Some local women business owners are encouraged by the election of President Barack Obama and his appointment of a new chief at the Small Business Administration who is thought to be especially interested in the needs of women-owned businesses.
Danielle Chrysler hasn’t met a challenge yet that she hasn’t embraced–and conquered.
PROFILE DANIELLE CHRYSLER Woman takes multi-tasking o new levels From politics to basic training, Ch rysler doesn’t set limits Danielle Chrysler hasn’t met a challenge yet that she hasn’t embraced-and conquered. A fter growing up in Whiteland in a family of modest me ans, Chrysler paid her way through college-fi rstt at Indiana State University […]
As co-founder and head of sales and marketing, Brooke Billingsley has helped build Indianapolis-based Perception Strategies
Inc. — a health
care mystery shopping business co-founded by her husband, Kevin.
PROFILE HOLLY HART MCKIERNAN Making higher education more attainable Attorney brings key players together to reach goals When Holly McKiernan was a secondyear law student at Indiana University, she took a seminar course on not-for-profits-and her career path became clear. She wanted a job where she could use her skills as a lawyer in helping charitable and educational organizations. The West Lafayette native had earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from DePauw University-magna cum laude-graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1980….
But more than a century later, women are protecting more than their own assets-they’re increasingly looking out for the intellectual property of business owners large and small. One of the hottest practice groups within law firms today, intellectual property law falls into four basic areas: copyrights, trademarks, patents and publicity rights. With the exception of patent law, which requires a background in science or engineering, no specialized undergraduate degree is required. Gary Roberts, dean and the Gerald L. Bepko professor…
Women aren’t leaving the work force to stay home with their kids-they’re being forced out in equal numbers with men. That’s the word from “Equality in Job Loss: Women are Increasingly Vulnerable to Layoffs During Recessions,” a congressional report released July 21. Often women who face job losses decide to forego the job hunt and opt instead for selfemployment, the report said. Might this job downturn trigger a boom in entrepreneurship for women? Not if they don’t already have the…
While one college basketball team just completed its journey to a national championship, CREW Network’s women hope they’re on a similar winning path-a path to scoring parity in the male-dominated field of commercial real estate. The Commercial Real Estate Women Network is a national member organization dedicated to the advancement of women in commercial real estate. It has 66 chapters, including one in Indianapolis. In 2005, CREW Network completed the industry’s first comprehensive study of the status of women in…
PROFILE MICKI STIRSMAN Education at heart of growth Continued training is part of her biz plan Your face might be Micki Stirsman’s canvas. Instead of applying paint to paper or molding clay into sculpture Stirsman and her staff use their artistry to transform their clients’ appearances. The Speedway native is owner of Salon 01, a business she started with a $10,000 contribution from her grandmother that has grown into a million d o l l a r- p l u…
PROFILE MARIANNE O’CONNOR PRICE Balanced equation Mother of four excels in careers from engineering to research When Marianne Price graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1974 with a degree in engineering, she was among the scarce 2 percent of women nationwide graduating in that field. She also achieved something that no other female at Notre Dame had ever done to that point-she was valedictorian of her graduating class. Price, 54, is director of the Cornea Research Foundation of…
Moondance Enterprises LLC Rental firm offers ‘marvelous’ nights Search for vacation retreat led to career change Indiana natives Doug and Nancy Tracey visited Brown County one autumn night in October 1988, looking to buy a vacation retreat. The strains of Van Morrison’s “Moondance” played on the car radio-“a marvelous night for a moondance ‘neath the cover of October skies.” So when the couple purchased their rural hideaway, they christened it Moondance. And now they run a Nashville-based vacation-home rental and…
Lumasis.comFinding its niche Focus on small business pays off for Web design firm When Zionsville native Jamie Brown graduated from Purdue in 1995, most consumers were still in the dark about the possibilities the Internet could offer. Having been immersed in the Web while studying electrical engineering technology at Purdue, Brown linked up with a local Internet provider and started his first company, Computer Specialists. In 1997, the business morphed into Lumasis, a full-service Web site design and hosting company…
PROFILE TRINA BANNISTER Tasty treat, traditions lead to new business It all started with the sweet-potato pies. Each Thanksgiving, Trina Bannister’s grandmother Ruby would bake dozens of the sweet treats for her large extended family. Bannister and her sisters grew up learning her baking secrets. To honor her grandmother, who died about six years ago, Bannister named her new business in the Indianapolis City Market “Ruby’s Sweet Treasures.” She sells a wide variety of baked goods, from her signature pies…
Whitfield, owner of Indianapolis-based Fletcher Communications Inc., was a freelance television news producer working for CNN, Reuters News and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s news division in Washington, D.C., when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Four years later, Whitfield crashed emotionally and was hospitalized suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. The daughter of a retired Army officer, Whitfield, 39, had moved many times as a child before settling in Columbia, S.C. She graduated from high school in 1986, but…
When Lisa Jarrett was expecting her fourth child in 1991, her obstetrician husband pulled out an article he had read in a medical journal about a prenatal audio development system. Created by physician and researcher Brent Logan, the system is designed to help a baby’s brain develop before it is born by introducing simple rhythms similar to the mother’s heartbeat. “It’s a cognitive curriculum,” Jarrett said. After obtaining Logan’s tapes and using them through her next three pregnancies, she was…
As a commercial and appellate litigator for Indianapolis-based law firm Baker & Daniels LLP, Kathy Osborn represents business and individual clients in state and federal court. She has faced formidable challenges, but one outside the courtroom proved especially difficult for the 42-year-old first-time mom: how to quiet her colicky son Harper when he awoke crying every night. A music lover, Osborn was certain she could find a musical mobile that would play a variety of soothing songs long enough to…
Hillenburg Building Group Inc. All in the family Firm diversified business to build new client base When Willard Hillenburg started his home-building company in 1950, he knew sons Gary, Jerry and Larry would have the chance to learn the business at his side. Five decades later, the business is still a family affair. Now named Hillenburg Building Group to reflect its expansion from residential building to commercial and home remodeling, the Martinsville company is owned by Larry and his wife,…
Moe’s path to opening Indianapolisbased ACT Services Inc., her accounting, tax and consulting firm, was fraught with roadblocks. In 1998 she graduated from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis with a degree in accounting. That same year she divorced. Moe has had her share of breakups. While still an undergraduate, the Greenwood native worked for a year as a business partner with a certified public accountant at Accounting Store LLC in Speedway. The partnership continued for five…
PROFILE KARLA SNEEGAS Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana Karla Sneegas is primed for battle. With the fervor of an ancient Crusader, this pint-sized warrior is fighting a “just war” to reduce Indiana’s addiction to tobacco as executive director of the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency. At 4 feet, 11 inches, Sneegas is well-prepared for all foes. She’s armed with knowledge learned as a public health professional and as former director of South Carolina’s…
Iasta.comInc. From chemicals to coatings E-sourcing software streamlines purchasing cycle Companies wanting to gain a strategic foothold in today’s fast-paced Internet-based supply chain marketplace are turning to companies like Indianapolisbased Iasta, an e-sourcing software and services company. Co-founder David Bush, senior vice president for business development, said Iasta’s software product allows companies to be more competitive in tracking work flow and to conduct reverse auctions where suppliers can bid for their business. An Indiana University environmental science graduate, Bush started…
