Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector. They include bankers, fund managers, venture capitalists, lawyers, financial planners and others who influence the movement and availability of money in the local economy. The names come from our own news staff, peer recommendations and public nominations—a long list, which was peer reviewed and culled to create the list that follows.
 

John F. Ackerman, 53
Co-founder and Managing Director
Cardinal Equity Partners LLC

Along with Jim Smeltzer, John Ackerman founded Cardinal Ventures in 1993 as a family investment vehicle, following the sale of a family business, Cardinal Communications. The company raised $50 million from 30 successful business entrepreneurs and changed its name to Cardinal Equity Partners in 2008. Cardinal purchases and operates middle-market businesses that are viewed as having the potential for long-term value creation. Locally, Cardinal owns or has a significant ownership position in Aqua Systems, Advanced Physical Therapy, Oak Security Group, Angie’s List and Prairie View Golf Club. The company owns businesses outside the area as well.

Before founding Cardinal, Ackerman worked for Quaker Oats Co., where he managed a variety of brands, including several pet foods, and was promoted to director of consumer marketing for Gatorade Thirst Quencher. He also worked as a commercial lender for the National Bank of Detroit.

Beyond his corporate responsibilities, Ackerman serves on the boards of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, the Junior Achievement Foundation, the Indianapolis 500 Festival and the Educational Choice Charitable Trust Foundation. In the past, he has served in board leadership roles for Conner Prairie Museum and Foundation, the Venture Club of Indiana and the Villages of Indiana, the state’s largest child welfare not-for-profit organization. He is a member of the Young President’s Organization.

Ackerman holds a bachelor’s in business from the University of Michigan and a master’s in management from the J.L. Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. A native of Indianapolis, he is married and has two children.
 

John C. Aplin, 65
Managing Director
CID Capital Inc.

John Aplin joined CID in 1990 after serving as president and CEO of the Fuller Brush Co. Fuller Brush was acquired from Sara Lee Co. in a transaction led by Aplin. Before joining Fuller Brush, Aplin was founder and president of two investment-banking firms in Kansas City. He has been involved in nearly 200 business transactions since 1984 in industries ranging from food manufacturing to information technology. Before that, Aplin was on the faculty of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and was chairman of the MBA program.

Aplin estimates that he has served on the boards of at least 25 companies. He was involved in the initial public offerings of Endocyte, Acordia and Stereotaxis. He has been active with the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University and is a member of the advisory board of the school’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

Aplin received his bachelor’s from Drake University and his master’s and doctorates from the University of Iowa. He served as a flight officer in the U.S. Navy, where he was a founding member of the Navy’s human resources program, established by Admiral Elmo Zumwalt.

Over the years, he has been involved in a range of activities and has been especially active in United Way of Central Indiana and his Lutheran church.
 

Donald Aquilano, 44
Managing Director
Allos Ventures

Don Aquilano is anentrepreneur of the first order. He snagged a job with Hewlett Packard straight out of college, leaving home-base in Tucson for Colorado, and became an operations manager. He founded two small software companies, went to business school, and joined Boston Consulting Group, consulting on strategy for global information technology and pharmaceutical companies and then worked for Diago, which owned Burger King, Pillsbury and Guinness, among others.

He moved into venture capital with Fox Group in New York City, where he participated in the early funding of companies such as WebMD. He was recruited to Indianapolis by Gazelle TechVentures, which was being launched by Scott Jones, to be its second managing director in April 2000 and became the sole managing director four months later. Gazelle, a venture capital company, has made a number of successful investments, including Rubicon Technology Inc. Aquilano serves as that company’s executive chairman. Aquilano is also managing director for Blue Chip Venture Co., where he manages investments in software and service companies Aprimo and Knowlagent.

Aquilano is chairman of Rubicon Technology and Weblink International and is a director for Scale Computing and Knowlagent. He is chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Indiana University School of Informatics, a board adviser for Teach for America’s Indianapolis region and for Indiana University’s Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Aquilano has a bachelor’s from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Harvard. He enjoys running marathons.
 

Dennis L. Bassett, 62
Chairman
Chase-Indiana

As chairman, Dennis Bassett has led the Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky Region for JP Morgan Chase since 2009. In that role, he chairs the Indiana Market Leadership Team, representing executive management for the state. He rejoined the bank (having been with Bank One from 1998-2001) in 2003 as CEO for Indiana and was promoted to CEO of the Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky Region in 2005.

He launched his banking career at Indiana National Bank, where he began as an account officer and worked his way up to senior vice president. After Indiana National was acquired by National Bank of Detroit, he became senior vice president and manager of NBD’s Indiana Corporate Group. In an era of mergers and acquisitions, he has also worked for First Chicago NBD and Huntington Bank.

Active in the community, Bassett sits on the board of Butler University and the boards of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, Indiana Sports Corp., the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Center for Leadership Development and the Arts Council of Indianapolis. He is chairman of Youthlinks Golf Charity and board president of the Sharon L. Bassett Foundation, a foundation named after Bassett’s late wife that aids families dealing with breast cancer and supports breast cancer research.

Bassett holds a bachelor’s from Eastern Illinois University and an MBA from Butler. He is also a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University. Bassett is married to Dr. Sally Brown, former CEO of Ambassadair Travel Club and founder of Ambassadors for Children and Women Like Us Foundation. They have three children.
 

David B. Becker, 57
President, CEO and Chairman
First Internet Bank

In 2007, David Bec-ker founded First In-ternet Bank, the state’sfirst state-chartered, FDIC-insured Internet bank. He has a history of leading successful startup companies in financial services and technology.

In 1981, Becker founded re:Member Data Services to provide electronic data-processing services to credit unions. He served as CEO of that company until it was acquired by Open Solutions Inc., in 2004. In 1995, he founded VIFI, a company that provided Internet services to financial institutions and corporations; that company was acquired by Digital Insight Corp. in 2002. He also founded and remains actively involved as CEO of three other Indianapolis-based companies: OneBridge, a credit- and debit-card processing firm; DyKnow, which specializes in educational technology for interactive learning experiences; and RICS, which provides inventory control and POS systems for retailers via the Web.

Becker serves on the boards of TechPoint and TechPoint Foundation, the Central Indiana Community Foundation and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. A firm believer in higher education, Becker serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the School of Informatics at Indiana University and has served on the advisory boards for the Robert C. McDermond Center for Management and Entrepreneurship and the IT Associates Program at DePauw University and on the board at Vincennes University.

Becker is a 2001 recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and the 2002 recipient of the TechPoint Trailblazer in Technology award. He is a Sagamore of the Wabash and has been inducted into the Junior Achievement-sponsored Central Indiana Business Hall of Fame. He is a graduate of DePauw University.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector. 

Elaine E. Bedel, 58
President and Founder
Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.

Bedel Financial Con-sulting celebrated its 20-year milestone in 2008; Elaine Bedel herself has more than 35 years of experience in financial services. The firm provides fee-only financial planning and investment management services to individuals and families; advice and fiduciary guidance to trustees of employer retirement plans; and investment management and oversight for institutional investment portfolios and charitable endowments.

