• Send typed business announcements at least two weeks in advance of the desired publication date to Business Notes, in care of Suburban Life Publications, 1101 W. 31st St., Suite 100, Downers Grove, IL 60515. Business Notes also can be faxed at least two weeks in advance of the desired publication date to Business Notes at (630) 969-0228, or e-mailed to business@mysuburbanlife.com. Items run based on the availability of space.

• Laurel Howard recently joined Hanson Professional Services Inc.’s Oak Brook regional office. An adminstrative assistant, Howard has more than 10 years of experience in adminstrative support, client public relations and service coordination duties. For further information, call (630) 990-3800.

• Kevin Spitz recently joined Hanson Professional Service Inc.’s Oak Brook regional office. As a civil engineer, Spitz serves Hanson’s railway market. Before joining Hanson, he completed an engineering internship with the village of Wheeling and served as an assistant project engineer for Walsh Construction of Chicago. For further information, call (630) 990-3800.

• National Speakers Association, Illinois Chapter welcomes “The Fun Specialist” Friday, Sept. 19 to Maggiano’s Restaurant in Oak Brook. As featured on Oprah and The Today Show, Jolene Jang will teach skills that take mind-numbing meetings, boring events and routine conferences and transforms them from snores into encores. Networking begins at 9:15 a.m. and the meeting takes place from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Individual ticket price is $79 and includes lunch. The restaurant is at 240 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook. Reservations are required. For further information or to register, contact Sue Black at (630) 208-0776.

• Pizza Fusion, the most environmentally friendly restaurant in America, will be opening in Naperville at 2555 W. 75th St. Pizza Fusion, which builds all of its restaurants to Leed certification standards, will be next to Whole Foods in the Springbrook Prairie Pavilion, the first retail development in DuPage County to pursue Leed Silver Certification. For further information, visit www.pizzafusion.com.

• The Downers Grove Hospitality Alliance will be kicking off their formation with the Taste of Downers Grove Thursday, Sept. 25. The Hospitality Alliance will host this event located at 1801 Butterfield Road. It will be from 4 to 8 p.m. The Taste of Downers Grove will feature more than 25 food items from the Downers Grove restaurants with live entertainment throughout the event. For further information, visit www.dgedc.com.

• For the second year in a row, Chicagoland Western Suburbs home builder, Downers Grove-based Oakley Home Builders, will be participating in Midwest Home magazine’s annual Luxury Home Tour. The tour consists of high-end custom homes throughout the Chicago area. The fifth annual Chicago Luxury Home Tour is scheduled to begin September. The chosen custom homes from the Chicago area will be on display the first three weekends of September, Friday through Sunday. Tickets are now available.

• The Downers Grove Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry has announced David Fox, president of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, will be honored with the new Enterprise Award for building business and community. Join them for the presentation at the Black & White Ball presented by D3 Financial Counselors on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Esplanade Lakes by DoubleTree in Downers Grove. For further information, call (630) 968-4050 or visit www.downersgrove.org.

• Redbox, the fully automated DVD rental service offering new release rentals for $1 per night, has announced the grand opening of its new customer service call center in Downers Grove. The 24,000 square-foot facility, at 1431 Opus Place, currently houses 190 customer service employees and is expected to staff around 210 employees by the end of 2008. Redbox is now seeking local employees to fill positions across all levels of experience. For further information, visit www.redbox.com.