the mood seems upbeat again at Marsh Supermarkets Inc., thanks to a chain-wide effort to upgrade stores and win back loyalty
from customers and employees. CEO Frank Lazaran said the chain has launched a campaign to remodel 70 percent of its grocery
stores within a year and rebrand every one of them.
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ aggressive nationwide growth plan will mean about 400 new jobs at the retailer’s Plainfield distribution center, industry experts said. Last month, Pittsburgh-based Dick’s rolled out a plan to grow from 309 stores to 800 nationwide within seven years. The plan includes growing from zero to 90 stores in California, two to 60 in Texas, and two to 40 in Florida. “Their expansion plans are so aggressive, they’re eventually going to have to open another distribution center, but…
Five leaders of Indiana’s life sciences industry offered their perspectives at the Indiana Convention Center June 26 as part of the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series. The panelists: Mike Arpey, managing director of global investment bank Credit Suisse’s Asset Management Division and manager of the $73 million Indiana Future Fund for BioCrossroads, the state’s life sciences economicdevelopment initiative. Ron Ellis, co-founder, president and CEO of Lafayettebased Endocyte Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the treatment of cancer through receptor-targeted…
A Texas firm has agreed to buy Pan Am Plaza’s 12-story office building and skating rinks and is planning to replace the rinks
with a more-than-$50-million restaurant and retail development.
The Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association hopes to soften the blow from the loss of two national trade shows with a campaign persuading Hoosier companies to choose the city for events and meetings. ICVA officials plan to launch the loosely dubbed “Bring it Home” effort Sept. 1 with a letter to corporate executives that expounds the virtues of Indianapolis. The aim is to bring business to the hospitality community during what is expected to be a slow time the next…
Before they had fancy suits or fast cars, the four owners of Lauth Property Group were resourceful teen-agers, busy finding ways to make money. Chairman Bob Lauth, President Michael Curless and CEO Greg Gurnik each started neighborhood lawn-care businesses. The company’s treasurer and chief accounting officer, Larry Palmer, hawked programs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At the time, their hard work and entrepreneurial instincts helped scrounge up date money. In the last few years, it’s helped them turn Indianapolis-based Lauth…
By the year 2020, the United States is expected to face a nationwide shortage of at least 1 million nurses. Fishers-based
Orbis Education Services Inc. CEO Dan Briggs sees a potential profit center. Founded in 2003, IT startup Orbis aims to provide
the link between universities and hospitals for online delivery of nursing courses.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. has received a three-year contract to administer medical claims for the California Public Employees Retirement System, according to Bloomberg. CalPERS, which buys health insurance for 1.2 million people, is one of the nation’s largest buyers of health benefits. WellPoint subsidiary Blue Cross of California has had the contract for eight years. UnitedHealth […]
Midwestern cities are unlikely to top the list of vacationing hot spots, but they are a popular destination for relocating employees. That’s the consensus from the latest Corporate Relocation Survey conducted annually by Evansville-based Atlas World Group, whose largest subsidiary is Atlas Van Lines, the second-largest interstate motor carrier in the United States. The study revealed that nearly a third of firms, 29 percent, are sending more employees to the Midwest than any other part of the country. Surprisingly, the…
Less than two years after New Sunshine LLC was bought by a group led by former Conseco Inc. CEO Stephen Hilbert, its Australian Gold division has acquired its top two competitors, amassing 80 percent of the indoor suntan lotion market.
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.
Little more than a decade ago, Bastian Material Handling had annual sales of less than $35 million. Since 2000, its revenue
has doubled, to $80 million, and its business interests don’t just cross the state, they circle the globe.
Indiana State Museum is expected to announce details today about a major traveling exhibit on corn that will debut locally in August 2009. Museum employees have developed content for the $1 million-plus show, which eventually will travel to other museums in exchange for a fee. The show will map corn’s evolution and hybridization and the […]
When large companies make innovations that don’t fit their business plan, the discovery often ends up gathering dust on a shelf. But entrepreneurs are eager to build new companies around these orphaned technologies. Four years ago, Jeffrey Alholm spotted just such an opportunity. Warsaw-based Biomet Inc. had tabled a promising anesthetic-dispensing device. So Alholm formed Symbios Medical Products LLC and cut a deal to secure its rights. Now, Symbios has a chance to commercialize the device widely, thanks to a…
Corporate PowerPoint presentations are becoming so passé. Just as consumers are craving high-definition television sets for their living rooms, corporations and hotels are taking the next step and integrating the technology into their boardrooms and meeting space. Besides videoconferencing in high definition, other high-tech gadgetry now available for both the business and hospitality sectors includes digital signage displaying messages for employees or guests, and digital room scheduling alerting when meeting rooms are in use. While some companies are upgrading to…
WellPoint, Indiana’s largest health insurer, is making more noise than ever about what it’s doing to help improve Hoosiers’
and Americans’ health.
Noble Roman's Inc. wrote an impressive comeback story by selling its home-grown pizza and subs concepts to hundreds of
gas stations, bowling alleys and food courts. But the Indianapolis company’s push to add stand-alone restaurants across the
country isn’t going as smoothly.
Locally based Hammond Kennedy Whitney & Co. closed on $202 million in new capital this month, doubling its size. Its resources
have increased, but HKW’s investment philosophy is unchanged. It continues to buy small and midsize specialty manufacturing
companies, infuse them with cash and management expertise, then patiently wait for them to grow.
When Marian College asked racecar driver Michael Crawford to help launch the school’s entrepreneur-in-residence program and mentor students about realworld business, he wasn’t sure if it was such a great idea. “My hesitation was I didn’t want to pursue it right away,” Crawford said. “What happens if I go out of business? That would be embarrassing.” But he decided to do it because he believes his experience as an entrepreneur is more realistic than anything the students will read about…
We all know that the hip bone is connected to, well, you know how it goes. But a lot of people seem to be missing the point that the same principles controlling that biology are an active force in the markets and economy. All the brilliant economists out there are telling us what we already plainly know-finance and consumer-related sectors are weak. There isn’t enough talk about the next connection, though, or how a cancer spreads from one body part…