Bedel has been recognized as a leader in her profession by several national financial magazines and appeared in IBJ’s list of Women of Influence in 2009. She is the 2011 recipient of the Torchbearer Award, the prestigious award given by Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Indiana Commission for Women in honor of women who have overcome or removed barriers to equality and have been pioneers in their fields.

Bedel is a weekly contributor to Inside Indiana Business e-newsletter The Inside Edge and published a book, “Advice You Never Asked For … but wished you had!” in 2009. She is an active participant in the financial planning profession, currently serving as chairwoman of the national Foundation for Financial Planning. She also chaired the international Financial Planning Standards Board and the U.S. CFP Board of Standards. She has also served on the board of the Financial Planning Association.

A graduate of Hanover College, Bedel is currently on the school’s board of trustees and is past president of the alumni association. She is an alumnae of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series. She also sits on the boards of the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, the John H. Weidner Foundation, Goodwill Industries Foundation and WFYI Foundation. She has been involved in numerous other organizations, including serving as president and on the boards of the Rotary Foundation of Indianapolis and the Indiana University School of Nursing.
 

Michael E. Bosway, 52
President and CEO
City Securities Corp.

Michael Bosway joined City Securities in 1982 after a brief stint with Arthur Anderson and Co. Bosway vaulted onto the corporate ladder as a senior vice president and retail investment consultant, and moved up to eventually be named to his current position in 1999. As president and CEO, Bosway has led the company in a different direction and, he says, “Revenues are about 2-1/2 times what they were 10 years ago.” He attributes his success to adding talented people, giving existing employees better tools, and creating a board with three outside directors, who help the company think more broadly.

A military kid, whose father once served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bosway moved 15 times, never growing especially attached to any single place. Although he attended high school in Louisiana, he followed his older brother to college at the University of Dayton, the school their dad had attended. Bosway graduated magna cum laude and headed to Ohio State University to get his MBA, all the while traveling to and from Indianapolis to see Elizabeth Sweeney, now his wife. Bosway liked what he saw in the city and has pursued his career here ever since.

Bosway sits on a range of boards and committees, including the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce board, the SIFMA Regional Firms Committee, the Governor’s Residence Commission, the Indianapolis Zoo board and the United Christmas Service board. Bosway is especially passionate about the United Christmas Service, which helps needy local families during the holidays.

Bosway and his wife have two children and he enjoys tennis, running, baseball, reading and golf.
 

Thomas J. Buck, 57
Managing Director Investments
Merrill Lynch

In addition to being managing director of investments, Tom Buck is a wealth man-agement adviser andsenior portfolio manager for Merrill Lynch. He focuses on creating strategies for clients and makes tactical decisions. He joined the company in 1981.

Buck has a bachelor’s in economics and his MBA in finance from Indiana University. He is the recipient of several awards from industry publications, including Registered Rep magazine’s 100 Wirehouse Advisors in America in 2007. Barron’s listed him in 2009 and 2011 as the top financial adviser in Indiana and one of the top 50 in the country.

Beyond his work at Merrill Lynch, Buck is involved in a variety of community organizations. He serves on the board of deacons and the stewardship committee at his church, Second Presbyterian, where he is also a moderator. In 2009, he co-chaired the USGA Senior Men’s Open at Crooked Stick Golf Club, and he will help the golf club again in 2012, co-chairing the BMW championship. He volunteers on the dean’s advisory board for the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University, as well as on the parent’s advisory board. He and his wife, Catharine, live in Carmel.
 

Christopher Caniff, 44
Managing Director
Periculum Capital Co. LLC

Christopher Caniff began his career in corporate banking with Provident Bank, where he was responsible for developing $100 million in outstanding loans in the first 18 months of operations, in addition to day-to-day management responsibilities associated with co-founding the Indiana division of the bank. Before joining Provident, he spent 10 years in commercial banking with Bank One and First Chicago NBD. As banks grew larger, he hungered for a smaller, nimbler organization.

At Periculum Capital, a locally owned and headquartered merchant banking firm, Caniff found the right milieu. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions for middle-market and high-growth companies. During the past 12 months, he has successfully led a team in completing a number of significant transactions for local companies, including the multimillion-dollar sale of Createc Corp. to Tegrant Corp. and a $200 million revolving credit facility for Symmetry Medical Inc.

Caniff was awarded IBJ’s Forty under 40 designation in 2005 and was a 2004 finalist for Indy’s Best and Brightest in the category of banking and financial services. He is an active member of his church and a vice president of the Zionsville Redevelopment Commission. He previously served on the board of the Indianapolis chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.

Raised in Princeton, Caniff attended Indiana University, graduating with a bachelor’s in economics. He, his wife, Andrea, and their three children live in Zionsville.
 

Andrew M. Cardimen, 45
Senior Vice President and Mid-Market Sales Manager
Harris Bank

In his current role, Andy Cardimen leads a team of midmarket bankers responsible for developing and managing long-term commercial banking relationships throughout central Indiana. He has been in the banking industry 22 years and joined Harris Bank in 2007, following the bank’s acquisition of First National Bank and Trust.

Cardimen grew up outside of Detroit and graduated from Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. After graduation, he joined Michigan National Bank, where he held a variety of ever-more-responsible positions until, in 1994, he was recruited to Indianapolis by Key Bank. In 1999, he returned to school to earn an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis. During this time, he acted as COO and CFO of a physician practice consulting firm. Cardimen returned to banking in 2001.

Beyond banking, Cardimen has pursued an interest in French. He holds a Certificat de Langue Francais from the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France, and has taught French to grade-school students in the Indianapolis area. He also has volunteered and raised funds for several not-for-profits since moving to Indianapolis. He has served on the boards of Make-A Wish Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Suburban Health Organization Captive Insurance Co. He is on the boards of both Westview Hospital and School on Wheels. Cardimen and his wife, Michelle, have three children.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector. 

Jeffrey Cohen, 47
Senior Vice President Investments Managing Director
Stifel Nicolaus and Co. Inc.

In 1996, Cohen joined David Knall to form the Knall/Cohen Group, then affiliated with McDonald and Company Securities, which was acquired by Stifel Nicolaus in 2005. Cohen works closely with families, foundations and endowments to help ensure that their assets are preserved and that they are provided the best opportunities to accumulate wealth. The group manages more than $6 billion in assets. Before joining the team, Cohen was a partner with the then-powerhouse, now-defunct Johnson Smith law firm. He and Knall subsequently formed the Knall/Cohen Group.

Although he grew up in Delaware, Cohen migrated to Indiana with a tennis scholarship to Indiana University, where he became a four-year-letter winner on the men’s varsity team. He earned both his bachelor’s in business and his law degree at IU. He later served on IU’s board of trustees, including chairing its finance and audit committee.

