The board of West Des Moines-based Liberty Bank has named John Rathjen as the bank’s new president and CEO. He succeeds Russell Olson, who will continue to serve as president and CEO of Liberty Banshares Iowa Inc., Liberty Bank’s holding company. The move was made as part of the bank’s succession planning and to position it for further growth, Olson said in a press release. Rathjen joined Liberty Bank in March 2006 as market president for its Waterloo-Cedar Falls branches, which earned the bank’s best-performing market award in 2009. Rathjen will also be appointed to Liberty Bank’s board of directors. Liberty Bank has more than $1.2 billion in assets, with 31 locations in Iowa, Illinois and Florida.

Jeff Damman has been named market president of Two Rivers Bank & Trust’s new Ankeny branch, which will open on July 12 at 812 S.E. Oralabor Road. “Two Rivers has always had Ankeny on its radar screen,” said Damman, who worked for Valley Bank for more than seven years prior to joining West Des Moines-based Two Rivers Bank. The 2,400-square-foot facility, which will be Two Rivers’ fourth branch in Central Iowa, will have a five-person staff.

Western National Insurance Group, an Edina, Minn.-based property and casualty group, has added personal insurance to its product offerings in Iowa. Those products, which include personal auto, homeowners, dwelling property and personal umbrella coverage, will be offered through select independent agency partners throughout the state, the company said. Western National currently offers commercial coverage in Iowa. The insurance group operates in 10 states through four companies: Western National Mutual Insurance Co., Western National Assurance Co., Pioneer Specialty Insurance Co. and Titan Property & Casualty Insurance Co.

The Iowa Credit Union Foundation (ICUF), the philanthropic arm of the Iowa Credit Union League, has launched a stand-alone website, www.IowaCreditUnionFoundation.org. The site will provide financial education resources, information on scholarships and grants, plus Individual Development Account resources. “We wanted to create an easy-to-navigate site that highlights ICUF’s core initiatives and puts greater emphasis on supporting our credit unions and their members,” said Marybeth Foster, ICUF executive director.

The YMCA of Greater Des Moines has been awarded a competitive housing assistance grant of $242,880, Sen. Tom Harkin announced yesterday. The Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance program will help to fund supportive housing programs that serve hundreds of homeless adult men with disabilities annually, said Jackie Matt, a YMCA spokeswoman. “We feel great about this grant because it enables us to continue this program,” Matt said. “We’re just thrilled to be able to meet that community need. It exemplifies that we’re so much more than a place to work out.”

Aviva USA has enrolled in the Unlimited Access program of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART). The program enables employees of participating companies to ride DART buses free of charge any time the service is in operation, including after work hours and on weekends. Aviva is the 14th Greater Des Moines organization to enroll in the program, which now accounts for about 15 percent of DART’s fixed-route riders.