TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2019  |  IN THIS ISSUE
Para1Iowa startup optimizing air flow at Empire State Building 
 
Coralville-based Innovas Technologies has announced it will deploy its automatic tube cleaning technology at the Empire State Building in New York City in order to optimize the world-famous building's air conditioning systems.
 
Innovas' Helios Tube Cleaning System is installed on water-cooled chillers and keeps the tubes clean without time-consuming intervention. Specialized cleaning balls are injected at set intervals into the cooling water flow. The balls rub the tubes clean and are then trapped at the outlet of the heat exchanger, where they are prepared for the next cleaning cycle.
 
The technology prevents chiller tubes from accumulating dirt, translating to an average 10 percent energy efficiency improvement for generating air conditioning in large buildings, hospitals, and campuses, with energy savings up to as much as 25 percent.
 
Heat exchanger fouling has been estimated to cost the U.S. economy from one-quarter to three-quarters of a percent of GDP, the CBJ previously reported in a feature on Innovas. 
 
The Empire State Building project will cut energy consumption by 1.2 million kW-hours annually and reduce the building's CO2 emissions footprint by 13,500 tons over the next 15 years - equivalent to removing 2,400 fossil-fueled cars from the road.
 
"We're thrilled to have our technology selected to improve energy efficiency at the world's most iconic building," Innovas President Charles Dirks said in a release. "The Empire State Building has long been a global symbol of leadership, and they have taken the initiative to embrace innovation and recognize the value it brings to them. Our products are completely designed and fabricated in Iowa, and this is a tremendous opportunity to introduce our technology to New York City."
IIn the CBJ: The new rules of employee attraction 

This is the third part in a members-exclusive CBJ series on the Corridor's workforce shortage, called (un)Hired Help. Read the second part here.
 
Employers, meet the University of Iowa Class of 2019's Liam Crawford.
 
Mr. Crawford, 21, is planning to graduate this May with a Bachelor of Science in comput­er science and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy.
 
Forget everything you've heard about mil­lennials; he is no slacker. The Stuart, Iowa, native is presi­dent of the UI Chapter of the Machine Learn­ing Society and vice president of the Presiden­tial Scholars As­sociation. He's completed two internships, one developing soft­ware for a med­tech company and the other in the red-hot field of machine learning research for one of the world's largest tech companies.
 
Combining studies in philosophy and com­puter science made his time at the UI more enjoyable and balanced, Mr. Crawford says, giving him time away from computer screens and the ability to look at the larger picture of human reasoning.
 
"The early computer scientists, many of them would consider themselves philoso­phers and mathematicians," he said. "So much of the early logic in computer science was built out of people who were very well read in philosophy."
 
You won't get to hire Mr. Crawford, howev­er. He's already accepted a job offer from Goo­gle in Mountain View, California, working in machine learning research as he did during his internship there.
 
"I can get top engineering mentoring that I can't get in Iowa," he said, adding that just about everyone he worked with at Google seemed exceptional in their own right.
 
He has mixed feelings about leaving Iowa, a place with a big hold on his heart. He says it's not about the money, but about jumpstarting his career - not to mention the lifestyle and the workplace culture. He can't even list all the benefits Google provides, which include points employees can cash in for free massages during the work day, loaner bicycles for cruis­ing the company's sprawling campus, and a subsidized transit program for getting to and from work.
 
"Especially those tech companies, you get these feelings of being wanted by an employ­er almost to the point of it being ludicrous," Mr. Crawford said.
 
What's a Corridor employer with limited resources to do?
 
Read the full series installment in this week's print or digital editions of the CBJ.
Para3General Mills to match 100 percent of U.S. energy usage with wind
 
General Mills has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with the developer of a Texas wind farm to buy 200 megawatts of power, allowing the food giant to match 100 percent of its annual U.S. electricity use with renewable sources.
 
The Maverick Creek wind farm, under development by Renewable Energy Systems and Steelhead Americas, will produce renewable energy credits that can be applied toward General Mills' greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. When combined with a previous power purchase agreement with Cactus Flats, a wind project located just 10 miles away, the company will be able to offset 100 percent of the energy used annually at its owned domestic facilities.
 
