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2011 Forty Under 40: John Merriweather

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About me...
John Merriweather
President
Go Cos. USA Inc.
38
Web sites:
Social media:
On my hip:
Droid 2
Most-used apps:
ESPN
NFL Mobile
Fitness Tips
Fandango
Tip-Calculator
Bible
Favorite stuff:
Colts football; professional development books; movies; Pandora; Judge Judy; all types of music; coaching youth sports
 

John Merriweather went from the Army at 18—he earned a Commendation Medal in Desert Storm (“Just being a good soldier,” he said. “I didn’t do anything heroic.”)—to a small company in Carmel where he learned all facets of the business, from warehousing to quality control to sales.

But that’s not where he wanted to end up. So during his off-hours, he created Go Cos. USA Inc., which helps Indianapolis-area companies recruit, relocate and retain top talent. The Carmel-based service is described as “an all-inclusive welcome wagon to Indianapolis for domestic and international professionals.”

Merriweather said the idea came from studying potential clients and their needs. Eli Lilly and Co. was Go’s first contract.

“We courted them and looked for ways to provide a service for them, to develop a relationship,” he said. “That’s why we built the service. Having Lilly as a first client was a great steppingstone. For others in the area to see Lilly investing resources in recruitment,relocation and retention, it made it a lot easier to get into other corporations.”

Go has now welcomed more than 2,500 people to central Indiana on behalf of organizations such as Roche Diagnostics, the NCAA, the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers. Earlier this year, Merriweather won a supplier of the year nomination from Lilly, and his company has boasted a 97-percent satisfaction rating since 2003.

When he’s not helping others at work, he’s helping them at play. Merriweather and his wife have two children. He’s active in Carmel Dads Club, and the AAU fifth-grade basketball team he coaches won the national championship this year.

“As coaches, we were happy that the kids won the championship against the best fifth-grade talent in the country after making it to the Final Four each of the previous three years,” he said. “… It’s an extraordinary achievement that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”•

___

Click here to return to the Forty Under 40 landing page.


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  1. Well, we could blame ABC because they haven't advertised the INDY 500....not during the HUGE TV rating shows like Dancing with the Stars (of which IICS driver Helio Castroneves is a former champion). He never won a CART championship, did he?

    We could blame the new car...because it's ugly and has a V6 that has less horsepower than the pace car. CART (to my knowledge) never had that problem with cars they presented at the speedway years 1979 through 1995.

    We could blame the fencepost, but that would be crass. Or maybe Danica? Or maybe Jean Alesi....or boost increases from constant rules tampering. Maybe we could blame Penske who still is winning everything as usual.

    Maybe we can blame the world for not understanding the the great Indy gods who regularly twist things in such ways that we mere mortals must only accept, but never question.

    So, it does beg the question....who is responsible if the series and Indy continues to flounder? Are the responsibilities so diffuse and complicated that no one really is to blame for it's fall from grace?

    I urge the speedway to sign on for 7 more years of ABC coverage and 7 more years of NBC Sports Network coverage. It been win-win so far....*cough* *cough*

  2. "They're problem was thinking they were bigger than the institution that made their existence possible. That turned out to be a mistake."

    The above quote made by Disciple shows his continued inability to grasp a simple concept: CART is dead. Twice. It provided a brilliant stage for some of the best open wheel racing in all the past century of racing. It's gone DOOD, get over it.

    PLEASE explain, Mr. Disciple of INDYCAR, why you continually hammer home, even on the eve of the 2012 Indy 500, this same point...over and over? Seriously, why does the legacy of CART haunt you so much?

    The same problems that affected the sport for over a century of AOW racing STILL affect it now. Your answers (or lack thereof) belittle the very sport you claim to love. Indy rots in your hands yet you request status quo. You negate salient points with drivel...always.

    Indy is not going to die. But, it is dying...are you willing to accept that? "Indy is a hot mess"....it's true. Yet you want it that way? What is wrong with you?

  3. I just want to make sure I am reading this right - Wellpoint is eliminating 112 employees. Wellpoint is a customer of Repucare. Repucare is creating 82 jobs. I sure hope they are hiring Wellpoint employees. Does not make sense!

  4. Triscuts...love um!

  5. Of course the fair will go on. Don't you big city reporters understand county fairs? Get outside the beltway and see what life is really like!

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