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Jennifer Whitson

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Business heats up for new Godby: Firm re-emerges after selling to a national competitor in the late 1990s

When big publicly held companies snapped up local heating, cooling and plumbing companies in the late 1990s, Tom Godby thought he needed to get on board. “I didn’t want to miss that tidal wave of change,” he said. Godby was the sole owner of Godby Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning LLC, which had been in the Indianapolis market for three decades when Godby sold it to American Residential Services in 1997. But instead of being the industry’s new face, the…

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U.S. News ranks Notre Dame tops in Indiana

Several Indiana schools made U.S. News & World Report’s latest annual university rankings, which was released today. The most impressive rankings go to the University of Notre Dame, which came in 18th in the overall ratings, and to Purdue University’s undergraduate engineering program with a doctoral track, which tied for ninth in the nation. Other […]

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Eiteljorg takes artifact ownership dispute to court: Quarrels over origins rare but troubling for museums

A New Mexico man claims an artifact in the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art’s collection was stolen from him in 1984 before it was purchased and donated to the Indianapolis museum in 1989. Artifacts dealer Robert Vandenberg says the American Indian war shirt-a long, fringed shirt made of hide-is worth as much as $200,000 and he is asking the Eiteljorg to hand it over. The museum, on the other hand, says Indianapolis businessman Harrison Eiteljorg had clear…

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Firm brings big-name help to small not-for-profits: Consultant will offer tiered Web-based advice to help keep its fees affordable

Some heavy hitters in the local not-forprofit consulting world have formed Achieve LLC, a company that will use the Internet to make high-end advice available to small and midsize charities. Its goal is to give organizations experiencing growing pains access to expert advice they usually can’t afford. “The question was, how do you fill that void for smaller not-for-profits?” said coowner and Vice President Dave Sternberg, former associate director of the Fundraising School at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy and…

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Firm brings big-name help to small not-for-profits: Consultant will offer tiered Web-based advice to help keep its fees affordable

Some heavy hitters in the local not-forprofit consulting world have formed Achieve LLC, a company that will use the Internet to make high-end advice available to small and midsize charities. Its goal is to give organizations experiencing growing pains access to expert advice they usually can’t afford. “The question was, how do you fill that void for smaller not-for-profits?” said coowner and Vice President Dave Sternberg, former associate director of the Fundraising School at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy and…

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Eiteljorg takes artifact ownership dispute to court: Quarrels over origins rare but troubling for museums

A New Mexico man claims an artifact in the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art’s collection was stolen from him in 1984 before it was purchased and donated to the Indianapolis museum in 1989. Artifacts dealer Robert Vandenberg says the American Indian war shirt-a long, fringed shirt made of hide-is worth as much as $200,000 and he is asking the Eiteljorg to hand it over. The museum, on the other hand, says Indianapolis businessman Harrison Eiteljorg had clear…

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Stadium’s flexibility should help attract extra events: But some experts say stadiums are still a hard sell

Lucas Oil Stadium can be a jack of all trades. Hang rigging from its ceiling, lower built-in sound-absorbing curtains over most of the seats, and it can host a fairly intimate 20,000-seat concert. Roll out the temporary floor to cover the turf, part and pack away one side of the bleachers, and it can stretch to be a convention hall, boasting 183,000 square feet of contiguous exhibition space plus 12 meeting rooms, a welcome plaza and party deck. But the…

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$720 million stadium will open with big operating deficit

Cleaning crews are wiping construction dust from the 63,000 seats in Lucas Oil Stadium, prepping for the public’s first peek at the $720 million venue Aug. 16. But the hard work is only beginning for the city’s Capital Improvement Board, the entity charged with operating the stadium. The fumbling point: CIB is anticipating a $20 million operating deficit for Lucas Oil Stadium in 2009.

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Center at IU helps nation’s rec areas become inclusive: Venues of all types, sizes learn methods to make attractions more accessible to visitors with disabilities

Since its inception, the center’s staff has worked with venues ranging from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to local parks in the Indianapolis area. Besides facilities, it also comes to the aid of individuals. Recently, the center helped a bride who wanted to get married on the beach at sunset. A family member uses an electric wheelchair, so the center offered advice to her Florida hotel on how to construct a portable wheelchair path to the ceremony that…

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It’s all about CHINA: Cultural programming on the rise in Indianapolis as local Chinese population rises, country opens up

When Dr. Zao C. Xu moved to Indianapolis in 1986, there were only a handful of other Chinese immigrants working at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Now, there are more than 20. Xu’s wife works at Eli Lilly and Co. When she started there in the mid-1980s, she was one of about 20 Chinese immigrant employees at the pharmaceutical giant. Today, there are more than 500. “Many people who came from China started working in the East or West…