Terms of the purchase agreement were not disclosed.
 
"General Mills began its milling operations more than 150 years ago with water power from the banks of the Mississippi River," John Church, chief supply chain officer and global business solutions officer at General Mills, said in a release. "By learning from history, and tying back to our clean power roots, the equivalent of our domestic facilities' annual electricity needs will be covered by clean wind power, helping to reach our climate commitment of decreasing our carbon footprint by 28 percent by 2025."
 
General Mills has been a leader in corporate sustainability, with a spot on the 2018 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the 2018 CDP Climate A- List and Newsweek's Green Rankings (No. 34). Through 2018, General Mills has reduced the greenhouse gas emissions of its extended value chain by 13 percent compared to its 2010 baseline. It also has made regenerative agriculture a priority, adding the practice to its list of grain sourcing goals in March.
 
The company operates a large cereal and snacks production facility in Cedar Rapids.
Para4April Dunford announced as EntreFEST featured speaker
 
April Dunford
April Dunford has been announced as the final featured speaker of EntreFEST 2019, which is set to take place in Cedar Rapids May 16-17.
 
Ms. Dunford is the CEO of Ambient Strategy and has worked as a positioning and market strategy consultant for seven startup companies, three global tech giants and 16 large scale product launches.

She will speak to EntreFEST attendees about how to scale a business, drawing on her experience scaling a startup from $2 million to $70 million, and raising a $30 million Series A round for a new mobile platform.
 
She joins featured speakers Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, and Melissa Perri, CEO and founder of Produx Labs, in headlining the two-day entrepreneurship and innovation conference. Learn more and get tickets at the EntreFEST website.
Para5GoDaddy launches GoCentral marketplace, acquires Sellbrite

To give online sellers the ability to offer products across multiple sales channels, GoDaddy has launched Marketplaces for GoCentral Online Store. The new service allows customers to list and sell their online store inventory through Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Jet, and Walmart.com from a single location with no plug-ins or add-ons needed.
 
"Beyond their own website, entrepreneurs are looking to sell on places like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy to be successful," Greg Goldfarb, vice president of Products, eCommerce and Customer Engagement, said in a release. "Each marketplace works differently for sellers and it can be a daunting task to get up and running, and a huge pain to stay on top of orders and inventory once sales start flowing."
 
GoDaddy also announced it has acquired Sellbrite, the multi-channel management platform that is powering Marketplaces. Sellbrite has enabled tens of millions of orders accounting for billions of dollars in sales.
 
With a simple interface, GoCentral Online Store provides tools and automation to simplify listing, keep inventory in sync, avoid overselling and centralize order fulfillment across sales channels. Users also can connect existing marketplace listings to their GoCentral Online Store.
 
Company officials said customers participating in a beta program realized an average 115 percent increase in orders. GoDaddy also found that almost 60 percent of online sellers are offering their products on marketplaces or social channels to complement their online stores.
 
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
aroundthewebFrom around the web: 
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stockCorridor Stocks

NAME SYM PRICE CHG %CHG
AEGON AEG 5.20 0.02 0.39%
Alliant Energy LNT 47.23 0.95 2.05%
Casey's General Stores CASY 132.35 1.07 0.82%
Deere & Company DE 165.66 -0.63 -0.38%
Dow Jones ^DJI 26,592.91 38.52 0.15%
General Mills GIS 51.49 0.55 1.08%
GoDaddy GDDY 81.51 0.33 0.41%
Great Western Bank GWB 35.18 -0.08 -0.23%
Heartland Express HTLD 19.68 -0.38 -1.89%
KemPharm KMPH 1.50 -0.07 -4.46%
Marsh & McLennan MMC 94.31 1.01 1.08%
MidWestOne MOFG 28.18 -0.24 -0.84%
Pearson PSO 10.84 -0.01 -0.05%
Pepsico PEP 128.05 1.36 1.07%
Principal Financial PFG 57.16 -0.27 -0.47%
QCR Holdings QCRH 34.21 -1.07 -3.03%
S&P 500 ^GSPC 2,945.83 2.80 0.10%
Procter & Gamble PG 106.44 1.66 1.58%
United Fire Group UFCS 43.61 0.56 1.30%
U.S. Bank USB 53.31 0.31 0.58%
United Technologies UTX 142.66 0.54 0.38%
Wells Fargo WFC 48.41 0.14 0.29%
West Bank WTBA 20.97 -0.28 -1.32%
Whirlpool WHR 138.86 0.30 0.22%
Short-Term Event Planner
       