Cohen currently serves on the boards of Endowment Society of Park Tudor School and Indianapolis Marion-County Public Library Foundation. He is a former member of the American, Indiana and Indianapolis bar associations. Cohen was tapped in 1999 as one of IBJ’s Forty under 40.
 

J. Chris Cooke, 46
Managing Director Investments
Cooke Financial Group of Wells Fargo Advisors

Founded in 1969, Cooke Financial Group is a family team comprising John Cooke and his two sons, Chris and Brian. In addition to being a managing director, Chris Cooke is the group’s senior institutional consultant. Cooke Financial offers professional investment consulting and comprehensive wealth management consulting.

Before joining Cooke Financial, he was an accountant for Ernst and Young. He specializes in estate, tax and cash-flow planning and fiduciary liability. His experience and background, especially in auditing and performance measurement, have played a key role in Cooke Financial Group’s consulting efforts. Although he isn’t currently practicing, he is both a CPA and an attorney. Since 1996, Cooke has been a member of the Wells Fargo Advisors Premier Advisors recognition council, which honors financial advisers for their professional achievement. He has spoken to numerous groups, including Barrons Top 100 Financial Advisors.

Cooke has his bachelor’s from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree, with a focus on tax law, from the Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis. He earned the professional designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst in 2000. He is a member of the Indiana Bar Association. He is active in the community and currently serves as chairman of Conner Prairie Museum Inc., and treasurer of the Conner Prairie Foundation.

Cooke and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children and live in Fishers.
 

Lex Curry, 57
Senior Vice President, Regional Manager
Commercial BankingWells Fargo and Co.

As senior vice president and regional manager, Lex Curry leads a team of experienced relationship managers who are responsible for managing corporate banking and financial-services relationships for public and private companies with annual revenue of $10 million and more. Curry joined Wells Fargo in 2004, when he opened its regional commercial banking office here.

Curry has 30 years of experience in financial services, including work in commercial banking and public accounting. Before joining Wells Fargo, he worked with National City Bank.

A strong supporter of his community, Curry serves on the board of Visiting Nurse Services of Indiana. He supports a variety of other not-for-profits, including the Association for Corporate Growth, the Indy Partnership, Prevent Blindness Indiana, Boys and Girls Clubs of Indianapolis, United Way of Central Indiana, Downtown Sertoma Club, Big Brother Big Sisters and First Baptist Athletics. He sits on the NCAA Final Four Committee.

A native of Michigan, Curry graduated from Indiana State University and has lived in Indiana since 1980. He, his wife and son live in Fishers.
 

S. Joe DeHaven, 61
President and CEO
Indiana Bankers Association

A former banker, Joe DeHaven joined the IBA as president and chief operating officer in 2006, as a result of a merger between IBA and Community Bankers Association of Indiana, where he had served as president and CEO since 1990. He assumed his current role in 2007. He points out that, in 2010, “Indiana banks provided nearly $25 million in funding to more than 19,000 community groups.”

Early in his career, DeHaven was an executive officer of Merchants National Bank of Muncie, now First Merchants Bank, a position that laid his foundation of banking knowledge. He earned a bachelor’s from Ball State University and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking in Wisconsin. He is now a trustee of the latter school.

He is on the board of the Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corp.; a member of the New Market Tax Credit Committee of the Great Lakes Capital Fund for Housing; on the board of the American Bankers Association Education Foundation; and assistant treasurer and board member of the Indiana Legal Foundation. He was appointed by Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman to the advisory council of the Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

DeHaven was named the 2010 Association Executive of the Year by the Indiana Society of Association Executives and is a member of that organization. He has served as chairman of the Council of Community Banker Associations and as a board member of the Independent Community Bankers of America. He is past president of the board of Family Service of Delaware County and has volunteered for fundraising activities for the YMCA, United Way and Ball State University Foundation. He and his wife have three children and four grandchildren.
 

Gary Hentschel, 53
Central Indiana District President
Key Bank NA

As president of Key Bank’s Central Indiana District, Gary Hentschel has full responsibility for growing the client base in retail banking, business banking, commercial banking, Key investment services and Key private bank for Key Bank in central Indiana. Hentschel joined Key for a second time in 2007 and has more than 30 years of experience, including 19 years in financial services. He has experience in client acquisition, credit, lending, sales and leadership in financial services.

Before joining Key, Hentschel was president and COO of Personnel Management Inc., a privately held light industrial staffing firm, headquartered in Greenwood, with 45 offices in 10 states. Under his leadership, the company more than doubled its sales and profitability and was successfully sold from public to private ownership. Before joining PMI in 1996, he worked for both Indiana National Bank and Key Bank in central Indiana.

Hentschel has been active in philanthropic endeavors and currently sits on the boards of a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, including Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Central Indiana Transit Task Force, Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee and Centerfield Capital Partners. He also coaches and organizes youth sports.

The son of a longtime treasurer of the Purdue Research Foundation, Hentschel grew up in West Lafayette. Hentschel’s undergraduate degree is from Miami University and he has an MBA with a concentration in finance from Butler University. He and his wife, Pam, have two sons and two daughters.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector.
 

Thomas Hiatt, 63
Founding Partner
Centerfield Capital

Tom Hiatt and Scott Lutzke founded Centerfield Capital in 1998. Hiatt has been working with entrepreneurial companies for more than 25 years and has worked in private equity since 1986. He served as a director of a number of private and publicly held companies, including firms in manufacturing and distribution as well as those providing health care, financial and other business services.

Hiatt currently serves as a board member of two Centerfield portfolio companies: Aero Systems Engineering Inc. and AXS Imaging LLC. He previously served on the boards of six other Centerfield portfolio companies. In addition to his responsibilities sourcing and structuring transactions and monitoring portfolio companies, Hiatt serves as a member of Centerfield’s investment committee. Before co-founding Centerfield, Hiatt was a partner in two early-stage venture partnerships.

Hiatt is chairman of the board of the National Association of Small Business Investment Cos., where he is leading an initiative to rename and rebrand the organization as the Alliance for Small Business Investors. He was also chairman of the National Summit for Middle Market Funds, a national industry conference he coordinated, and is a director of Lake City Financial Corp. and Lake City Bank. In addition to his experience as a private equity fund manager, Hiatt worked nine years as an operating executive. He founded and served as president of Sungene Technologies in Palo Alto, Calif., and worked in strategic planning and marketing at Eli Lilly and Co.

Hiatt graduated magna cum laude from Wabash College and holds a master’s from the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the boards of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and World Learning Inc., and chairs the advisory board of Grameen Bank Indianapolis. He is a Life Trustee of the Indiana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and has twice served as president of the Indiana Venture Club.
 

Curt W. Hidde, 43
Partner
Barnes and Thornburg LLP

Curt Hidde is a member of Barnes and Thornburg’s Financial Institutions Practice Group. Since his undergraduate days at Indiana University, Hidde knew he wanted to be a lawyer working with clients in financial services. “There was just something about the financial markets and the players in that industry that intrigued me,” he said. Eighteen years later, Hidde is doing just that and enjoying it thoroughly.

