On the Street - November 11, 2011

• Amanda Carson is the third quarter’s recipient of the Outstanding Performance Award from Blue Sky Hospitality.

Carson is a guest service representative at the Alexandria AmericInn. She has been employed with AmericInn for eight months and this is her first time receiving this award.

The Outstanding Performance Award symbolizes the employee’s commitment to outstanding guest services and to the motto: “Rule No. 1 – if we don’t take care of the customer, somebody else will!”

• Timothy Asche has been named a member of the 2011 Executive Council of New York Life Insurance Company. Members of the council are among the most successful of New York Life’s elite sales force of 11,900 licensed agents.

Asche is a registered representative for NYLIFE Securities LLC (Member – FINRA/SIPC) and agent for New York Life Insurance Company. His office is at 2304 S. Broadway Street, Suite 2 in Alexandria. Some services Asche offers are retirement planning, tax reduction strategies, investments, 401(k)s, long-term care insurance planning, life insurance products and wealth strategies for individuals and businesses.

Asche has bachelor of science degrees in finance and mathematics from Northern State University. He also earned a masters in business administration with distinction from Keller Graduate School of Management. He has 11 years in the financial services industry.

He has lived in Alexandria since 2005. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons – Alexander and Aiden.

• Carlson Music Center in Alexandria recently hired two new instructors – Chuck Wencl and Paul Larson.

Wencl is an Alexandria native and has been teaching instrumental music for 30-plus years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education with a concentration in instrumental music from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

As a Navy musician, Wencl attended the Navy School of Music in Little Creek, Virginia, where he studied saxophone and clarinet. Wencl is available to teach all band and orchestra instruments, as well as vocal, Irish whistle, recorder and native flute. Wencl also enjoys performance and performs regularly with Sax Appeal, Velvet Brass and Doc’s All-Stars.

Larson is a graduate of Jefferson High School, class of 1982. He attended the University of Minnesota Duluth and studied music theory and composition under Dr. Thomas Wegren, School of Fine Arts. His emphasis was guitar and electric bass, along with being a member of the UMD guitar ensemble class of 1988.

Larson is experienced with jazz, folk, country and rock styles. He has played in combos and duos for more than 20 years.

For more information, call (320) 763-4011.

• Clara Olson, Lisa Henrichs of Hair Profiles and Carley Henrichs, who is attending Model School of Cosmetology, recently attended the In Salon State Show for Education. Classes put on by White Sands brought their creativity to the next level with texture and techniques. Other classes included corrective color with Stephen Adams and Gary Gerard, a leading authority on haircutting.

Olson also attended the Look Good – Feel Better class, which helps men and women going through cancer treatment by restoring their self-image during their treatments. Olson attended classes that offered credits that she needs to keep her instructor’s license up to date.

• Curves of Alexandria will provide free memberships to actively deployed reservists and National Guard personnel and their immediate family members in support of Joining Forces, a national initiative that mobilizes all sectors of society to give American service personnel and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.

"These men and women, and their families, make tremendous sacrifices and show incredible strength in their service to our country," said Kim Olson of Curves of Alexandria. "It’s an honor to participate in the Joining Forces initiative to support the military families in our area."

Curves of Alexandria is offering a limited number of six-month memberships at no charge to immediate family members of actively deployed reservists and National Guard members. Immediate family members may include the spouse, teenage children, parents or siblings of the actively-deployed service member.

For more information about Curves of Alexandria, located at 901 State Highway 29 N Suite 140, and the Joining Forces initiative, call (320) 759-1887 or e-mail glenwoodcurves@yahoo.com or visit www.curvesalexandria-glenwood.com.

Military families can find participating clubs in their area online at healthclubs.com.

• Theodore Haar and Paul Amundson, financial associates with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Alexandria, received the 2011 National Quality Award in recognition of their quality service to clients and successful sales achievements.

The award is conferred by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), Falls Church, Virginia, and the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA), Hartford, Connecticut.

This is the 14th time that Haar has received the award and the fourth time that Amundson has received the honor.

• Jim Connors has joined The Aagard Group, LLC as a key account and area sales manager.

Connors will be working out of his home office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He comes to Aagard with more than 20 years of sales management experience at some of the leading companies in the packaging machinery industry.

Connors will be covering the northeast and part of the midwest regions with a focus on key account management.

The Aagard Group designs, engineers and manufactures automated packaging machinery in Alexandria.

• Clifton Gunderson and LarsonAllen, ranked as two of the nation’s top 20 certified public accounting and consulting firms, announced plans to merge and form one of the top 10 accounting firms in the U.S.

The partners of both firms have agreed to the combination. Pending final approvals, the merger will take effect January 2, 2012. The new firm will be named CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA).

CLA will bring together two firms of significant magnitude to offer unprecedented emphasis on serving privately held businesses and their owners, as well as entities in the public sector – not-for-profits and governmentals.

Access to a firm with a top 10 presence and capabilities committed to serving primarily these types of clients is rare. The new firm will have more than $550 million in combined revenue, employ more than 3,600 professionals, including 500-plus partners, and will operate from 25 states and Washington, D.C.

Founded in 1953, LarsonAllen has approximately 1,800 people operating from 40 offices, including Alexandria. For more information, visit www.larsonallen.com.

• Viking Savings Bank in Alexandria recently hired Jennifer Johnson to its customer service staff.

Johnson grew up in Michigan, moved to South Dakota and now lives in Glenwood with her husband, Brandon.

Johnson brings nine years of experience in banking with her to Viking Savings Bank, 1311 Broadway.

Tags: on the street, business