May 1
90 Ideas in 90 Minutes, by Corridor Business Journal, 7:30-9:30 a.m., Theatre Cedar Rapids, 102 Third St. SE. Nine Corridor leaders will share 10 of their most successful programs and initiatives that can be applied to any business. Cost: $40 until April 24, $55 after. For more information, visit corridorbusiness.com/events.
 
1 Million Cups, by 1MC Cedar Rapids, 8:15-9:15 a.m., Geonetric, 415 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids. Join for community connections, free coffee, and presentations by entrepreneurs, established companies, experts and more. Free. For more information, visit facebook.com/1MCICR.
 
1 Million Cups, by 1MC Iowa City, 9-10 a.m., MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. Join for community connections, free coffee, and presentations by entrepreneurs, established companies, experts and more . Free. For more information, visit facebook.com/1MillionCupsIC/.
 
May 2
Wake Up Marion, by Marion Chamber of Commerce, 8-9 a.m., Hills Bank & Trust, 3204 Seventh Ave., Marion. Enjoy complimentary coffee and get to know the host business. Free. For more information, visit marioncc.org.
 
May 2
QuickBooks Online, by SCORE of East Central Iowa, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Hy-Vee, 5050 Edgewood Road NE, Cedar Rapids. Learn tips and tricks to get more value out of the different modules of QuickBooks. Free. To register, visit conta.cc/2ZrEesW.
 
Dive into Development in the Cedar Rapids Metro, by Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, noon-1 p.m., Economic Alliance, 501 First St. SE. This program will provide an overview of regional business attraction project leads, provide insight into economic development tax credit programs from the Iowa Economic Development Authority and more. Free. For more information, visit bit.ly/2WU8P08.
 
Re-Connect: Careers & Conversation, by IowaWORKS, 1-3 p.m., North Liberty Public Library, 520 W. Cherry St. Re-Connect is a monthly employer panel that hosts companies from the six major industry sectors in the region. Each employer will share information about their company and answer questions from job candidates about available opportunities. Free. For more information, visit bit.ly/2Dh4DQR.
Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28 
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28 
The Hiawatha Police Department is looking for two suspects who robbed a Quick Mart at gunpoint Monday evening. Officers said it happened at about 10:09 p.m. at 655 Robins Road. They said one suspect was armed with a shotgun and the other suspect used a backpack to take items. Police are asking for help in identifying the suspects. Anyone with information is asked to contact Hiawatha Police Department at (319) 393-1212 or Linn County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-CS-CRIME. Officers point out, while the suspects faces are covered, they do have unique clothing and backpack characteristics.

More than 100 MidAmerican customers were without power in Iowa City Tuesday after a tree fell near a home. Photos sent to the CBS2/FOX 28 newsroom show a tree uprooting by a home near Governor and Fairchild streets in Iowa City. Police and a crew from MidAmerican Energy were on scene assessing the damage. According to the outage report on MidAmerican's website, 108 customers were without power in the Iowa City area.
  
T hese news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28 
CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
 
Showers and thunderstorms will be likely on and off through the day. The heaviest of the rain will be near and south of Highway 30, which is where heavy rain just fell Sunday night into Monday. As a result, a flash flood watch has been issued for counties along and south of I-80. An additional 1-2 inches of rain will be possible in these areas. On top of the rain, it will be cool and breezy this afternoon. Temperatures will be in the upper 40s to low 50s. Rain will wind down early Wednesday morning and it will be cloudy and dry for the rest of the day. Temperatures will be cool still in the upper 50s to low 60s. Another system will then move through the area Thursday and bring a few light showers. Temperatures will be a little warmer on Thursday in the 60s.