Duke Realty Corp. Chief Financial Officer Matthew Cohoat has resigned. Cohoat, 48, wanted to “reduce his travel schedule and spend more time with his family,” the Indianapolis-based real estate company announced today. He will remain to help with the transition. A replacement wasn’t named. Cohoat held the post since 2004. He also is on boards […]
Ten years ago, Dan Bardin was exactly where he wanted to be. He was running insurance operations for behemoth American International Group in Thailand, as Asian financial markets collapsed. “I was there right in the middle of the crisis. And that’s what I like,” Bardin said. Today, Bardin has found his way to another crisis of sorts. He’s the new president of the Conseco Insurance Group. During the year leading up to Bardin’s arrival in December, the subsidiary of Carmel-based…
West Lafayette-based drug developer Endocyte Inc. today announced it has secured a $15-million credit line through Alexandria, Va.-based Oxford Finance Corp. and Chicago-based GE Healthcare Financial Services. Endocyte CFO Mike Sherman said the credit line gives his company financial flexibility as it tries to advance a series of patented cancer treatments. Unlike a venture capital […]
Ten times a year, for 24 hours, a select group of executives leaves the comforts of career to embark on an experience meant to mold the participants into better leaders. They gather on Thursday evenings for dinner, bunk overnight at a hotel, and spend the following day listening to the likes of Dennis Perkins, author of “Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition.” Or, they may travel to Saint Meinrad in southern Indiana…
Retail pundits are trotting out all the downbeat analogies these days, as they fret that high gas prices and the slumping housing market will crimp consumer spending the rest of the year. As Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte Research, put it, “The holiday season will be somewhat Grinch-like.” So it may come as a surprise that some analysts are almost gushing about the prospects for Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest mall owner. As Rich Moore, managing director…
Fifteen senior executives have left WellPoint Inc. since November 2004, when the giant health insurer formed through Indianapolis-based
Anthem Inc.’s $16.5 billion acquisition of California-based WellPoint Health Networks Inc. The merger made many of them rich,
work at WellPoint was grueling, and personal commitments called. So they moved on.
Steak n Shake Co. CEO Peter M. Dunn analyzed and measured just about everything at the restaurant chain, from drive-through
times to employee turnover. All that research and testing was welcome when the company was thriving a few years ago. But the
lack of evidence that all the analysis was paying off eroded Wall Street’s confidence in Dunn.
The abrupt departure of Steak n Shake Co.’s CEO yesterday following eight straight quarters of declining same-store sales might stoke investor speculation that the company will be sold. Shares of locally based Steak n Shake Co. rose slightly this morning on news of the leadership shuffle. The stock was up 11 cents, to $13.57, one […]
Disston Tool Co. President Robert J. Keller has been named president of Escalade Inc., the Evansville-based sporting goods manufacturer. Keller replaces Terry Frandsen, Escalade’s CFO, who operated as interim CEO since the sudden death April 9 of CEO Daniel Messmer. Disston, headquartered in Philadelphia, makes saw blades, valve components and other parts. Keller also has […]
Almost five years ago, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX, was passed in haste, largely in response to the large-scale securities frauds and market dislocations surrounding Worldcom, Enron and other large accounting scandals involving public firms. It imposed new federalized standards for internal controls, corporate governance, accounting independence and review, whistle-blowing and legal review. It represented the most important change to the federal securities laws since the passage of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of…
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.
By now, David Marsh might be regretting he ever decided to take on former employer Marsh Supermarkets Inc. in court. Since
he filed his lawsuit last fall charging the company his grandfather founded had shortchanged him on severance, the company
has stormed back with a blizzard of allegations.
David Colby’s dealings with a California woman who recently sued him may have played a role in his ouster as WellPoint Inc.’s chief financial officer last Thursday. Bloomberg reported late Friday that the woman, Rita DiCarlo of Ventura County, Calif., charged in the lawsuit that Colby failed to follow through on a promise to give […]
Kevin Modany, CEO of ITT Educational Services Inc., carries an iPod and downloads drum solo videos from YouTube. But when
Modany, a young-looking 40-year-old, talks about ITT’s 35-percent increase in first-quarter profit, he comes across as savvy
and confident of his ability to take the post-secondary education provider to even greater heights.
Edward J. Bonach has been tapped to replace Conseco Inc. Chief Financial Officer Eugene M. Bullis, who is retiring after seeing the Carmel insurer through its bankruptcy reorganization. Bonach was executive vice president and CFO of National Life Group, headquartered in Montpelier, Vt. Prior to National Life, Bonach spent 23 years at Allianz Life of […]
The biggest acquisition in the 34-year history of ATA Airlines will steer it closer to its charter roots and further from a scheduled-service binge that led to bankruptcy three years ago. Analysts say the $315 million deal to buy Atlanta-based World Air Holdings will broaden the revenue base and bring economies of scale for ATA’s newly renamed parent, Global Aero Logistics. It also hands ATA a cargo business worth $100 million in 2005. The deal should give the Manhattan vulture…
Evansville-based sporting goods maker Escalade Inc. today announced that CFO Terry Frandsen will serve as interim CEO following the sudden April 9 death of CEO Daniel Messmer. Frandsen also will continue serving as CFO. The company has begun a search for Messmer’s permanent replacement. Escalade also reported $1.1 million in profit for the quarter ended […]
The president and CEO of Evansville-based Escalade Inc. died yesterday of an apparent aneurysm. Daniel A. Messmer, 53, had led the sporting goods manufacturer and marketer since August. He joined the company in 1976. “We are all shocked and saddened by the unexpected passing of Mr. Messmer,” said Terry Frandsen, Escalade’s CFO, in a written […]
The names Caribbean Cove and Paradise Bay inspire thoughts of tropical destinations where sunbathers slather lotion like Hoosiers butter their corn on the cob. In reality, these types of “resorts” are spouting up throughout the Midwest, including Indiana, and require no protection from harmful ultraviolet rays whatsoever. They’re indoor water parks, a trend hoteliers are embracing to cater to families seeking a weekend getaway-and to boost occupancy during the off-season. The Indianapolis area features just one such water park so…
After WellPoint Inc.’s board last week passed over Chief Financial Officer David C. Colby for the CEO’s job, it gave him a new title and agreed to award him 60,000 shares in restricted stock and stock options if he stays three more years. In addition to continuing as CFO, Colby will be vice chairman, an […]
