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J.K. Wall

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As barriers drop, even small firms go global: Local company pushed its blood monitor worldwide

Here’s one way to send your company’s revenue through the roof: Push your product into 70 countries around the world. That’s easier said than done, of course. But it’s exactly the path Polymer Technology Systems Inc. took to help quadruple sales of its cholesterol-checking device in the last three years. How Indianapolis-based PTS pulled off the feat shows how even small companies in Middle America can become global enterprises in today’s economy. In fact, the possibility of worldwide expansion is…

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Companies must prepare for CEO turnover

A methodical process is the right way to change CEOs, according to succession-planning experts. And Indiana needs more of
its major corporations to do so. A wave of aging executives is at or near normal retirement age–in Indiana and nationwide.
How well those companies’ CEOs pass the baton will have a big impact on their companies’ futures.

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Lilly settles 900 more Zyprexa suits

Eli Lilly and Co. has settled another 900 liability lawsuits over its top-selling drug, Zyprexa, the Associated Press reports. Lilly did not disclose the amount it paid to settle those suits, saying it was not material to the company. Indianapolis-based Lilly has battled a flood of lawsuits claiming Zyprexa causes weight gain, diabetes or high […]

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WellPoint sets pay for Colby’s successor

 As WellPoint Inc.’s newly appointed chief financial officer, Wayne S. DeVeydt will receive a $600,000 salary as well as stock awards and a potential bonus that could be worth up to $2.2 million. WellPoint disclosed DeVeydt’s new pay in a securities filing Monday afternoon, nearly two weeks after DeVeydt replaced David C. Colby. Colby was […]

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WellPoint CFO’s affairs exposed by lawsuit

In this era of hyper-scrutiny of corporate ethics, even messy personal lives can fell the career of a “well-loved and well-respected”
executive. Such appears to be the case with David C. Colby, whom WellPoint Inc. forced to resign as its vice chairman and
chief financial officer on May 30 for violating the company’s code of conduct in a “non-business” way.

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Long-term care a long-term problem for Conseco: Losses mount in spite of huge insurance market

Conseco sells that coverage, called long-term-care insurance. But right now, it wishes it didn’t. The Carmel-based company has been losing millions of dollars a month on long-term-care policies, as the costs of providing care have outstripped the premiums collected. Conseco also is facing lawsuits and an investigation by a congressional committee into whether it wrongly denied customers’ claims under its long-term-care policies. The troubles have kept Conseco’s stock price depressed, furthering speculation that the company might be acquired. “It’s certainly…

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Public-company CEOs lavished in perks, disclosures reveal

Seven Indiana public companies not only own corporate jets, but also let their executives use them for personal trips. Cummins
Inc., Hillenbrand Industries Inc., Zimmer Holdings Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., NiSource Inc., WellPoint Inc. and 1st Source Corp.
all allow some personal use of company jets.

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Insurer stays on roll by hitting the brakes: Baldwin & Lyons profits more despite revenue drop

But that axiom doesn’t seem to apply to Baldwin & Lyons Inc. The quiet trucking-fleet insurer headquartered in Indianapolis happily let its revenue slide last year 7 percent, ending a four-year run of rapid growth. Why? Because new competitors have aggressively entered Baldwin’s traditional trucking market with lower prices. The industry’s margins have been slashed by half or more. Most businesses would call that trend a threat. But not Baldwin. President Joe DeVito disdainfully calls these new competitors “naive capital,”…

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Taurel draws fire for getting rich while stock struggles

Eli Lilly and Co. stock has returned just 1 percent per year in the nine years since CEO Sidney Taurel took office. Meanwhile,
Taurel has taken home $44 million in pay and been given stock options valued at $114 million more. But most Lilly shareholders
aren’t raising a call for Taurel to hit the trail.