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Pitch-Perfect Price: Digonex Technologies’ software helps retailers profit from demand

Is every song downloaded from iTunes really worth 99 cents? Indianapolis-based Digonex Technologies doesn’t think so, and it has developed a computer program using some complicated algorithms to prove it. The company’s software compiles sales data and re-prices items for online sales, allowing merchants to maximize profits by adjusting prices up or down based on demand. Consumers don’t notice a difference. “What we’re doing is a big idea,” said Digonex CEO Jan Eglen, 65. “Most of the [pricing systems] you…

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Fair trade frenzy drives retailer’s sales: New store also helps not-for-profit Global Gifts’ revenue triple in five years

Times are good for Global Gifts Inc., a local not-for-profit that runs two boutiques where shoppers think globally and buy locally. The retailer is experiencing a growth spurt as it approaches its 20th anniversary-sales have more than tripled in the last five years and leaders are planning a third location to capitalize on the increasing number of central Indiana residents who embrace fair-trade shopping. Fair-trade retailers agree to a set of rules guaranteeing that their products-mostly crafts and agricultural goods…

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Angie’s List CEO buys Greek church for opera: Arts group hopes Meridian-Kessler digs will help it grow

| Jennifer Whitson

Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle has paid nearly $1.5 million to buy Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood and is renting it to the Indianapolis Opera to use as a multi-function center offering rehearsal space, classes and small performances. “I would have been hard-pressed to tell you much about the Indianapolis Opera before all of this. But I think they’ll be great neighbors,” said Oesterle, who lives on Washington Boulevard, directly north of the church parking lot….

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Charitable giving becomes bigger part of event celebrations

Kathryn Morgan and Richard Cimera met at a dog park in Greenwood, where Cimera’s basset hound won over Morgan’s shy Labrador
and boxer mix. And the owners soon followed suit, dating and then marrying on June 13. When the Greenwood couple planned their
wedding, they wanted a way to share a bit of their happiness. So, in lieu of party favors, they made a donation to an animal-welfare
organization.

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Events facing higher costs at Lucas Oil Stadium: Venue managers also bracing for additional expenses

Local big-draw events are itchy to make their first-ever runs in the $675 million Lucas Oil Stadium, in hopes the roomier venue will let them draw more attendees who want to kick the tires and enjoy the new stadium smell. But there’s a trade-off-a bigger price tag to cover security guards, ushers and cleanup. And at least one event is weighing higher ticket prices as a result. “I don’t think there’s any doubt [Lucas Oil Stadium] will cost more based…

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BREAKING: Controversial cadaver exhibit coming

Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. is looking to bring its controversial “Bodies … the Exhibition” show to Indianapolis. The exhibit, which features cadavers that have been plasticized, dissected and posed, has been dogged by reports that the specimens used in the presentation may be the remains of tortured Chinese prisoners. If the show opens here, it […]

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Oesterle buys church for Indianapolis Opera

Angie’s List co-founder and CEO Bill Oesterle has purchased the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church building in Meridian Kessler for nearly $1.5 million and leased it to the Indianapolis Opera to use for rehearsals, educational programming and smaller performances. The opera still will perform its mainstage productions at Clowe’s Hall and won’t move into the […]

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Copper Moon buys Coffee Etc. from Crystal

By Jennifer Whitson Florida-based Sun Capital Partners continues to sell off pieces of Crystal Food Services, a division of Marsh Supermarkets. Today, locally based Copper Moon Coffee LLC announced that it has purchased Coffee Etc., a division of Crystal Food Services that supplies equipment, coffees, teas, water and flavored syrups to business and convenience store […]

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Entrepreneur has high hopes for deck-chair markers

In late May, Darrell Bowman launched Lounge Hats LLC, an Indianapolis-based company that makes fabric covers that fit over
beach or pool-side chaise lounges to make one thing clear: This seat is taken. Bowman withdrew $20,000 from personal savings
and added another $50,000 from an investor, his friend Mike Oswalt, to start the company. He runs Lounge Hats out of his garage,
hiring a Chinese company to sew the hats and contracting with a local printer to finish them off.

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Need something? They’ll trade you: Industry consolidation is remaking bartering terrain

Marketing firm owner Lorraine Ball knows how to promote a business-a valuable commodity among cashstrapped entrepreneurs looking to bolster their bottom lines. So it’s little wonder that she is able to trade her expertise for services she needs, whether it’s help with an online video or time with a personal trainer. Ball is among a growing group of small-business owners embracing the age-old barter system, methaphorically scratching one another’s backs to save on cash and credit. Although Ball prefers to…

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