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

• Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Len Niehoff< was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. NACUA is the nation’s leading organization of attorneys who regularly represent colleges and universities. NACUA’s membership includes more than 3,600 attorneys representing more than 1,600 higher education campuses. Niehoff, who is based in Butzel Long's Ann Arbor office, also serves on the planning committee for NACUA’s next annual conference.

• The first annual meeting of the Main Street Business Improvement Zone was held July 1, and the following officers were elected: Ed Shaffran, president; Mike Martin, vice president; Jeff Harshe, treasurer; and Ronald Dankert, secretary.

• The Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau will recognize outstanding members of the Washtenaw County hospitality industry at the 22nd annual recognition dinner and Ambassador Awards tonight at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor with keynote speaker David Brandon, Director of Athletics at the University of Michigan. This year’s Ambassador Award recipients are Lucy Ann Lance of WLBY Radio, Matt and Rene Greff of Arbor Brewing Company and Corner Brewery and the University of Michigan Health System.

• Ann Arbor's University of Michigan Health System recently signed a contract with Epic Systems Corp. for the first stage of a multi-year effort to consolidate and improve electronic medical records.

• Washtenaw Community College will offer several evening classes this fall on the University of Michigan campus as part of a pilot project. WCC will lease four classrooms four nights a week in Mason Hall on central campus. The college of Literature, Science and the Arts manages the classrooms and will provide instructional support services to the WCC faculty and students as part of the arrangement. There is no conflict with U of M evening classes. WCC officials say the move should help ease crowding on the college's main campus.

• Marisa Smith, president of The Whole Brain Group LLC in Ann Arbor was appointed to the executive advisory board of Women Impacting Public Policy and will serve as co-chair of the communications council. WIPP is the nation’s largest nonpartisan public policy organization that advocates on behalf of women in business.

• Stephen K. Postema, the Ann Arbor city attorney, was re-elected president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys during the group’s annual meeting June 26. Postema, who has served as city attorney since 2003, was the 2009-2010 MAMA president and was re-elected to lead the group for a second year.

• Shoppers at Girl Scouts’ Sidewalk Sale, which started July 26 and runs through tomorrow, can now enjoy “down home Alabama-style bar-beque” and help send girls to Girl Scout Camp. The Barbeque Spot will serve up ribs, pulled pork, chicken, Italian sausage, hot dogs and beverages on the grounds of the Summer Sidewalk Sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, Ann Arbor Regional Center, 1900 Manchester Road, near the split between Washtenaw Avenue and Stadium Boulevard. The Barbeque Spot will donate 20 percent of all sales to the Girl Scouts’ campaign to provide camp scholarships.

• After a year-long property search, the Blackbird Theatre has chosen a home in Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown district. The company will share its new home with the \sh\-aut Gallery at 325 Braun Court. The gallery owners Keith Orr and Martin Contreras also operate the Aut Bar and Common Language Bookstore, located directly across the courtyard from the gallery.

• E-mail items for People, Achievements and Paparazzi to business@annarbor.com . Sign up for the weekly Business Review email newsletter here.