Hidde’s primary areas of practice are securities law, corporate finance and financial institution and insurance company regulation. He has represented numerous public and private financial institutions and related entities in a variety of transactions and matters, including IPOs, tender offers, mergers and acquisitions, and cease and desist orders. Hidde regularly advises clients on issues such as corporate governance, banking and insurance law and ongoing SEC compliance matters, including the unique disclosure issues affecting financial institutions.

Beyond his law practice, Hidde has served on the board and executive committee of the Ronald McDonald House of Indiana for many years. He is president of the Venture Club of Indiana, which is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship, and serves on that organization’s board and executive committee. Hidde is married and has two sons. He enjoys spending time with his family, water-skiing, golfing, and playing ice hockey in an adult recreation league.
 

Mark E. Hill, 54
Managing Partner
Collina Ventures LLC

The genesis of Collina Ventures isin Baker-Hill, a company Hill’s wife, Karen Baker Hill started in the couple’s living room in 1983. Baker-Hill created software-based solutions for the financial services industry, ultimately serving more than 1,000 clients around the world. By 1989, with Baker-Hill thriving, Hill left his sales job at IBM to work full time on the family enterprise. Experian, one of the big three credit-reporting agencies, acquired the company in 2008.

Funds from the sale financed today’s Collina Ventures. (Collina is the Italian word for hill.) A private investment firm focusing on technology companies in central Indiana, Collina gets involved in early-stage, tech-sector businesses for the most part, including education software and marketing software. Collina’s investments have included Aprimo, ExactTarget, Compendium and Scale Computing.

In addition to his role with Collina, Hill serves on the boards of numerous technology companies, including Interactive Intelligence, Bluelock, T2 Systems and Cantaloupe.

Hill is an adjunct professor at the Indiana University School of Informatics and serves as chairman of the local Indianapolis Teach for America board. Additionally, he is active in the Central Indiana Community Partnership, the Central Indiana Community Foundation, United Way and Techpoint. Hill holds a bachelor’s from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. He enjoys golfing, skiing and running.
 

Kevin Hipskind, 43
Senior Vice President Lending
Fifth Third Bank Central Indiana

Kevin Hipskind be-gan his professional career in accounting with Arthur Andersen in Chicago. He left Arthur Andersen for a manufacturing firm in Carmel. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Hipskind welcomed the opportunity to return to his roots. He moved from manufacturing to banking in 1993, when he joined Society Bank, which was later taken over by Key Bank.

Hipskind has been with Fifth Third Bank about nine years. In his years with the bank, he has held positions as a large corporate relationship manager, middle-market team leader, community market sales manager and international manager. Presently, he leads the commercial division for central Indiana.

Hipskind serves on the Parish Counsel board and is chairman of the finance committee of St. Pius X Parish. He also sits on the board and serves as treasurer of the Japan-America Society of Indiana and on the board of Wishard Foundation, and is development chairman for Celebrating Catholic Values. He is an elected precinct committeeman.

Hipskind received a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Indiana University. He and his wife, Michelle, have three children. Hipskind enjoys water-skiing, golfing, hiking, traveling and watching his kids play sports.
 

Nancy Huber, 60
President and CEO
Fifth Third Bank—Central Indiana

Raised by parents who valued inquisitiveness and chal-lenged their children to support their viewpoints, Nancy Huber has used those traits in her own pursuit of success. As a young woman, she remembers constantly asking questions and trying to learn all she could from her bosses. Today, she is president and CEO of Fifth Third, which has $3 billion in assets, and she is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the bank’s four main businesses: commercial banking, retail banking, consumer lending and investment advisers. Huber joined Fifth Third in 2001 and was market president of the bank’s Northeastern Ohio region before assuming her current position.

In her early 50s, Huber made the sort of career leap most people only dream about. She gave up a position as divisional vice president of Parisian Department Stores, a division of Saks Inc., and took one in banking, a field she had no experience in. She says, “I realize I did something that’s very hard to do, so I try to share my experience and what I learned. Letting people know that you’re open to new opportunities is the first step, learning how to articulate your transferable skills is the next, and networking with the right people is the cherry on top.”

Huber grew up in Cincinnati and received her bachelor’s in political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She sits on the boards of WFYI, the Indianapolis Art Center, Conner Prairie and the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. She has two grown daughters, one an inner-city art teacher in San Diego and the other, a chef and restaurant owner in South Carolina; Huber is part owner of the restaurant.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector.
 

Steven K. Humke, 50
Partner
Ice Miller LLP

Steve Humke, an active mergers and acquisitions lawyer, founded the Ice Miller Entrepreneurial Services Group in 1993. He has led about 80 completed transactions since 2002, ranging in size from $1 million to $3.8 billion. Additionally, he represents high-growth, owner-managed companies, a number of which do not employ in-house counsel and rely upon Humke as their primary legal adviser.

A 1981 summa cum laude graduate of Duke University, Humke practiced as a certified public accountant between college and law school. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985 and practiced law for seven years in Washington, D.C. Humke, notes, however, that he spent most of those seven years in New York City conference rooms working on deals. He returned to the Midwest in 1992, with the goal of becoming more involved in strategic decisions that drive transactions, an opportunity Ice Miller gives him.

Humke currently serves on the board of the Indiana Association for Corporate Growth. He has been recognized by Chambers USA, a publication that ranks lawyers and law firms, as one of the leading attorneys in corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Humke is an alumnus of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series and a director of the Indiana Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. He has served on the boards of The Villages, TechPoint Foundation, the Butler University Board of Visitors and a variety of other organizations. He and his wife live in Indianapolis and have a daughter, as well as a passel of pets. He regularly speaks on topics of interest to growth companies.
 

David L. Johnson, 58
President and CEO
BioCrossroads

A longtime business leader and lawyer, David Johnson has led BioCrossroads, a market-driven collaboration of Indiana’s leaders in life sciences, since 2005. Among its many activities, BioCrossroads educates and communicates about Indiana’s substantial life sciences sector; raises investment funds and launches new businesses; and builds innovative collaborations, such as the Fairbanks Institute and Indiana Health Information Exchange.

Initially as a community volunteer, Johnson led the successful effort in 2003 to raise Indiana’s first institutional life sciences venture capital fund, the $73 million Indiana Future fund. He was directly involved in the formation of BioCrossroads, and from BioCrossroads today, Johnson manages the $6 million Indiana Seed Fund, now invested in 11 promising, early Indiana life sciences businesses.

Beyond BioCrossroads, Johnson is a director and executive committee member of BioScience Vaccines Inc., CS-Keys Inc., Indiana Health Information Exchange Inc., Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities Inc., OrthoWorx Inc., Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. and Purdue Research Foundation. He is also a director of CICP Foundation, among other organizations.