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Hilbert auction at Sotheby’s yields $8.8M

Steve and Tomisue Hilbert’s furniture and housewares fetched $8.8 million Thursday in a Sotheby’s auction in New York. The total exceeded the estimated value of the Hilbert collection, which Sotheby’s estimated at $5 million to $7.7 million. The Hilberts are also scheduled to sell eight paintings on June 8, which could be worth more than […]

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Sotheby’s to auction Hilbert art, antiques

Less than six months after settling a bitter lawsuit with Conseco Inc., Stephen and Tomisue Hilbert will auction off more than 100 pieces of art and antiques beginning this week at Sotheby’s in New York. The auctioneer values the Hilbert collection between $7 million and $11 million, according to a catalogue from the show. The […]

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St. Vincent taking over Thomson HQ

A shrunken Thomson, the former manufacturer of RCA
televisions, is vacating a landmark office building at its Carmel headquarters to make way for St. Vincent Health, the parent
company of a growing chain of Indiana hospitals.

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Hospital charity cases growing as ranks of uninsured swell

In the last three years, Indianapolis hospitals have seen a substantial run-up in the amount of charity care they give to patients who can’t pay. The cost of care is rising, more people are uninsured, and government officials are scrutinizing not-for-profit hospitals to make sure they give enough charity care to merit their tax-exempt status.

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Disease management proves less of a success: Indiana Medicaid quietly cuts savings estimate

In October 2005, Indiana’s Medicaid program touted that it could save the state $29 million a year through disease management, a program aimed at reducing the medical costs of patients with chronic illnesses. But now, those estimated savings quietly have been slashed more than 75 percent. And one critic of Indiana’s program says it is likely achieving even less in savings. The debate over the effectiveness of the Indiana Chronic Disease Management Program comes as the state moves to triple…

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Eli Lilly looks to ease shareholders’ concerns: Zyprexa questions persist at annual investor meeting

It hasn’t been easy the last few years to be a shareholder of Eli Lilly and Co. Lilly’s stock price has languished as the company’s vaunted drug pipeline has suffered hiccups and as legal troubles over its best-selling drug, Zyprexa, have lingered. So as Lilly shareholders gather April 16 for their annual meeting, two key questions hang in the air. Both center on Zyprexa, an anti-schizophrenia drug, which accounts for one-quarter of Lilly’s revenue and even more of its profit….

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Competition drives hospital chief: Lennen labors to grow hospital, county to stay ahead of Indianapolis peers

Competitive. That’s how Shelbyville community leaders describe Tony Lennen. Indeed. Any CEO of the city’s Major Hospital needs to be. Shelby County residents can, in just 20 to 45 minutes, drive up Interstate 74 or Interstate 65 to any of Indianapolis’ large hospitals, many of which boast massive marketing budgets and stables of specialists. But in nearly 14 years at the helm of Major Hospital, Lennen has found creative ways to boost profits, enhance technology, woo specialists and even-through aggressive…

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UPDATE: Incentives helped PrincetonOne choose Indy

Its past work with Eli Lilly and Co. and the presence of central Indiana’s universities led executive search firm PrincetonOne to commit to adding 200 jobs in Indianapolis, the company said today.   And $2.1 million in city and state incentives didn’t hurt, either.   The city offered PrincetonOne $55,600 in tax abatements, and the […]

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Shelbyville runs ads to court Honda workers.

Shelbyville and Shelby County have launched a marketing campaign in Marysville, Ohio, hoping to attract Honda workers moving to Indiana to work at the automaker’s new plant near Greensburg.   The Shelby County Development Corp. began running full and half-page ads in the Marysville Journal-Tribune on March 30. The ads direct readers to a Web […]

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WellPoint bets on managing disease: Proving savings difficult, but insurers say it works

It’s a program with big promises and big profits. Yet it’s hard to measure its payoff. It’s disease management-an industry euphemism for health insurers’ efforts to make sure chronically ill customers receive the best health care they can-before they get rushed to the hospital. Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. says disease management helps it win business over other health benefits companies. It also says it saves its customers nearly three times as much money as they invest and improves the quality of…

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Wellness gains full-time presence: Hospitals try to bulk up health promotion at employers’ offices

Wellness is good for business. At least that’s what Community Health Network and other Indianapolisarea hospitals are finding as they ramp up the wellness programs they offer onsite to area employers. Community has grown its health promotion division an average of 30 percent in each of the last three years. And this year, it had two corporate clients ask to have wellness staff at their offices daily. Community parks a wellness coordinator five days a week at Celadon Group Inc.,…

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