Draper Aden Associates recently announced that Jennifer L. Bunting, P.E. and Victor Valenzuela, P.E., Utility Division staff engineers in the Richmond office, have earned their professional engineer license. Bunting, a member of the Infrastructure Evaluation and Rehabilitation Team, is responsible for the video review, system assessment and evaluation, and CAD design of wastewater infrastructure rehabilitation and replacement. She has been with the firm for four years and is a graduate of Clarkson University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Valenzuela is responsible for preliminary water and sewer infrastructure design, construction drawing and technical specification development assistance, construction administration services, preliminary analysis and feasibility and engineering reports. He has been with the firm for five years and holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech.

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Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing recently ranked first out of all nursing programs in the United States for passage of the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for the time period October 2010 to September 2011, as reported by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. The college ranked first out of 1,752 nursing programs, including associate’s, diploma and bachelor of science programs. Each graduate of the last seven classes of the Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing has passed the NCLEX on his or her first attempt. Students at the College receive nearly 1,000 hours of laboratory and clinical training, nearly twice the minimum required by the Virginia Board of Nursing and that offered by most comparable colleges of nursing.

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The Center for Surgical Innovation at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital recently was the site of the first minimally invasive, da Vinci Single-Site robotic surgery in the mid-Atlantic region. The surgery, a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder), was performed by Dr. William Kelley, who was also the first physician in the United States to successfully complete da Vinci surgery following the initial FDA approval in 2000. The new Single-Site computer-assisted surgical technique was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 12, 2011. Traditionally, da Vinci surgery has been performed using four incisions and the patient may be required to stay in the hospital overnight. Da Vinci Single-Site laparoscopic surgery allows surgeons to make only one cut with more stability and greater triangulation and dexterity. Patients are generally able to leave the hospital the same day. The Centers for Surgical Innovation at HCA Virginia’s Henrico Doctors’, Chippenham and Johnston-Willis Hospitals will be the only facilities equipped to offer da Vinci Single-Site surgery.

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Blaes Communications Consulting, LLC, a marketing communications company, recently opened in Richmond. The company will offer professional services such as copy writing, social media management and training, corporate communications, proposal management and corporate identity and branding consulting. Owner Valarie Blaes has over 20 years’ experience in marketing. She has a bachelor of arts degree in English with a journalism emphasis and a minor in speech press from Old Dominion University. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. More information, as well as blogs on topics such as marketing, business development, social media and copywriting, can be found at http://www.blaescommunications.com .

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Tom McAlhany, sales associate with CENTRAL 21 Option 1 Realty, recently received the CENTRAL 21 Quality Service Pinnacle Producer Award for 2010. The annual award is based on results from the CENTURY 21 Quality Service Survey (QSS) which is emailed to consumers immediately after the purchase or sale of a home through a CENTURY 21 System office. To be eligible for the award, an agent must receive completed customer surveys for at least 30 percent of their transactions from Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 31, 2010 with an average survey score of at least 95 percent or better for two consecutive years.

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Richmond International Raceway employees Linwood Burrow, director of track operations, and Seiji Kashiwabara, nursing director, recently earned the Track Services Award for Excellence and Nursing Director of the Year Award for Excellence, respectively, at the 2012 NASCAR Summit. NASCAR presents The Track Services Award for Excellence annually to an individual who has taken the initiative to significantly improve track services at a NASCAR National Series Track over the duration of a career of 10 or more years. Burrow has been a member of the RIR staff for over 40 years. The Nursing Director of the Year Award for Excellence honors a nursing director who shows outstanding leadership and organizational skills, quickly addresses concerns and delivers an immediate and positive outcome. Kashiwabara has been a part of the RIR team for the past 11 years.

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Local mother Tara Brinkley recently launched Richmond Childcare Referral Agency to assist Richmond area parents in finding trustworthy childcare. The agency offers services in both nanny placement and home daycare referral. For more information, visit http://www.richmondchildcare.net .

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Bon Secours Virginia recently was named one of the 2012 Best Places to Work in Virginia. The award, given by Virginia Business and administered by Best Companies Group, recognized Bon Secours for providing employees with an exceptional workplace and positively impacting Virginia’s economy, work force and businesses. Best Companies Group used a two-part evaluation process in determining which employers made the list of Best Places to Work in Virginia. The initial company survey examined Bon Secours’ workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. The second component was an employee survey, which measured employee satisfaction in several categories. The combination of these two scores determined the rank of each company. Top organizations were divided into categories according to size, with award recipients from small, mid-sized and large-sized companies. Bon Secours joins a group of 70 companies who represent the best employers across Virginia. The complete list of 2012 award recipients will be published in the February 2012 issue of Virginia Business.

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Cushman & Wakefield Thalhimer recently announced the sale of 2502 Waco St. in Henrico. David R. McGeorge Car Co., Inc. purchased the approximately 5,000 square feet office/warehouse property from Wilton Parcels Company, LLC for $410,000 to be used for used car sales.