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Hhgregg Inc. has committed to negotiating a contract with Zimmerman Advertising of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to take over one of Indiana’s largest advertising accounts, the Indianapolis company said today. The agency that handled the account for 24 years, Pearson McMahon Fletcher England in Indianapolis, decided earlier this year to not pursue the contract. Gregg said […]
LaSalle Bank, which has offices downtown and in Carmel, will be spun off by its Dutch Parent, ABN Amro, to Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America for $21 billion as part of a larger deal considered to be the world’s biggest financial-services takeover. ABN Amro this morning said it would back a $91 billion acquisition offer […]
The Indianapolis Museum of Art took over administration this month of a national effort to develop an online database that could make art more accessible to the masses. The two-year project, which got rolling last fall with $1 million in funding, revolves around a Web site that allows aficionados to look at images of artwork held by 10 museums and input descriptions in their own words. Museums then could use the free software for search engines where everyday people can…
In my opinion, the greatest power of the Internet is the ability to connect. There has never been another tool so remarkably suited to communication. Companies, through the use of instant messaging, are encouraging online conversations for a of issues, from customer service to sales. Email has become the standard of communication, facilitating nearly instant response and an electronic paper trail not easily duplicated with phone calls. Wikis, collaborative Web site development tools, are offering easy and effective collaboration at…
A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. Herbert Hoover never said those words, but they were part of his presidential campaign literature in 1928. Should they be the goals of American politics? Should we subsidize the price of chicken to keep poultry and grain farmers happy while consumers pay less at the grocery? How about lowering the cost of owning an automobile by allowing automobile interest payments to be refunded as tax credits? Along with these…
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…
By the time this column hits newsstands, I’ll be in Manhattan with my son Austin (the writer), who’s been accepted for admission to a university there. As we have at competing institutions in Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts and Chicago, we’ll sit through the dog-and-pony show, tour the campus, talk with financial aid and chat with professors and students. A few weeks ago, it was Austin’s twin brother Zach (the photographer) who went college shopping. The three of us and one of…
Thanks to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development’s increased collection efforts, the state has recouped millions
of dollars in unpaid unemployment insurance taxes since January 2006. But one in eight Hoosier businesses remains delinquent.
Indianapolis businessman Barton Kaufman is auctioning off 26 paintings by notable New York artist LeRoy Neiman. Kaufman plans
to donate the money to Indiana University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1962 and law degree in 1965.
Escalating demand for corn driven by the ethanol boom is propelling farmland prices higher, but not nearly enough to deter commercial developers from nabbing prime pieces of property. An average acre of Indiana farmland rose last year in value almost 16 percent, representing the largest annual jump in at least two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prices this year are projected to increase by an even larger percentage. Land values are escalating because corn is expected to…
It’s no secret that my mentor is Gene B. Glick. I was privileged to work for Gene early in my career and learn the right way to be a success in business. For example, the ability to remain calm while reacting to the many calamities and adversities of a typical business life is one of the attributes of the Glick style that I admire most. I could have used more time at the feet of this master, but, luckily, school…
Though she’s stirred a ripple of interest in several markets, most Indy Racing League fans don’t know Milka Duno-yet. Many sports business experts think the first Hispanic woman to race in the openwheel series will turn heads, as much for her ability to drive and her unusual professional and academic background as anything else. Duno also becomes part of a fascinating story involving established IRL drivers Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher. “The Indy Racing League is becoming the one place…
It was 1980 when then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan asked audiences whether they were better off than four years earlier. It was smart politics-1980 was a recession year. But politics aside, it’s always a relevant question. For if the economy is not growing the pie that we all share, then those who manage it, not to mention those in political leadership roles, have cause for concern. But how do we answer such a question? With the due date for tax filings…
Sallie Mae isn’t even headquartered here. So you might figure the April 16 announcement that an investment group was buying the company for an eye-popping $25 billion would mean little for the 2,300 workers who toil at the student-loan company’s Fishers’ office. After all, the big paydays in these kinds of deals only go to the top brass, right? Not in this case. Reston, Va.-based Sallie Mae is one of those rare companies that doles out stock options to its…
Indiana was on the verge of creating a statewide community college system 40 years ago, but Hoosier politics and university turf wars got in the way-stomping a seed that in recent years has flourished in other states as a sort of economic tree of life. Community colleges increasingly are called on to train new workers and retrain existing ones for a high-tech economy. But the thinking back in the 1960s, said then-freshman legislator John Mutz, was that a community college…
Justin Williams and Meredith Barrett grew up on the south side, but that’s not where they’ll live after getting married in September. They’re looking for an apartment downtown. It’s the only neighborhood they’re considering. “I love being right in the middle of everything,” said Williams, 25, a server at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in Circle Centre. Barrett, a 22-year-old nurse at Wishard Hospital, said she “just likes to be able to walk everywhere.” The couple is part of a growing…
Two new proposals for the parking lot formerly known as Market Square Arena are shorter and less dramatic than plans for a
31-story tower that fell through last year. But each of the new sets of plans has its flourishes.
Driving around the Holy Cross area just east of Lockerbie, the CEO of Wright Development LLC points out several properties her company has bought and refurbished-starting with 1209 and 1210 E. Vermont St.-as well as the many rehabs in the works. “Our goal is to re-create neighborhoods and make them viable, thriving, desirable places to live,” she said. “That’s usually left to the city, the not-for-profits and the [community development corporations]. We feel like there’s been a component missing.” The…
For the first time, two Indianapolis television stations nabbed coveted Peabody Awards-among the highest honor given for TV productions worldwide-in the same year. WTHR-TV Channel 13 and WISH-TV Channel 8 were notified of their awards this month and will accept them June 4 at a ceremony in New York City. The Peabody certainly polishes the image of both stations, but it’s less clear how it will affect the bottom line of WISH or WTHR. The Peabody has been presented by…
Americans spend a ton of money on health care. (The fact that most of that money is not their own is the leading problem with our health care system.) You would think that, with all the spending, pharmaceutical stocks would be a gold mine. Even though the sector has been the leading performer over the last 100 years, good drug stocks have been hard to find so far this century. But eight years after hitting their peaks, something might be…
