Small Street Journal: August 7, 2015

U.S. Bank has named Therese Pershall-Birmingham market president in Eau Claire. Pershall-Birmingham will assume market leader responsibilities for Eau Claire and will maintain her role overseeing its private banking group. She also will represent U.S. Bank in a leadership role within the community. Pershall-Birmingham has been with U.S. Bank since 2007, and with the company in Eau Claire since 2008. Previously, she worked for U.S. Bank in Fargo, North Dakota. Pershall-Birmingham earned a bachelor’s degree from Minnesota State University-Moorhead where she studied finance, psychology and gerontology. She is a member of the Women’s Giving Circle of the Community Foundation of Dunn County, and treasurer of the CJ Juvenile Diabetes Foundation of the Chippewa Valley. 

EO Johnson Business Technologies, a leading business technologies company, and Sterling Water Culligan, provider of quality water treatment, announce the sale of EO Johnson’s Pure Water® Technology Division to Sterling Water. Finalized July 31, 2015, the sale fits both companies’ strategic plans for growth. The deal allows Sterling Water to provide more extensive point-of-use water system product offerings and aids EO Johnson in focusing on its core business technologies offerings and IT services.  As part of the transition, Sterling Water welcomes Pure Water® Technology’s three employees – Division Manager Pat Brogan and water installers Mike Fox and Randy Boneske – to its team.

Pending state approval, Dove Healthcare will become the licensed operator of Mayo Clinic Health System nursing homes and assisted living facilities in northwest Wisconsin with plans to construct new buildings in the area in the future. The transfer of operations, planned for Oct. 1, 2015, will affect Mayo Clinic Health System nursing homes in Barron, Bloomer and Osseo, as well as its assisted living facilities in Barron and Osseo. Dove Healthcare will work closely with the 135 affected employees and Mayo Clinic Health System to assist with continuing employment, either with Dove Healthcare or within another Mayo Clinic Health System entity. Dove Healthcare’s plans to build new facilities in Rice Lake, Osseo, and Bloomer will increase skilled nursing beds by 51 and assisted living units by 10 in northwest Wisconsin.

Eau Claire based PESI, Inc. has entered into an agreement with Cross Country Healthcare, Inc., to purchase Cross Country Education. The sale of Cross Country Education will be completed in September 2015 and will combine more than 50 years of serving a wide variety of professionals. Cross Country Education employs 52 staff in Brentwood, Tenn. PESI is excited to welcome all Cross Country Education employees to the PESI family to continue developing and producing high-quality educational products and services. 

Feather Communications’ website, www.feather-communications.com, has been voted as one of the Top Career Websites for 2015 by Career Igniter. The top 45 websites were chosen, with representation mainly from the United States and additional sites from Denmark and the United Kingdom. Selection factors included level of usable information, how the site assists job seekers, and overall value related to resumes, career coaching, and employment advice. Various sources were used to compile a Career Igniter score for each website on the list. Sources included Alexa, Page Authority (PA), Domain Authority (DA), Klout Score, and the number of Twitter Followers.


Heartland Contractors Inc. has hired Justin Utpadel as its new project developer for its commercial building and excavation divisions based out of Chippewa Falls. Utpadel will be responsible for helping Heartland Contractors grow its client base and develop new business throughout the Midwest. Utpadel recently joined the Heartland team with more than 16 years of construction experience in both the commercial and civil industries. He graduated UW-Stout with a bachelor’s degree in construction and began his construction management career in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

WESTconsin Credit Union was a recipient of the 2014 Platinum Million Dollar Lender Award, which is presented each year to lenders who have partnered with, and made a significant contribution to, supporting Wisconsin rural residents looking to become homeowners through the USDA Guaranteed Rural Housing (GRH) Program. In fiscal year 2014, WESTconsin Credit Union utilized more than $5 million of GRH program funds by financing home purchases to help moderate income families in Wisconsin. Nearly 3,300 families across Wisconsin were able to purchase a home last year through the GRH loan program, totaling nearly $414.6 million.

Bruce Ommen, PE has been named executive vice president at Ayres Associates. He joins Thomas Pulse and executive vice presidents Jan Zander and Richard Schoenthaler to form the engineering/architectural consulting firm’s executive committee. Ommen will continue to serve as vice president of the firm’s Wisconsin and Arizona transportation operations in addition to overseeing the architecture and Wisconsin engineering services divisions. He joined Ayres Associates in 1990, initially designing bridges and performing construction observation for the transportation structures division. Ommen, who is a stockholder in the firm, has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and is a registered professional engineer in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Florida. He has been involved in the American Council of Engineering Companies and the Eau Claire County Safety Commission.

Environments announced that Ashlee Casey has joined their team as an interior designer. Casey brings with her more than seven years within the design and space planning arena. Her responsibilities include space planning, design, specifying and estimating. She works directly with the business development managers and clients to help achieve their design goals for interior spaces. She holds a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture from UW-Stevens Point.  

Market Sector Leader Michael Clark, who joined ADG Architects in May, will lead project management and support from the Minneapolis area office, pertaining primarily to projects for Five Bugles Design, the emergency service facilities division of ADG Architects. Clark’s 28 year career has focused almost exclusively on projects in the public sector and includes management positions with prominent architectural firms. ADG and Five Bugles look forward to his professional contributions in programming, planning and architectural design of Public Safety Facilities with an emphasis on Law Enforcement and Fire Departments, as well as Municipal and Governmental Facilities.

Pulmonologist Joseph Kojo Kittah, M.D., recently joined the Pulmonology Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. In addition, he will care for patients in the Critical Care Unit and provide sleep medicine consultations. Kittah earned his medical degree from the University of Ghana. He received his residency training at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and with the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. Kittah is board-certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine, and board-eligible in critical care medicine and sleep medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He also is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society and American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire recently was recognized for exceptional care for heart attack patients by earning a gold award from the American College of Cardiology and a silver award from the American Heart Association. The ACC’s NCDR ACTION Registry–GWTG Achievement Award recognizes commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients. It signifies that Mayo Clinic has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.