Before joining BioCrossroads, Johnson was a partner at the Indianapolis law firm Baker and Daniels LLP, where he had a leadership role in collaborating and establishing cross-disciplinary practice groups, including health care and life sciences.

Johnson is an honors graduate of Harvard University, Harvard Law School and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar. Following his graduation from law school, he was legal counsel and a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee. He and his wife, Anne Nobles, who is a senior vice president at Eli Lilly and Co., have one daughter, a student at Georgetown University.
 

Deron S. Kintner, 35
Executive Director and General Counsel
Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank

Deron Kintner holds a bachelor’s in finance and a law degree from Indiana University-Bloomington, degrees indispensable to his current position. The Indianapolis Bond Bank is the debt-issuing and capital-financing arm of the city of Indianapolis and all municipal corporations. In his position, Kintner oversees and manages a $5 billion debt portfolio. That portfolio includes some high-profile projects: the JW Marriott, the new midfield terminal at Indianapolis International Airport, the new Wishard Hospital and the recently approved North of South project. Kintner takes credit for developing and implementing an interest-rate risk-management policy and reducing the city’s variable-rate debt exposure by 90 percent.

Before joining the Indianapolis Bond Bank, Kintner worked as an attorney with the Indianapolis law firm of Bingham McHale LLP, where his practice focused primarily on the area of public finance. He joined the firm directly out of law school.

Kintner has and continues to volunteer for multiple Indiana Sports Corp. local organizing committees, including those of the 2010 Men’s Final Four, 2011 Big Ten Basketball Tournament and 2011 Big Ten Men’s Football Championship. He sits on the board of PlayBall Indiana, an organization that strives to give inner-city kids the opportunity to play baseball. He is also involved in the Penrod Society, which mounts the city’s largest art fair. A native of North Vernon, Kintner is married to Kelly Harrison, who works in financial planning and analysis for Republic Airways.
 

David Knall, 66
Senior Vice President Investments Managing Director
Stifel Nicolaus and Co. Inc.

David Knall and his partners, Jeff Cohen and Jamie Knall, help clients manage more than $6 billion in assets. The Knall/Cohen Group, which is a part of St. Louis-based Stifel Nicolaus, focuses on providing advice and consulting for wealthy families. The group acts as financial adviser for more than 50 foundations and endowments as well.

After earning an academic scholarship to Indiana University and graduating with a bachelor’s in finance in 1966, Knall served as an officer in the Vietnam-era U.S. Army. As head of the Casualty Branch at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Knall was responsible for providing aid to the families of fallen soldiers in Indiana and Michigan.

In 1969, Knall joined McDonald and Co., where, six years later, at the age of 34, he became one of the youngest individuals to be elected a general partner at the company. He became managing director in 1983 and senior managing director in 1996. He was later appointed to the board of the Cleveland-based parent company, McDonald and Co. Investments. In 2005, the Knall/Cohen Group severed its ties with McDonald and joined Stifel Nicolaus, where Knall is a managing director.

In what he refers to as his “not-for-profit life,” Knall brings conservative and contrarian thinking to a diverse group of private and public organizations. He is a member of the investment committees of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Children’s Museum and the Regenstrief Foundation. He is a former trustee of both Wabash College and Christian Theological Seminary and a former board member of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. He previously was a board member and on the investment committee of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation.
 

Morris L. Maurer, 60
President and CEO
The National Bank of Indianapolis

Morris Maurer co-founded the Na-tional Bank of Indianapolis with his cousin, Michael Maurer, in 1993. Today he serves as president and CEO of both the bank and its parent corporation, the National Bank of Indianapolis Corp., a bank holding company with total assets in excess of $1.4 billion.

Before founding the bank, Maurer worked for Indiana National Bank from 1975 through 1992. He served as senior vice president and was responsible for corporate-wide strategic planning, venture capital and economic outreach. He was a member of the executive management committee and chairman of the statewide bank integration committee. In addition, Maurer served as chief financial officer of NBD Bank, Indiana, where his responsibilities included general accounting, investment, funds desk, security sales and brokerage functions.

Maurer is chairman of the investment committee of Indiana Landmarks, trustee of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and director of the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. He also is a member of the Penrod Society, the Columbia Club and the Indiana University Alumni Association. In the past, he has worked with a wide range of professional, civic and not-for-profit organizations, including Indianapolis Civic Theatre, the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, Central Indiana Community Partnership, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Community Hospital Foundation and the Indiana Bankers Association’s Central Region. He has lectured on the principles of financial management at IUPUI.
In 1997, Maurer received the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for greater Indianapolis. Maurer graduated from Indiana University, earning both his bachelor’s and his MBA in finance. He and his wife, Jan, have three children.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector.
 

Robert E. McElwain, 52
Executive Vice President
JPMorgan Chase

Bob McElwain start-ed his banking career in 1980 with American Fletcher National Bank, and he’s stayed with the bank through a succession of mergers as it became Bank One and now JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Straight out of college, McElwain began in the bank’s trainee program and worked his way upward, as a banker, a manager, a credit-approval officer, a division manager and today, as executive vice president and state head of Indiana Middle-Market Banking. In his current position, McElwain directs three division managers and oversees all aspects of the commercial middle-market business in the state. He is especially proud of the way the local Chase team helped clients maintain or grow their assets through the recession.

McElwain earned his bachelor’s in finance from Indiana University and, while he was working for the bank, returned to school to earn his MBA from Butler University. He was born in Illinois and moved with his family to Danville, Ind., where he graduated from high school. Today he, his wife and two children live in Zionsville.

McElwain sits on the boards of the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis and the 500 Festival. He also serves youth in the community as a mentor and volunteer coach. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and fitness activities.
 

Michael W. Newbold, 56
Indiana Regional President
Huntington National Bank

Mike Newbold joined Huntington National Bank as president of its Indiana Region after Huntington’s 2007 acquisition of Sky Financial Group, where Newbold previously served as regional president for Sky Bank Indiana. Before his position with Sky Bank, he was executive vice president of Union Federal Bank, where he was responsible for retail banking, business banking and wealth management.

Newbold began his banking career in 1976 as a management trainee at the former American Fletcher National Bank, where he worked in a variety of retail and commercial banking positions. After Bank One acquired American Fletcher, he stayed on and was eventually promoted to executive vice president, a position that put him in charge of retail and small business channels in Indiana.

Active in a variety of community organizations, Newbold is an elder at Greenwood Christian Church, a director of the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership and a member of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee. He serves as a director for the Indiana Bankers Association, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana Community Business Credit Corp., Lynx Capital Corp. and Greenwood Community Schools Holding Corp. Newbold obtained his bachelor’s from Ball State University and is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He and his wife, Bonnie, have two adult sons.
 

Michael C. Rechin, 52
President and CEO
First Merchants Corp.

Michael Rechin has served as president and CEO of First Merchants Corp. since 2007. A $4.2 billion financial holding company, First Merchants is headquartered in Muncie and has banking operations in central Indiana and Ohio. The corporation operates First Merchants Trust Co. and First Merchants Insurance Services. Rechin joined First Merchants as chief operating officer in 2005.

