In March 2006, USA Today picked up a local newspaper’s profile of Indianapolis-based Fatheadz Inc., the company Rico Elmore
and two partners founded in 2005 to sell eyeglass frames for larger heads. That eventually led to the company’s big break:
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive read the article and ordered buyers to track down Fatheadz to make a deal.
The “event data recorder,” a so-called black box car makers have installed in their cars over the last decade and a half as
part of air-bag systems, can be a double-edged sword for motorists. Yet they likely don’t even know it’s spying from under
their seat or dashboard.
Shares of WellPoint Inc. fell 4.7 percent this morning after the Indianapolis health insurer announced strong fourth-quarter financial performance but also said it failed to attract as many new customers as it expected. The stock was trading near $75 after closing yesterday at $78.75. The Indianapolis-based health insurer added 708,000 customers in 2007, missing its […]
Roche has successfully turned a hostile takeover bid into a friendly one, winning over the board of Ventana Medical Systems Inc. by hiking the price it would pay by 19 percent. Swiss-based Roche, which operates its North American diagnostic division out of Indianapolis, would pay $3.4 billion under a merger agreement signed by the boards […]
Spotlight on Hamilton County Named for Alexander Hamilton, a member of the Continental Congress and a framer of the U.S. Constitution 5 LARGEST CITIES/TOWNS population Fishers ………………………………………61,840 Carmel ………………………………………60,570 Noblesville ………………………………….40,115 Westfield ……………………………………13,444 Cicero …………………………………………4,400 5 LARGEST EMPLOYERS employees Sallie Mae…………………………………….2,300 Conseco Inc. …………………………………2,300 Marsh Supermarkets Inc………………….1,650 Resort Condominiums International ….1,200 EDS Corp. …………………………………….1,200 COUNTY […]
MORGAN COUNTY Martinsville loses restaurant The first restaurant to open in Martinsville’s massive Wal-Mart-anchored Grand Valley retail center has closed. Damon’s Grill, which opened in 2001, had been struggling for years. Franchise owner Bennet Ackerman bought the restaurant in 2007 and has been losing money ever since. Ackerman owned three Damon’s locations and has closed […]
When Chris Gibson and Mike Leppert headed for the golf course in the late 1990s, it was strictly business. Walking from tee to tee, the men talked about lobbying, the law and regulatory agencies. After 18 months of playing 18 holes, they decided to form The Corydon Group, a government relations firm founded in 2000 in Indianapolis. The firm monitors bills and amendments proposed in the Indiana General Assembly, prepares reports on key legislation, attends meetings and hearings, and lobbies…
Good news for fans of Julian Opie’s pop-art-inspired exhibit that ended a year-long run on city streets in September-Indianapolis is getting a permanent piece by the London artist to add to its growing public art collection. The work created for Indianapolis is called “Ann Dancing.” It’s reminiscent of the four-sided LCD display dubbed “Sara Dancing” that made its home at the northwest corner of Illinois and Maryland streets. But this female stick figure has a bit more juice in her…
The Pan Am Plaza building, constructed to provide office space for amateur sports organizations, may soon be losing three of its highest-profile tenants. USA Gymnastics, USA Diving and U.S. Synchronized Swimming are contemplating moving out of the building at 201 S. Capitol Ave., sources close to the organizations said. A fourth group, USA Track & Field, which is preparing to move from the RCA Dome, is considering joining the other three sports-governing bodies in shared office space-preferably downtown. USATF will…
Good news for fans of Julian Opie’s pop-art-inspired exhibit that ended a year-long run on city streets in September-Indianapolis is getting a permanent piece by the London artist to add to its growing public art collection. The work created for Indianapolis is called “Ann Dancing.” It’s reminiscent of the four-sided LCD display dubbed “Sara Dancing” […]
Governor hopeful Jill Long Thompson told a group in Bloomington yesterday that she supports the Interstate 69 extension from Indianapolis to Evansville. The former congresswoman is running to become the Democratic nominee to face Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels in the general election this fall. She said the extension is needed to link Evansville to Indianapolis, […]
Four Indiana universities have been chosen to participate in a prestigious new national fellowship program aimed at increasing the number of math and science teachers while serving as the pilot program for overhauling education nationwide. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, of Princeton, N.J., selected Indiana as the first state for its program. It chose IUPUI, Ball State University, University of Indianapolis and Purdue University to launch the one-year fellowships and churn out the first wave of new teachers. The…
ACS Sign System’s unusual approach to sign-making–some are not strictly signs at all–has helped the company grow its revenue
and expand its footprint beyond Indiana. In recent years, sales outside its home state have grown from 20 percent of total
revenue to almost half.
As Wall Street continues to record multibillion-dollar losses for its debt-market indiscretions, another industry that for years earned steady returns from the credit markets is sitting on the doorstep of implosion. For decades, bond insurers operated the relatively mundane business of insuring, and thereby guaranteeing, the timely payment of principal and interest on municipal bonds issued by various government and other entities. In recent years, the bond insurers strayed from their core business model and underwrote insurance on the new…
Appreciative applause met Marvin Hamlisch when, just a few hours ago, he announced from the podium at the Hilbert Circle Theatre that he’d be conducting a medley of songs from “My Fair Lady” as part of his pops program with…
Back in 1999, investors in Gazelle TechVentures expected a sprint to spectacular profits. Instead, they got a marathon slog.
According to Gazelle Chairman and largest investor Scott Jones, it was like training for a race on a sunny day, then running
it through a blizzard.
In a meeting that had more X’s and O’s than Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy’s game-day war room, FedEx District Sales
Manager Doug Knowles and his lieutenants decided which clients and prospective clients would be invited to the FedEx suite
which game, which FedEx employees would accompany them, and what ancillary activities would be planned.
Mayor Greg Ballard has less than a week under his belt of taking on a city that is both on a roll and full of challenges. It’s an exciting time to be mayor. An unknown commodity, Ballard has some big shoes to fill with little experience in government to help him out. (Note to self: That’s not necessarily a bad thing.) Indianapolis has been blessed with strong leadership for the last 40 years, beginning in 1968 with Republican Richard Lugar,…
Bob Bedell worked behind the scenes for months–if not years–to make the case for expanding the Indiana Convention Center
and building a 1,000-room hotel nearby. But someone else will have to fill both venues with visitors. The 60-year-old Indianapolis
Convention & Visitors Association president has said he’ll retire at the end of June.
A unit of Citizens Gas proposes building a natural-gas-fueled steam plant in Speedway to serve large employers in the town
of 12,800.
