People & Achievements in the greater Ann Arbor area
• Diane Ratkovitch recently earned a certificate specializing in short sales and foreclosure transactions, and has joined the Kathy Toth Team's Distressed Sales Division.
• Five Charles Reinhart Company Realtors recently completed the 100-day Best Business Practices Series: Sylvia Romeijn, Snow Liao, and Mark Hensel from the North Ann Arbor office, Scott Powers from Reinhart's West Ann Arbor office and Jean Wedemeyer from the South Ann Arbor office. The training program covers all facets of the home buying and selling process including financing, marketing, staging and communication and service to customers.
• The law firm of Miller Canfield is celebrating 25 years in Ann Arbor by volunteering time and donating to 25 local nonprofit organizations. The office officially kicked off its anniversary celebration in July by sponsoring the Gladys Knight concert on opening night of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and the celebration will continue through December 2010. Organizations which have received donations of time, money or supplies from Miller Canfield include the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Humane Society of Huron Valley, Avalon Housing, Bryant Community Center, Creekshead Nature Preserve of the Legacy Land Conservancy, ElderQuest (continuing education at Eastern Michigan University) and Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley. Upcoming projects will include volunteering or donations to Recycle Ann Arbor, the American Cancer Society, Food Gatherers, Neighborhood Senior Services, Perry Nursery, Safe House Center, Toys for Tots and U.S. troops care packages.
• Ann Arbor-based COREmatica announced the release of their incentive payment system for health care provider groups. COREmatica interfaces with billing and time card systems, calculates the incentive pay and then exports gross pay information to HR or a payroll service. COREmatica was released at the American College of Emergency Physicians Scientific Assembly taking place at the Boston at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center Oct. 5 through 8.
• Incept BioSystems Inc., headquartered in Ann Arbor, recently initiated the first U.S. human clinical trial of its proprietary SMART Embryo Culture System. The microscale SMART technology platform is designed to improve the in vitro manipulation, performance and viability of embryos for the treatment of patients undergoing in vitro fertilization. Incept is a privately-held biomedical device company using patented microfluidic technology developed at the University of Michigan.
• Ann Arbor-based Borders Group has signed an agreement with Verizon to provide free Wi-Fi service in almost all of its more than 500 Borders stores nationwide. Service is expected to be available by mid-October.
• Two Ann Arbor-area organizations received honors in the Michigan Society of Association Executives' eighth annual Diamond Awards program, which recognized excellence and innovation in associations. The Michigan Municipal League took home the best e-newsletter award and received honorable mention for its Web site. The Michigan Physical Therapy Association won the award for best membership development and had the top print newsletter.
• On Oct. 2, United Bank & Trust participated in a special "casual Friday" as part of the 14th annual Lee National Denim Day. During the day, employees could wear jeans to work for a $5 donation to the Women's Cancer Programs of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. United employees donated $1,074 to the cause. Funds raised from participation in Denim Day will support research on treatments and early detection as well as efforts to educate those faced with breast cancer. United Bank & Trust and United Bank & Trust - Washtenaw operate 17 banking offices in Lenawee, Washtenaw and Monroe counties
• A new commercial real estate company recently opened for business in Ann Arbor. KW Commercial is a division of Keller Williams Realty. The new company gives commercial agents the opportunity to receive commercial referrals from Keller Williams residential agents. Currently the staff is comprised of Steven McMurtrie , Jennifer Burn and Daniel Salden.
• Chester Engineers, a firm providing water and wastewater and environmental solutions, recently appointed of Jerald Gers as practice leader, Environmental Services Group. Gers is based in the company's Ann Arbor office.
• Attorney Zachary Moen has opened a law practice in downtown Ann Arbor, with an emphasis on representing local businesses and creative entrepreneurs, including artists, musicians, actors, authors, writers, designers, bloggers and other creative professionals.
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