Before joining First Merchants, Rechin was executive vice president of corporate banking for National City Bank, managing its Indiana operations and overseeing all commercial banking activities. Rechin began his banking career with National City in Cleveland, where he grew up. He relocated to Indianapolis in 1995.

As an active community leader, Rechin is a director of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce and a director of Lynx Capital Corp. He also serves on the board of trustees at Minnetrista, a museum and cultural center in Muncie, and on the board of governors of the Economic Club of Indiana. He previously served as a director of United Way of Indiana, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Junior Achievement of Indianapolis and the Indy Partnership.

Rechin is an avid golfer and an all-around sports fan, focusing primarily on Indiana and Cleveland teams. He and his wife, Debbie, have three children and live in Carmel.
 

John C. Reed, 67
President
David A. Noyes and Co. Investment Banking Group

As president of David A. Noyes’ Investment Banking Group, John Reed is responsible for all phases of the firm’s investment banking and corporate finance activities, with an emphasis on financial institutions. Founded in 1908, David A. Noyes is a Midwest investment firm headquartered in Chicago. Reed is executive vice president and a board member of David A. Noyes.

Reed specializes in structuring and negotiating mergers and acquisitions and in managing private and public offerings. He has experience and expertise in strategic and capital planning, providing expert witness testimony, designing investor relations programs, performing business valuation studies and rendering fairness opinions.

Reed has spoken before many industry and legal groups. He writes monthly columns for both a national trade publication and a state association magazine and has penned a number of articles for other publications.

Reed grew up in Philadelphia and obtained his bachelor’s in economics from Boston University and his MBA in finance from Rutgers University. He worked at Bache and Co. and Chase Manhattan Bank before joining New Jersey-based Ryan, Beck and Co. in 1976. At that company, he directed all phases of bank-stock research and investment banking activities for banks and thrifts. He led public offerings and other capital financing and directed a wide array of financial advisory services. In 1985, he founded and became president of Ryan Beck and Co./Mid-States and senior vice president of its parent firm, a move that brought him to Indianapolis to open an office. He joined Noyes in 1991.

Reed is married and has two grown daughters. His passions are bicycling and sailing and he just marked a significant milestone, his 50th sailing trip.
 

Randall D. Reichmann, 54
Region CEO
Old National Bancorp

Randy Reichmann has been with Evansville-based Old National Bancorp for five years. As president and CEO of the Indianapolis region, he is responsible for 50 retail branches, corporate and commercial banking, in-vestments, trust, mort-gage and private bank-ing. He oversaw the integration of more than 50 Charter One branches when ONB purchased them in 2009 and is currently working on the integration of Monroe Bank.

Reichmann grew up on a large dairy and hog farm in Carlinville, Ill., and began his career working for the Farm Credit System, a network of financial cooperatives owned predominately by farmers and ranchers. After five years, he moved to Arizona to work for Valley National Bank, which was eventually bought by Bank One. He relocated to Indianapolis with Bank One in 1997 and has since managed a variety of commercial banking groups.

An advocate for kids, Reichmann recently joined the core planning team for the Indiana Youth Institute’s Indiana Mentoring Partnership, an initiative devoted to providing a mentor to every child in need of one in the state. He also sits on the boards of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Central Indiana, where he also serves as a mentor; the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee; Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership; Central Indiana Certified Development Corp.; Skyline Club; and Center for Leadership Development. He is a cabinet member of the United Way of Central Indiana.

Reichmann and his wife, Kim, have three children.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector.
 

Michael A. Renninger, 51
Principal
Renninger and Associates LLC

A certified public accountant with more than 30 years of accounting and financial-management experience, Mike Renninger founded Renninger and Associates in 1999. The company focuses on mergers and acquisitions and financial consulting.

In 1981 Renninger graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor’s in business administration; he received his CPA designation in 1984. He has an FLMI (Fellow, Life Management Institute) designation and is a member of the Indiana Bankers Association and of its investment committee. He makes presentations on financial topics such as mergers and acquisitions.

Renninger served as an external auditor with Crowe Chizek and Co. and Coopers & Lybrand; as chief financial officer for Citizen’s Banking Company and Analytical Surveys Inc.; as vice president, corporate finance, with City Securities Corp.; and as vice president, capital markets group, for David A. Noyes and Co.

Beyond his professional affiliations, Renninger is involved in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church and Kiwanis International. In the past, he has been involved in the United Way and as a coach in the Carmel Dads’ Club and the Glendale Soccer Association. He and his wife live in Carmel and have one daughter.
 

David Resnick, 51
Managing Partner
Katz Sapper and Miller LLP

David Resnick started his career with Katz Sapper and Miller in 1982, following a college internship with the Indianapolis accounting firm. As managing partner, a post he has held for 10 years, he is responsible for the administration and operations of the firm and is a management adviser to his clients. He has experience in mergers and acquisitions, cash management, financing, forecasts and projections, tax planning and business consultation and structuring. He has special expertise in accounting for the advertising, distribution, lodging and services sectors.

Resnick is chairman of United Way of Central Indiana and sits on the boards of the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Indy Partnership, Beth-El Zedeck Foundation and its congregation, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, Simon Hillel Center and WFYI Foundation. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. He has also served on several other boards, including Jewish Family and Children’s Services, the American Cancer Society and the Indiana University Sigma Alpha Mu Corp.

Resnick graduated from Indiana University with both a bachelor’s and a master’s in business administration and finance. He has been awarded, among other honors, the L.L. Goodman Young Leadership Award, the David Cook Community Leadership Award and a board leadership award from WFYI. Resnick enjoys running, spinning and yoga; he is married and has two children.
 

Regan Rick, 49
Regional Group President
M&I Bank

Regan Rick was general counsel and executive vice president of First Indiana Corp. when M&I, a regional financial-services company headquartered in Milwaukee, acquired the company in 2008. After the merger, Rick became president of the Indiana region. Last fall, he was named regional group president, making him responsible for M&I’s operations in Indiana, St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; and Minnesota.

Rick began his banking career in Indianapolis at the former American Fletcher National Bank and later was vice president for corporate banking for both Lincoln National Bank (1986-1991) and National City Bank (1991-1997). Rick obtained his law degree in his spare time, while working full time in corporate banking, and decided to switch professions. Although he practiced both at the local law firm Ice Miller and privately in the late 1990s, he found that he was drawn back to the banking atmosphere. He joined First Indiana as executive vice president and general counsel in 2004.

A native Hoosier, raised on a working farm in Covington, Rick learned to operate a tractor at age 8. He has a bachelor’s from Ball State University and a law degree from Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.

Rick serves on the board of the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership and previously was a member of the boards of the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee. He is an avid runner.
 

Philip B. Roby, 68
Chief Operating Officer, Chief Lending Officer and Director
The National Bank of Indianapolis

Philip Roby is a graduate of Indiana University, where he earned his bachelor’s in finance, and of the University of Wisconsin’s Graduate School of Banking. He began his career in the management-training program at the former Indiana National Bank in 1965. He worked as a commercial lending officer and correspondent banking officer. In 1973, he was promoted to manager of the commercial credit department, and in 1975 he became president of two real estate subsidiaries of Indiana National Corp. In 1978, he was promoted to senior vice president and division head of the metropolitan division. In 1990, he became president of INB Banking Co., Northeast, an INB affiliate in Fort Wayne.

Since 1993, Roby has been executive vice president, chief operating officer and a director of the National Bank of Indianapolis Corp. and the National Bank of Indianapolis and chief lending officer of the bank.

Roby serves as chairman of the Ivy Tech Foundation Board, president of the board of Lynx Capital Corp., and a member of the board of YMCA of Greater Indianapolis and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee. He also serves on the advisory boards of Noble of Indiana Inc., and the Marion County Commission on Youth.
 

Michael A. Rosen, 41
Managing Director of Private Equity
Oxford Financial Group

Mike Rosen became Carmel-based Oxford Financial Group’s first managing director of private equity in 2005. The role was created in direct response to increasing market need and client expectations for private-equity investment options—more specifically, direct private-equity investments.

Rosen chairs the group’s Mayfair Investment Committee. The company’s Mayfair initiative focuses on creating direct private-equity vehicles, primarily in the form of limited-liability companies for high-end investment opportunities.

Before joining Oxford, Rosen served as managing director of Hillenbrand Capital Partners, where he was responsible for leading projects to analyze, invest in and monitor privately held companies and investment partnerships, as well as issues related to more liquid investment. Earlier he had been associate director of the mergers and acquisitions group of Banc One Capital Markets Inc., where he focused on advising middle-market companies on a variety of growth and liquidity opportunities.

Rosen is a graduate of Butler University, where he earned his bachelor’s in business administration; he received his master’s from the University of Notre Dame. He is a board member of the Association for Corporate Growth and a judge for the Real Business Experience program at Butler’s College of Business. He coaches youth sports and lives in Carmel with his wife, two sons and daughter.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector.
 

Glenn Scolnik, 59
Chairman
HKW

Glenn Scolnik joined HKW in 1993 as a full partner to lead platform acquisitions and open an office for the com-pany in Indianapolis, where it is now based. HKW (Hammond Kennedy Whitney and Co.) was founded in 1903 and is one of the nation’s oldest private-equity firms.

In 1998, Scolnik became president and CEO, taking responsibility for all operations worldwide. He became chairman in 2009 and retains responsibility for all platform acquisitions. During Scolnik’s 11 years as CEO, he led HKW into the private-equity fund environment with HKW Capital Partners II and HKW Capital Partners III, hired all 14 current investment professionals and moved the operations of HKW to Indianapolis.

From 1978 until 1992, Scolnik specialized in mergers and acquisitions at the local law firm Sommer and Barnard (now Taft Law) and represented HKW. From 1983 until today, he has been involved in more than 70 change-of-control acquisitions by HKW, most of them as an HKW partner. He also is chairman of Nesco Holdings in Bluffton, NaturMed Inc., in Camp Verde, Ariz., Canadian Hospital Specialties in Oakville, Ontario, and Airworx in Indianapolis.

Scolnik received his bachelor’s from the Indiana University School of Business and his law degree from IU-Bloomington. Before starting his law career, he played professional football in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers and in the Canadian Football League. He met and married his wife while playing for the Steelers.

Today he is active with the Meridian Street United Methodist Church, the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and in conservation efforts, mainly through the Conservation Law Center in Bloomington, which is associated with the law school. He has endowed a scholarship at the Kelley School of Business.
 

Robert H. Shortle, 62
CEO and Senior Managing Director
Periculum Capital Co.

In 1998, Bob Shortle co-founded Per-iculum Capital Co., a private-investment and merchant-banking company, providing merger and acquisition and capital-raising services, with Joe Broecker, who is also a senior managing director of the company.

Both men wanted to do the sort of investment banking they had done at Raffensperger Hughes and Co., Indiana’s largest investment bank when it was acquired by National City Corp. in 1994. Without a viable local alternative, the men founded their own company, which Shortle believes to be the most active investment banker in Indiana, doing the most transactions.

Before founding Indianapolis-based Periculum, Shortle was president of Huntington Capital Corp., an investment-banking company owned by Huntington Bancshares Inc., based in Columbus, Ohio. He also served as senior vice president and managing director in charge of corporate finance at Raffensperger Hughes; as vice president at the former Indiana National Bank, where he headed an effort to establish an investment-banking department; and manager in audit services with KPMG in Indianapolis.

Shortle is a certified public accountant and holds an MBA in finance from Indiana University, but his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois is in electrical engineering. His brother had talked him into the major, but working two summer jobs during college as an electrical engineer showed him that he wasn’t interested in the field for the long haul.

Shortle grew up in Tipton. He is on the civic engagement board of Community Hospital Foundation, where he serves as treasurer, and on the advisory board of the Bloomington chapter of Beta Theta Pi. He is also active in the Shortle Foundation, a family foundation focused primarily on education and conservation. He and his wife have four children.
 

Keith D. Slifer, 46
Senior Vice PresidentCentral Regional Market Executive
Bank of America

With more than 25 years of bank-ing experience, Keith Slifer has been with Bank of America and its predecessors since 1997 and has served in a number of leadership roles. He is currently responsible for the middle-market segment of global commercial banking in Indiana and Ohio. He led the effort to introduce Bank of America’s business-banking platform in Indiana and Ohio. Slifer has been a market executive since 2007, when he assumed his current post and, until recently, was responsible for the Midwest food and agribusiness specialty group.

Slifer has made his way around the banking world. Before joining Bank of America, Slifer was region head of LaSalle Bank and managed offices in Indianapolis, Atlanta and St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo. Before that, he worked with American National Bank, First Chicago NBD and Royal American Bank.

A native of Arlington Heights, Ill., Slifer came to Indiana University for college and graduated magna cum laude. In 2000, Slifer was named to IBJ’s Forty under 40 list. Active in the community, he has worked with the Indianapolis Racers Travel Hockey Association and the Indianapolis Youth Hockey Association. He was named USA Hockey Leader of the Year for the Mid-America District in 2007. Slifer completed the Florida Ironman in 1994 and continues to be an avid bicyclist. He lives in Carmel.
 

Claudia V. Swhier
Partner
Barnes and Thornburg LLP

Claudia Swhier graduated from Harvard Law School in 1975 and joined local law firm Barnes and Thornburg that year; she became a partner in 1982. Today she is a member of the firm’s Financial Institutions Practice Group and the firm’s management committee. Swhier practices primarily in the financial institutions area, although she also has significant securities and corporate law experience. She serves a number of banks, thrifts and credit unions, many of which are publicly traded.

Along with another attorney from the firm, Swhier served as a member of the attorney-drafting group selected by the Indiana Legislature’s Interim Study Committee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit to prepare a complete recodification of Indiana banking laws. She has represented a number of financial institutions with respect to supervisory agreements and cease-and-desist orders. She has assisted mutual thrifts in their conversion to stock form and has advised nonfinancial institutions and underwriters on initial and secondary public offerings.

A native of Mineola, N.Y., Swhier attended and graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1972. While in law school, she was a member of the board of editors of the Harvard Law Review.

Swhier is active in her church, Roberts Park United Methodist Church, and serves on several committees at her condominium development. She volunteers for Child Advocates Inc., which serves as guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children.
 

John W. Tanselle, 54
Partner
Krieg DeVault LLP

A summa cum laude graduate of Indiana University and a magna cum laude graduate of Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, John Tanselle joined Krieg DeVault LLP straight out of law school in 1981.

At Krieg DeVault, one of the city’s oldest law firms, Tanselle focuses on counseling the management of financial institutions and their boards on a complex array of issues, from regulatory compliance to executive compensation and securities law. He has served as counsel on transactions such as hostile takeovers, the formation of financial institutions and mergers and acquisitions.

Tanselle is the former chairman of the firm’s Financial Institutions Practice Group and currently serves as a member of the firm’s executive committee, diversity committee, associates committee and recruiting committee. He has served as issuer’s counsel and underwriter’s counsel in public offerings of equity and debt securities.

Tanselle regularly speaks on mergers and acquisitions, financial regulations and other topics. He has published articles on branch banking, employee stock ownership plans and other topics.

Professionally he is a member of the Indianapolis, Indiana and American Bar associations, and he was a drafting group member for Title 28 of the Indiana Code, the findings of which were used by the Indiana Legislature’s Interim Study Committee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. His civic associations include the boards of trustees of Methodist Health Foundation and Christian Theological Seminary. He coaches various youth sports teams and is the keyboard player for a church praise band.

Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month through October, IBJ is identifying those people in eight different categories.

This is the second installment in the series and features women and men who are key members of the city’s banking and finance sector. 

Jeffrey H. Thomasson, 52
CEO and Managing Director
Oxford Financial Group Ltd.

Jeff Thomasson founded Carmel’s Oxford Financial Group Ltd. as a sole proprietorship in 1981, right out of school. He incorporated Oxford in 1983. Today it is a registered investment advisory firm, with oversight of more than $15 billion in assets for approximately 700 clients in 35 states. Focused on success for his firm and its clientele, Thomasson devotes a significant amount of his time and expertise to the coordination and overall strategic direction of the firm.

Thomasson earned his undergraduate degree from Ball State University and then entered Indiana University’s School of Business, where he specialized in investments and taxation and was named outstanding MBA. He obtained his Certified Financial Planner designation through post-graduate study. In 2000, he received the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur Award.

Beyond his work with Oxford, Thomasson enjoys his involvement with charitable organizations, as well as being a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, World Presidents’ Organization and Chief Executives Organization. He sits on the boards of Ontario Systems in Muncie and Parkway Co. in Cincinnati. He has previously served on the boards of the Leadership Network, Union Federal Bank, Waterfield Mortgage Corp. and the Hudson Institute.

Through the Thomasson Foundation, he and his family have awarded hundreds of scholarships to students who are children of missionary families around the world.
 

John R. Thornburgh, 56
Partner
Ice Miller

An Indianapolis native, John Thornburgh graduated from DePauw University and obtained his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. He joined the local law firm Ice Miller after graduating. Today Thornburgh serves as co-chairman of the Business Group and chairman of the Sports and Entertainment Group. He represents colleges and universities in connection with collegiate sports matters, as well as businesses and individuals involved in sports and entertainment.

He regularly works with professional investors, including venture-capital funds, private-equity funds, hedge funds, mezzanine capital funds, fund-of-funds, public and private pension funds, private foundations, as well as investment advisers and angel investors.

Thornburgh has served on the boards of directors and boards of advisers for a variety of companies, including CID Equity Partners, Major Tool and Machine Inc., Pellegrino and Associates LLC and Western Reserve Partners. He speaks on topics relating to equity funds, general corporate matters and investment transactions and has had several legal articles published.

Thornburgh is chairman of Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the board of the Indianapolis Rowing Center and chairman of the DePauw University Board of Fraternal Affairs. Thornburgh is an avid boater and an enthusiastic reader and biker. He holds a second-degree Black Belt certification in Tae Kwon Do. He is married and has three children.
 

Jean L. Wojtowicz, 53
President and Founder
Cambridge Capital Management Corp.

When Jean Wojtowicz graduated from the University of Wisconsin, she had a choice of going home to run one of the family-owned businesses or striking out on her own. Entrepreneurial and adventuresome, like most of her family, she chose the latter and headed to Muncie to work in economic development. She moved to Indianapolis to become a partner in a mergers-and-acquisitions firm, which “seemed like a normal transition since most of the companies I was working with needed financing,” she explains.

In 1983, Wojtowicz founded Indianapolis-based Cambridge Capital Management Corp., a company that manages nontraditional sources of capital and has provided more than $494 million to more than 1,100 Indiana businesses. Cambridge currently manages the Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corp., Indiana Community Business Credit Corp., Lynx Capital Corp. and serves as the co-general partner for Cambridge Ventures LP.

Wojtowicz serves on the boards of the National Association of Development Cos., National Association of Business Development Cos. and the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions. She is president of the boards of both NADCO and NABDC.

Beyond her professional associations, Wojtowicz serves on many community boards, including Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana Inc., the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Venture Club of Indiana and the Indianapolis Airport Authority. She is married with one daughter and two stepsons.
 

David C. Worrell, 59
Partner
Baker and Daniels

David Worrell joined Baker and Daniels following his graduation from law school and has been with the firm ever since. A member of the business and corporate finance team, his expertise falls into four categories: financial institutions, securities, corporate governance and executive compensation.

Worrell has represented banks and thrifts on strategic transactions, including formation of financial institutions and their holding companies and mergers and acquisitions. He gives counsel to boards of management of financial institutions on their responsibilities under banking laws and regulations, among other things. Worrell has acted as issuer’s and underwriter’s counsel in numerous offerings of securities, private placements and venture-capital transactions. He represents companies, compensation committees and executives on executive compensation arrangements, including stock-based or performance-based compensation.

Worrell has authored seminar materials and articles on securities laws, limited liability companies, banking law, legal opinions and other subjects. He speaks at seminars on corporate governance, financial institutions and legal opinions. He has been named to “The Best Lawyers in America—Banking Law and Corporate Law from 1995 through 2011 and is in Chambers USA, a guide to leading business lawyers.

Worrell grew up in Indianapolis, attended Cathedral High School, went on to receive his bachelor’s, summa cum laude, from Wabash College and his law degree from the University of Chicago. In his spare time, he chases a 2-year-old granddaughter and makes furniture.•