Business briefs

Robinson Construction

Work on the Missouri's National Veterans Memorial project in Perryville, Missouri, has earned Robinson Construction a national Excellence in Construction(R) Eagle Award, which will be presented during ABC Convention 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee, Aug. 18. The EIC awards program is the industry's leading competition that honors both general and specialty contractors for innovative and high-quality merit shop construction projects.

The Bank of Missouri

The Bank of Missouri sponsored the EVERFI National Financial Bee April 20 to 24, 2020. The National Financial Bee is a first-of-its-kind nationwide financial literacy challenge for students in 7th through 10th grades. The five-day challenge, created by social impact education innovator EVERFI and supported by leading financial institutions nationwide, featured a short daily digital lesson and capstone essay contest in which students shared a financial dream of theirs and how they plan to get there. Winners of the National Financial Bee received a total of $20,000 in college scholarships.

Elite Travel, Inc.

Carolyn Kempf, President/CEO of Elite Travel, Inc., recently completed coursework and is certified in Ethics for Travel Advisors. Awarded by the American Society of Travel Advisors, Kempf met the requirements by demonstrating knowledge and comprehension of ethical standards that apply to travel advisors through a thorough study and examination process designed to ensure a high standard of knowledge and understanding.

Sedona Bistro

Work has begun at the former home of Beef O' Brady's, 1812 Carondalet Drive in Cape Girardeau, which is being transformed into Sedona Bistro, a soup, salad and sandwich shop. Owners Ron and Kristine Brzycki of Jackson plan to open Sedona Bistro (named after Sedona, Arizona,) by early September.

Murphy Business Sales

Murphy Business Sales will host a webinar June 23 at 3 p.m. about how business values could be impacted by COVID-19. The webinar will look at how this year's economy could affect business values next year and beyond. To register for this free webinar, go to murphybusiness.com/capegirardeau and click on the "resources" tab.

Ameren Missouri

Ameren Missouri will provide $3 million in energy assistance funding to help qualified customers pay off past-due utility bills. The funding is part of the company's "COVID-19 Clean Slate" program and is on top of $1 million worth of support Ameren announced in March. According to an Ameren news release, multiple community partners and agencies will participate in administering the program, which is designed to help income-eligible customers clear the remaining balances on their accounts after paying 25% of their current balances.

Shawnee Community College

Shawnee Community College is offering several free self-paced tutorial (SPT) courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 10 courses offered through the college's Workforce Innovation Division include instruction in a mix of hard and soft employment skills. The courses touch topics including webpage development; creation of WordPress websites; fundamentals of supervision and management; individual excellence; keys to effective communication, managing customer service; business marketing on the internet; personal finance; small business marketing on a shoestring; and 12 steps to a successful job search. Registration for any of the classes is available through June 30, and class participants have three months to complete coursework. For more information or to register, contact Lora Clark at (618) 634-3364 or lorac@shawneecc.edu.

Southeast Missouri State University

Trudy Lee has been named vice president of University Advancement and executive director of the Southeast Missouri University Foundation. Lee began serving in this role as interim following the 2018 retirement of Bill Holland. Her appointment is for a two-year term ending June 30, 2022. Under Lee's leadership, the Foundation recently engaged a consulting firm, Grenzebach Glier and Associates (GG+A), to review the human and technological infrastructure in the Division of Advancement. Their report has been received, and several projects have been identified and are currently underway. Completion of most of the projects is expected by 2022, the release stated.

~Information summarized from Southeast Missourian business articles and contributions from B Magazine readers. To contribute business briefs for the next issue of B Magazine, email mpohlman@rustmedia.com.