PEORIA MAGAZINE April 2023

BUSINESS NEWS

IN BRIEF

HIRES AND RETIRES

philanthropic excellence. IPCF works in McLean, DeWitt, Livingston and Logan counties. Two Bradley University online nursing programs have been named among the best in the nation for 2023. Nurse Practitioner Online, an advocate for advanced practice nursing and education, ranked Bradley’s online post master’s Nurse Practitioner programs as fourth best in the nation. The group ranked Bradley’s online Family Nurse Practitioner program as eighth best in its category. Natural Fiber Welding (NFW) has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023. NFW is ranked fourth in the Energy and Sustainability category. The list spotlights honorees confronting the climate crisis head-on via innovation. Fast Company highlighted NFW’s work in creating plant-based leather. Trouble Free Heating, Cooling and Plumbing has announced that Heather Dunbar of Peoria will be the recipient of a free furnace in this year’s Warmth from the Heart program. Dunbar is a single parent supporting her parents, who are struggling with health issues, and working to house homeless veterans across Illinois. UPCOMING EVENTS The Illinois Small Business Development Center at Bradley University is offering a no-cost, in-person training event, Social Media: YouTube—Creating and Using Video , from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 6 at the Business and Engineering Convergence Center at Bradley. Co sponsored by SCORE Peoria , the session will explain how YouTube works, what to include in videos, types of videos and

College Engineering Program; Cheryl Procter-Rogers , (Buffalo Grove) 1978 grad and executive coach and associate director for EY Americas Coaching Practice; Matt Vonachen (Peoria), CEO of the Vonachen Group; and Garrett Williams , (Chicago), 1992 grad and senior vice president and global chief compliance officer of CNA Financial. The Pediatric Resource Center has announced the addition of three members to its Community Board: Rebekah Williams , mortgage specialist at EZMortgage; Alicia VanRheeden , attorney at Quinn Johnston; and Jenna Grimm , president at Grimm’s Inc. At its annual meeting in February, Pekin Insurance elected three directors to three-year terms: Anthony S. Burkhart , Vincennes, Indiana.; Brian K. Lee , Pekin; and Sheri N. Roser , Carmi. The three also were elected to The Farmers Automobile Insurance Association Advisory Committee, along with Daniel V. Connell of Tremont. Connell was elected chairman of the board, president and CEO. Craig W. Concklin now is board vice chairman.

Veloxity Labs, LLC , has welcomed Callie Celichowski as senior director of business development. She joins the bioanalytical services laboratory in Peoria after successful tenures with Covance, Seventh Wave Labs and Inotiv. Brian Brown is the new director of probation and court services for Peoria County in the Tenth Judicial Circuit . He will assume his duties on April 17. Brown will report to the court administrator and chief judge and will oversee the divisions of adult probation, juvenile probation and juvenile detention. at Bradley University. Her career there concluded as the director of the Braves Club. Cook also helped organize Bradley University’s 2021 Day of Giving cam paign, which raised more than $400,000. ELECTIONS AND SELECTIONS The Board of Trustees at Bradley University has announced six new members for 2023. They are Brad Halverson (Peoria), the retired group president and CFO of Caterpillar Inc.; Leo Harmon Jr. (Chicago), a 1992 BU grad and senior managing director and chief investment officer of Mesirow Equity Management; Stephen Lewis , (West Bloomfield, Michigan), 1972 grad and retired director of strategic planning for Ford Motor Company, currently serving as president of the Detroit Area Pre Lisa Cook has joined the Morton Chamber of Commerce and Econom ic Development Council as business connection coordinator. She previ ously spent three years

RECOGNITION AND AWARDS

Illinois Prairie Community Foundation (IPCF) has received re-accreditation with National Standards for U.S. Com munity Foundations®, indicating that IPCF meets the highest standards for

108 APRIL 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE