J.K. Wall

Shares of WellPoint Inc. were up slightly this morning, despite the company’s news that profit fell below expectations in the first quarter. Profit at WellPoint Inc. fell below the company’s already lowered expectations in the first quarter and company officials for a second time lowered their profit forecast for the year. The Indianapolis-based health insurer […]

Eli Lilly and Co. shareholders this morning rebuffed an effort by California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest public pension fund, and four major proxy advisory services to force two directors off the board and prevent the new CEO, John Lechleiter, from joining the board. Dr. Alfred Gilman and Karen Horn were reelected, according […]

Herb Simon is now both owner and CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the parent organization of the Indiana Pacers. The 73-year-old real estate magnate announced at a news conference today that he’ll become more involved in the teams operations, taking over some of the duties held by Donnie Walsh following his resignation from the […]

At least one economist thinks central Indiana’s life sciences sector can absorb the 500 people Eli Lilly and Co. plans to let go through early buyouts. “These aren’t the 1950s factory workers that we have to worry about. These are nimble, highly skilled workers,” said Mike Hicks, director of the Bureau of Business Research at […]

Less than a month after retiring as CEO of Eli Lilly and Co., Sidney Taurel has joined BioCrossroads Inc.’s board of directors. BioCrossroads, an Indianapolis-based group that promotes development of life sciences businesses, made the announcement this morning. Taurel is continuing as chairman of Lilly, the Indianapolis-based drugmaker, until the end of this year. He […]

Angie’s List plans to use a new pile of venture capital to take its consumer-rating service international. The Indianapolis-based company has received a $35 million investment from Battery Ventures, a venture capital firm with offices in Boston and Silicon Valley. Battery will hold a minority stake in the company. Angie’s List has more than 600,000 […]

ITT Educational Services Inc. and other for-profit educators saw their stock prices surge this morning, the day after a U.S. House panel approved a bill that aims to ensure students have access to loans-no matter the credit crisis. ITT Educational’s shares also may have been boosted by takeover rumors. Carmel-based ITT Educational’s shares shot up […]

The owners of ATA Airlines talked to five interested buyers early this year in a desperate attempt to sell the troubled airline. But FedEx Corp. in January unexpectedly cancelled ATA’s contract to carry military personnel, scuttling any sale and pushing ATA into liquidation. The company filed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition last night in Indianapolis. […]

WellPoint Inc. will no longer reimburse hospitals for serious preventable errors, the Indianapolis-based health insurer announced today. WellPoint’s first phase of the initiative includes 11 preventable adverse events and will be modified and expanded in the future. WellPoint said no one should be charged for the three most serious errors: performing the wrong kind of […]

Doctors have taken a second look at the nation’s health care ills and changed their diagnosis. Their new prescription? National, government-funded health insurance. That’s the upshot of a survey conducted by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. They found that 59 percent of America’s doctors now favor a national system of […]

Stock in Conseco Inc. rose 2.7 percent this morning, to $10.47 a share, after the Carmel-based insurance company reported final results for its fourth quarter. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, Conseco lost $71.5 million, compared to $5.7 million in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, Conseco swung to a 38-cent […]

Investment losses on subprime mortgage-backed securities and an adjustment to tax assets led Conseco Inc. to a big loss in its fourth quarter.The Carmel-based insurance company reported final financial results for 2007 last night – two weeks after reporting preliminary results. Final results were delayed because of a conversation between Conseco and the Securities and […]

Warsaw-based Symmetry Medical Inc., which makes implants, surgical devices and medical cases for the orthopedics industry, plans to add 60 workers as part of a $6.2 million expansion, the Indiana company said today. Symmetry will receive $127,000 in incentives for training in supplemental math, second languages, equipment maintenance and manufacturing processes. About 400 of the […]

Angie’s List quietly launched its health care ratings service on March 14 and will begin promoting it today. The Indianapolis company, which typically rates home repair services, will host an afternoon press conference about its foray into health care. It plans to send out an e-mail to its 600,000 customers as early as today. The […]