose to capitalize on the concrete floor that already existed and polish the river rock concrete which produced a floor that reflects the light while using an existing material.

Polished concrete can be used in many applications including offices, manufacturing facilities, retail and restaurants. There are many benefits to polished concrete including LEED benefits of light reflectivity and reduction of electricity usage as well as the benefit of keeping materials out of the landfill by using an existing product. Polished concrete is growing in popularity and becoming a preferred, low maintenance alternative to other hard flooring options.

Royale Concrete is based in Fairfield and was co-founded by vice president Jeremy Waugh and president Jessica Ledger-Kalen.

To see the article, go to www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cygnus/pc_2012summer.

Dial Iowa One Call before digging

Iowa law requires everyone to contact the state?s Iowa One Call System by dialing 811 before beginning any type of digging or excavating so that underground facilities can be located and identified with ground markings. The dangers of not knowing what is underground while digging are more apparent than ever after two major incidents during April. In two separate cases, workers were digging in the ground and hit natural gas transmission pipelines. Each incident resulted in an explosion, and two people suffered burns and other injuries.

April 25, a crew was using machinery to install drainage tile in a field in Plymouth County when they hit a natural gas pipeline resulting in a fiery explosion. Just two days later, a different crew was tiling a field in Jackson County when they hit a different natural gas pipeline, which also resulted in a huge explosion.

The best way to avoid digging into an underground facility is to follow the requirements of the law and notify Iowa One Call at least 48-hours before beginning any excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.