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Tammy Lieber

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SMALL BUSINESS PROFILE: RIPPLE BAGEL & DELI LLC: Now for something completely different Retirees sell medical-supply firm, try deli business

SMALL BUSINESS PROFILE RIPPLE BAGEL & DELI LLC Now for something completely different Retirees sell medical-supply firm, try deli business Often, when retirees aren’t ready to really retire, they line up consulting gigs or take a part-time job in their industry. When Ken and Susan Richman sold their locally based medical-supply distribution business, Fulfillment Plus, to employees in 2002, they decided to start a business in an entirely new industry-one known for a high failure rate. The Richmans had no…

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Payne paved way for Cultural Trail project

If the idea of building a $50 million, 7-1/2-mile pedestrian and biking trail through the streets of downtown Indianapolis
is indeed crazy, Brian Payne might be considered the Indianapolis Cultural trail’s mad scientist. His leadership, persistence
and passion for the project are the key reasons the first leg of the trail is due to open this month along Alabama Street.

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PROFILE: Posh Petals Inc.: Florist’s business is blooming Ample competition hasn’t kept Posh Petals from growing

Posh Petals Inc. Florist’s business is blooming Ample competition hasn’t kept Posh Petals from growing In just more than three years, Erika White and Meredith Moynahan have moved from employees of someone else’s flower shop to owners of a fast-growing retail florist with a reputation for unusual arrangements. Posh Petals Inc. opened its doors in July 2004, just a few months after the friends and co-workers, both 32, first discussed opening their own place. “It happened really fast,” White recalled….

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ExactTarget accurately predicts its fast growth

ExactTarget Inc.’s 2005 announcement that it would be moving into 30,000 square feet on Monument Circle and hiring 100 people over seven years seemed ambitious. Indianapolis was littered with the ashes of once-high-flying technology startups that had flamed out. But ExactTarget is fast becoming one of the city’s biggest technology success stories.

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New Image Fine Clothing Inc.: Clothier looking for the right fit After four years as a sideline, business becomes full-time job

Growing up in Detroit, Andrew T. Porter had an early education in men’s fashion. The son of a minister, he recalls admiring the Sunday best of his father and members of the congregation. In his neighborhood, “there was a clothing store on every corner,” Porter said. “I always had an eye for putting things together. It came naturally to me.” Porter remained a student of fashion, even though he worked in manufacturing. When a friend who owned a Detroit clothing…

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LESSONS LEARNED ALBERT RENE TREVINO Owner, Rene’s Bakery:

LESSONS LEARNED ALBERT RENE TREVINO Owner, Rene’s Bakery As most entrepreneurs can attest, the process of running a small business includes facing plenty of challenges. But viewing those potential obstacles as opportunities has helped Albert Rene Trevino build Rene’s Bakery Inc. into a growing enterprise with a solid reputation. One of his biggest trials was getting the doors to his Broad Ripple shop open. Trevino had just parted ways with a former employer in 2004 when he stopped by the…

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Personal training sessions keep gym clients coming

In a world where gyms and fitness centers beckon with billboards, water parks and membership specials, Body-N-Motion has found a lower-key, back-to-basics niche. Tucked in an office/flex park next to the headquarters of Mays Chemical Corp. on the northeast side, Mike “Mr. Motion” White’s 5-year-old gym specializes in personal training. All its clients have White or one of his 10 employees putting them through the paces of a customized workout that, White notes with pride, is rarely the same routine…

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PROFILE ANNIE-O’S: Party planner’s plan: Help others celebrate Personal losses helped owner appreciate the good times

“I don’t find that some direct-mail piece says what I do,” said Dezelan, owner of Annie-O’s event planning. “I think a lot of what sells myself is me-my personality.” That’s why, Dezelan said, most of her new business comes via word-of-mouth, from people who’ve met the energetic 36-year-old with the big, bright personality. Her marketing efforts try to reflect that personality. Dezelan recently revamped the Annie-O’s Web site so that “it’s like a party at your desk,” she said. On…

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EVERYBODY’S DOING IT INDIANAPOLIS 500 MILE RACE: Speedway place to play hooky in May

EVERYBODY’S DOING IT INDIANAPOLIS 500 MILE RACE Speedway place to play hooky in May The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race is, as the tag line goes, the “greatest spectacle in racing.” But the month leading up to it is no slouch, either. Lighter crowds, lower admission, and a greater opportunity to get close to drivers and cars mean less is more at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the weeks leading up to the last Sunday in May. With a scant week left…

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Admitted ‘geek’ builds product-development prowess at Priio

By Larry O’Cull’s own admission, his company’s northwest-side office is staffed with “a bunch of geeks,” including himself. But as clients of product-development firm Priio will attest, it’s hip to be geek. A tour of the office offers a glimpse at a playground for engineering-inclined grown-ups. One of the firm’s 12 employees fiddles with the trigger on a paintball gun, while another tinkers with a concept for a propane-tank vending…

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PROFILE: UNIQUE WINDOW & DOOR: Hanging a business on happy customers Owner aims to improve home-improvement reputation

PROFILE UNIQUE WINDOW & DOOR Hanging a business on happy customers Owner aims to improve home-improvement reputation In an industry often lambasted for unethical practices, Unique Window & Door President Robert Dillon has tried to carve a niche in the local home-improvement market-combining aggressive marketing with a focus on customer and employee satisfaction. It seems to be making strides on both counts. Revenue has steadily increased over the 13 years Dillon has owned the company, and Unique is a four-time…

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WORTH SEEING: BORN AGAIN FLOOZIES: Floozies serious about music

WORTH SEEING BORN AGAIN FLOOZIES Floozies serious about music For a band that’s garnering international buzz, the Born Again Floozies are hard to find. The local sextet has only a handful of live shows scheduled, the next one May 20 at the Broad Ripple Art Fair. “We don’t play that often,” said Joe Welch, the band’s co-founder, guitarist, singer, songwriter, kickdrum player and spokesman. “When we do, we make sure it’s a good show and that it’s worthwhile.” All the…

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Meridian Street landmark gets new life

Buckingham Cos., the Indianapolis-based owner/manager of more than 60 apartment complexes in five states, has broadened its
development sphere to include three square blocks of downtown real estate.

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Expanded recycling catches on in manufacturing sector

In manufacturing and industrial-heavy central Indiana, companies are beginning to realize that “going green” can translate
into another kind of green–money. Reaching beyond the standard glass, paper and metal, markets are developing for a variety
of materials, from tiny bits of processed rubber to leftover cornstarch.

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ITT leader is leaving business world behind: Chief Operating Officer Modany to step into CEO spot

Many CEOs take the word “retirement” figuratively, using the opportunity to become a full-time volunteer or to launch a second career. Don’t count 65-year-old Rene Champagne among those people. “I’ll be pursuing the leisure activities-like golf, tennis, fishing, traveling with my wife-that I don’t have time to do as CEO,” said the CEO and chairman of ITT Educational Services Inc., who announced Jan. 24 that he’s retiring from the Carmel-based company. Although he plans to remain in Indianapolis, “I don’t…

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Charities struggle to cultivate donors

Attracting people under 40 with money to give is one of the latest challenges faced by not-for-profit organizations. As fund-raisers
look toward cultivating the next generation of supporters, they see a younger generation that appears less inclined to do
so.

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Coming attraction: Imax theater in Noblesville: Technology lets theaters show Hollywood blockbusters

Once upon a time not so long ago, Imax films were nearly synonymous with museums. In Indianapolis and elsewhere, the largeformat movie screens-some as big as the side of an eight-story building-featured 40-minute films that took viewers to exotic places like outer space or the top of Mount Everest, and were usually attached to educational and cultural institutions. But technology that debuted in 2002 is bringing Imax screens to suburbia-including to Noblesville in 2008. Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Goodrich Quality Theaters…

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Roof Envy: Insurers pay to fix thousands of hail-damaged homes, but some neighbors are feeling left out

After an April hailstorm caused widespread damage in central Indiana, an epidemic slowly and quietly began spreading through tree-lined streets and cul-de-sacs. As contagious as the common cold, “neighboritis” is contracted through casual contact with friends and neighbors, even by the simple act of driving by a house topped with sparkling new shingles. Those infected often experience an initial wave of optimism and euphoria, sometimes followed by a crash that leaves them feeling dissatisfied, even betrayed. The cause of the…

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Obstacles couldn’t stop community-minded Shaheen

Yvonne Shaheen, retired CEO of Long Electric Co., is the winner of the 2006 Michael A. Carroll award, given annually in memory of the former deputy mayor to a person who embodies determination, devotion, humility and community.

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Office furniture dealers experience sales rebound: Better economy, more moves give industry a boost

Indianapolis-area office furniture dealers are awash with business, following a robust national trend that has lifted the industry beyond its lows of a few years ago. As businesses have begun to move into bigger quarters since 2003, they’ve naturally ordered desks, chairs and filing cabinets to fill the bigger space, local dealers said. “The industry is closer to where it used to be, but I don’t think we’ll ever again see the kind of activity we had in the mid-…

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