Narooz Soliman

From new hires and promotions to industry awards, read on to learn about achievements by businesses and individuals in the greater Ann Arbor area:

• Narooz Soliman, a resident of Ypsilanti, has joined the Ann Arbor office of Edward Surovell Realtors as a sales associate.

• Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW) of Ann Arbor and Detroit recently elected four new members to its board of trustees: Yasmin Atkins, regional sales manager for Flagstar Bank; Mary Jo Callan, director of the newly-created Office of Community and Economic Development for Washtenaw County; Vernita Duvall, a Benefits Consultant for Patterson-Bryant Inc.; and Kyra Fleming, deputy general counsel for DTE Energy Services.

• Throughout the day on Saturday, April 14, Brewed Awakenings will hold a fundraiser to benefit the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living’s recreation department and help replace equipment lost to theft. The Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living Sports and Recreation Program, which was established in 2003, serves more than 500 children, youth and adults with disabilities and their families each year. Brewed Awakenings is located at 7025 East Michigan Ave. in Saline.

• Zingerman’s Delicatessen recently signed a community-supported agriculture agreement with Ann Arbor’s Tilian Farm Development Center on Pontiac Road in Ann Arbor. The Tilian “restaurant share” is modeled after individual CSAs that are common in Ann Arbor and other communities but is meant to produce in bulk to meet the volume required by restaurants.

• Toyota Technical Center, a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America Inc., announced April 5 that the company would hire approximately 150 engineers, technicians, advanced researchers and scientists by the end of 2012. Additionally, TTC will add another 100 jobs over the next five years to further advance engine and transmission development for the North American market. TTC is headquartered in Michigan, with R&D facilities in Ann Arbor, Saline, Plymouth and Livonia. In addition, TTC has R&D facilities in California and operates the Toyota Arizona Proving Ground near Phoenix. The majority of the new positions will be located at TTC's two Michigan facilities in Ann Arbor and Saline in the areas of powertrain, mechanical design, electrical engineering, electronics and advanced research.

• Five full-time employees at Huron Valley Ambulance were chosen as this year's Stars of Life. They are Paramedic Andy Savage, Grounds/Maintenance Technician John Church, Paramedic Ben Forche, Recruitment Coordinator Justin Giersdorf, and Administrative Assistant Cindy New. All five will be presented with Professional Achievement Awards at HVA's Annual EMS Recognition Awards on Thursday, May 24. The "Stars" were selected by HVA management from a pool of applicants who received "exceeds standards" performance appraisals in the past year. Based in Ann Arbor, Huron Valley Ambulance is a nonprofit community ambulance service covering Washtenaw, western Wayne and southwest Oakland counties.

• Renaissance Media, a custom publishing media company, has partnered with Ann Arbor-based Online Tech to host and archive RM's clients' and publications' data, content, stories and pictures in Online Tech's Michigan data centers. Online Tech is a provider of secure and compliant hosting services including private cloud hosting, disaster recovery and offsite backup services in addition to Michigan colocation.

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