The son and grandson of hotel managers, Maarten van Wijk became general manager of the historic-but-ailing 2,000-member Columbia
Club in May. His first priority is to polish the venerable private club’s tarnished quality standards to a lustrous sheen.
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…
A sign on the basement wall reads “Construction Zone.” Nearby on the router table, window frames are taking shape along with decorative pieces that will adorn the façade of a World War IIera brownstone. Behind a red plywood wall a few floors up, hammers knock and saws shrill as workers erect a 13,500-square-foot homage to three children who changed the world. It’s just another day at the office for the production crew at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. For months,…
Indianapolis-based Finish Line Inc. has hired Moelis Advisers as a non-exclusive financial and capital markets adviser, the shoe and clothing retailer announced this morning. Moelis is a division of New York-based Mercanti Securities LLC, which is a unit of Los Angeles-headquartered Mercanti Group. In its statement, Finish Line didn’t discuss why it had hired Moelis. […]
In exchange for promises to keep its headquarters here, Marion County is considering providing an eight-year property tax abatement worth $17,659 for local parking ticket software-maker T2 Systems Inc. According to a Department of Metropolitan Development filing, T2 Systems is promising to add 115 jobs to its current work force of 43 as well invest […]
In the last year, Hetrick Communications has hired 10 employees, added a major new client, and changed its focus. What was once primarily a public relations firm is now also an advertising agency targeting health care and life sciences. On the heels of the changes, Hetrick actually wants fewer clients. “We want fewer, bigger clients,” said Amy Ahlersmeyer, the firm’s president and chief operating officer. “We want our growth to come absolutely in the health care and life sciences sector.”…
I’ll admit it: Until recently, I thought “My Space” was simply where I stored “my stuff.” My bad, it turns out. Just ask that young staffer down the hall: The new place to see and be seen is MySpace, Facebook or one of the other online social communities. This summer, MySpace announced it had more than 70 million unique users in the United States-meaning nearly one in four Americans used the site, for a total of nearly 50 billion page…
Convenience store stalwart Village Pantry has launched a $15 million plan to renovate 146 stores and is eyeing acquisitions
that could double the chain’s size in three years. The moves come as Village Pantry separates from parent Marsh Supermarkets
Inc., a company that for years treated the convenience-store division as a redheaded stepchild.
With steep declines in new-home construction and existing home sales, market conditions in the Indianapolis-based North American
residential business of Carrier Corp. “are clearly challenging,” according to George David, CEO of Carrier’s parent, United
Technologies.
Indianapolis-based YourEncore has launched new services designed to help life sciences companies plan for and obtain regulatory approval for new products. To run its regulatory services, YourEncore hired Carol Crowley, a 25-year veteran of the drug and device industry. Prior to joining YourEncore, Crowley was vice president of global regulatory operations for France-based Aventis SA, […]
As legislators prepare to overhaul the state’s property-tax system, Marion County’s future hangs in the balance. Indianapolis
residents–particularly in the city’s older, urban core–already pay far higher taxes than their suburban counterparts. And
arguably get less bang for their buck. Changes on the table could make Marion County an even tougher sell.
Stitches & Scones Entrepreneur sews together her enterprises Yarn-store owner finds ways to keep doing what she loves Mollianne Cameron took a page from the book of successful businesses with her current business, Stitches & Scones, and two planned ones: Crafty Capers and The Amish & Antique Quilt Store. Each retail venture marries business to Cameron’s passion for knitting, crocheting and hand stitchery. The lesson: Do what you love and the money will follow. Growing her own customers was another…
I am going to chat with Angelo Pizzo, author of the best sports film of all time. Pizzo is the writer and coproducer of feature films “Hoosiers” and “Rudy.” He and I will debut “Mickey’s Corner,” a project patterned after TV’s Bravo Network program “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” The conversation will happen Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 6701 Hoover Road. Why don’t you drop in? Pizzo grew up in Bloomington and stayed home for his…
KEVIN TEASLEY President, GEO Foundation CEO, 21st Century Charter Schools Kevin Teasley didn’t have clear-cut expectations when he and a small group of reform-minded dreamers opened 21st Century Charter School in 2002. The publicly funded-yet-independent schools were brand new in Indiana, and no one really knew what came next. Would 21st Century’s one-room schoolhouse approach draw talented teachers? Would students respond to a different kind of education? Organizers had high hopes, to be sure, but they operated more on instinct…
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…
Locally based Fusion Alliance said today it plans to spend more than $2 million to expand its headquarters and add at least 110 jobs by 2010. Fusion Alliance employs 190 in Indianapolis and 30 in Cincinnati. It expects to begin hiring consultants, application developers, Web designers, business analysts and project managers this year, with most of […]
Jerry Carr studied turf at Purdue University-how to grow some of Mother Nature’s best and how to design the artificial kind. After graduation, his jobs mostly kept him outside and active. But when he moved into a desk-bound sales job in 2006, he noticed more than the inevitable weight gain. “I couldn’t wait to exercise at the end of each day,” said Carr, 47. Feeling restless and unfocused, he brought a treadmill into his office. But he found that switching…
Most observers have viewed the 2008 legislative session as one almost singlemindedly devoted to property tax reform. While, of course, that is true, if you step back, a broader truism begins to emerge. This is not only a session destined to produce property tax reform, but one that begins the process of changing the role of government and how it intrudes into the lives of Hoosiers-or how it helps them, depending upon your perspective. Beyond property tax reform, this session…
If Brightpoint Inc. wants to keep its place at the top of the cell phone distribution business, its leaders know they can’t expect to rest on their laurels. That’s why the Plainfield-based company hired mobile industry veteran Bashar Nejdawi to spearhead an effort to expand Brightpoint’s so-called mobile enhancement business, selling add-ons that enhance a phone’s functionality, such as hands-free devices, battery chargers, phone cases and software. The company already offers such accessories, but has not seen substantial success outside…
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…
