The following is a list of achievements by businesses and individuals in the Ann Arbor area:

• Barbara Campbell, a community advocate with a nursing background, and Norma Pryor McCuiston, former community project coordinator for the Ann Arbor Public Schools, have been named to the board of directors for Packard Health. Campbell has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years in a variety of capacities, including nursing education at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, a nurse practitioner at the University of Michigan Student Health Service and as a parish nurse at the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor. McCuiston recently retired after 24 years in the Ann Arbor Public Schools as the coordinator of Community Partnerships and Projects.

• The Ann Arbor Summer Festival recently announced the addition of six new members to its board of trustees: Tom Crawford, Stephanie Blackburn Freeth, Beth Halloran, Mary Kerr, Jon Kinsey and Rich Sheridan. The festival also announced its slate of officers for the new year: James A. Kosteva as chair, Erik W. Bakker as vice chair, Kevin S. McDonald as secretary, Michael S. Dubin as treasurer and Patrica M. Garcia as immediate past chair.

• Chef Angela Eddins of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Chef Steve Babiak of Benny’s Bakery took top honors in the first annual Girl Scout Baker’s Dozen Cookie Dessert Bake-Off, held Sept. 14 at Washtenaw Community College. Area restaurants, bakeries and caterers competed with creations made with Girl Scout cookies and brought in more than $27,500 for outreach programs of Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, Ann Arbor Regional Center. Other local restaurants or bakeries who had recipes that placed second or third in the competition included Queen of Hearts Bakery, Paesano’s Restaurant, University Catering and Carson’s American Bistro.

• Ann Arbor-based Akervall Technologies was recently approved for a Department of Defense grant for $120,000 to develop a second generation Protech Dent mouth guard. The mouth guard for teeth protection is thinner, more pliable and stronger than existing alternatives.

• Arbor Photonics Inc., headquartered in Ann Arbor, received $44,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation for its work on "High Power Pulsed Fiber Lasers for EUV Lithography."

• OG Technologies Inc. of Ann Arbor was selected to receive a federal grant of $933,000 from the Department of Energy for the development of an optical caliper, a measurement tool for hot objects. This grant is funded by the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

• Pittsfield Charter Township received a bond rating upgrade to the second highest category of “AA” from its previous rating of A+ by Standard & Poor’s. This includes an upgrade of Pittsfield Township’s management practices from “standard” to “good.”

• In August, Ann Arbor-based private duty nursing company Visiting Angels celebrated its eight anniversary. The owner of the company is registered nurse Angil Tarach-Ritchey.

• Ingenex Digital Marketing, based in Ann Arbor, is expanding its digital marketing team with two new hires who specialize in the areas of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing. Tiffany Risner is the new interactive marketing coordinator responsible for expanding the social media presence and interaction for Internet marketing firm Ingenex and its clients. Megan Meade was hired as an SEO copywriter. In related news, Ingenex has designed and built a new website for the Cranbrook Institute of Science. In addition to the new website, Ingenex donated its services to build out social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to support the Cranbrook Institute of Science's social media efforts.

• Arbor Hospice, based in Ann Arbor, will officially open a new office in Monroe on Sept. 29. To celebrate, Arbor Hospice will host an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. at the new office, located at 1114 West Front Street, in Monroe.

• Edwards Brothers announced Sept. 21 that book industry veteran Andrew Pate would join Edwards Brothers in the newly-created position of director of digital and program sales.

• The University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Ross School of Business on Sept. 21 announced the Social Venture Fund. Created in Fall 2009 and now seeking to make its first investment, the creators hope to use the fund to transform the way business is done by training the next generation of socially-minded business leaders to invest in and manage sustainable, innovative, for-profit companies that place the generation of a significant social impact at the heart of their mission. The Social Venture Fund will make early-stage investments of up to $200,000 in for-profit organizations that can deliver "double bottom line" returns in six key areas: education, environment, finance, food and nutrition, health and urban revitalization.

• Campfire Interactive Inc., a software company located in Ann Arbor, recently earned a position on the 2010 Inc. 5,000 ranking for the fastest growing private companies in America, based on revenue growth from 2006 to 2009.

• Dan Oman, vice president of RMT, was recognized by the American Foundry Society with the James P. Keating Founders' Freedom Award and the Jonathan Stone Outstanding EHS Contribution Award for his commitment to the metalcasting industry. Oman was presented the Stone Award for his EHS-related contribution, specifically his efforts to lead the merger of FIRST (a foundry byproduct recycling organization) with AFS. He received the Keating Award Sept. 21. The Keating Award recognizes significant contributions to the metalcasting industry and active participation in government affairs, human resource management, safety and health or education. Oman has been a member of AFS since 1992, is past president of AFS-FIRST, and is on the board of directors for the Foundry Association of Michigan. Oman currently leads RMT's metals treatment initiative, developing innovative ways to address metal contamination issues. RMT is headquartered in Madison, Wisc. with offices across the country, including one in Ann Arbor.

• Ann Arbor -based ProQuest was ranked 17th in the 2010 InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology.

• Ann Arbor SPARK is accepting applications for FastTrack Awards. Sponsored by Weidmayer, Schneider, Raham and Bennett,CPAs, FastTrack Awards are presented to companies with consistent records of growth. For the 2010 FastTrack awards, companies are required to have revenue of at least $100,000 in 2006, and average growth of 20 percent for the following three years. To qualify, companies must report 2009 revenues greater than 2008 revenues. FastTrack Awards will be featured within AnnArbor.com's Deals of the Year ceremony on Nov. 5. The application deadline is Oct. 15.

• Eastern Michigan University and its faculty, students and staff recently received numerous awards.
-For the seventh straight year, the College of Business has been recognized by The Princeton Review as One of the Best Business Schools.
-The Direct Marketing Association announced that two teams from EMU's Integrated Marketing Communications online graduate program won first and third places in the worldwide 2010 Collegiate Echo Awards competition.
-Student organizations also received honors. The Society for Human Resource Management was selected as one of the "Top Ten" chapters in the U.S. for the eighth straight year; APICS (The Association for Operations Management) received the platinum award, the highest possible, for the 10th year in a row; Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting student organization, was designated as a "Superior Chapter" for the 15th time.
-Dan Brickner, associate professor of accounting, was selected as the statewide MACPA's Outstanding Accounting Teacher Award.
-Professor of Accounting and Finance Angela L.J. Hwang is a 2010 recipient of the EMU Teaching Excellence Award, to be presented Oct. 30.

• Lawrence G. (L.G.) Almeda, a shareholder in the Ann Arbor office of law firm Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, was announced a recipient of CORP magazine’s Salute toDiversity award. The diversity winners were selected in three categories, and Almeda was named in the Diversity Leader category. Almeda's roles include being a federally-appointed member and chairperson of Michigan's State Advisory Committee of the U.S Commission on Civil Rights, immediate past president of American Citizens for Justice and serving on the executive board of the Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission for the State of Michigan as secretary.

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