People In Business

Southwestern Illinois resident Amy Liefer has been promoted to general manager for the St. Louis service area of VITAS Healthcare, the Miami-based hospice provider announced this week. She oversees all aspects of end-of-life care for patients and families in an eight-county area. At VITAS, Liefer has overseen development and growth strategies, leading a team to…

Sulbrena Day, RN, PhD, started working at St. Mary’s Hospital in East St. Louis as an LPN in 1974. Her 46-year career has remained dedicated to the region she grew up in. The executive at Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville will retire on Dec. 31. After becoming an RN, she entered critical care medicine and…

Bree Ballentine, of St. Peters, Mo., has joined Kwame Building Group Inc. as human resources manager. Ballentine’s responsibilities include benefits and payroll administration, government reporting and compliance, leadership and organizational change, performance management and employee relations. Ballentine has more than 25 years of experience in the health-care, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, finance and hospitality industries. She holds a bachelor’s…

Wiegmann Associates, a St. Louis-based mechanical contractor and a national provider of design/build HVAC projects, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Wiegmann Associates has now engineered and installed more than $1 billion in commercial HVAC comfort solutions across 42 states. Headquartered in St. Charles, Mo., Wiegmann employs more than 110 engineers, project managers, building automation specialists, HVAC…

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has announced the following changes to its board of directors, effective Jan. 1: Suzanne Sitherwood (shown), president and CEO of Spire Inc. in St. Louis, has been re-designated board chair. She was first appointed to the board in 2016 and reappointed in 2019. James M. McKelvey Jr., founder…

David Birk, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Holland Construction, is retiring after 32 years with the company and 41 years of industry experience. Birk was one of the first employees and later an owner at the Swansea-based company, which he helped grow to become one of the top 15 contractors in the…

RiverBend Growth Association has named Olga’s Kitchen in Alton Square Mall its Small Business of the Month for December 2020. Established in Birmingham, Mich. in 1970, Olga’s Kitchen was the result of a dream of founder Olga Loizon after returning from a trip to Greece. Owned and operated by TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants (TSFR), the…

CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP), which has offices around the world, including one in Belleville, has announced the appointment of Jen Leary as chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1. Current CEO Denny Schleper will transition to a CEO emeritus role and remain actively involved in the firm through 2021. Leary’s appointment is the culmination of a year-long…

Hank Rohwedder, Hank’s Excavation & Landscaping Inc. of Belleville, has been re-elected as president of the Southern Illinois Builders Association, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Other officers for 2021 are:  First Vice President – Jeff Limbaugh, Limbaugh Construction Co., Inc., Granite City, Illinois; Second Vice President – Scott Plocher, Plocher Construction Company, Inc., Highland, Illinois; and…

Agency for Community Transit recently recognized Runabout paratransit bus driver Theresa Blair for 20 consecutive years of perfect safety while driving a public transportation vehicle. ACT operates the Runabout paratransit service, the Madison County Transit fixed-route service, the MCT Trails, and the RideFinders carpool-vanpool program. As defined by the National Safety Council, to retain the…