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Trio use experience to start consultancy: State-government veterans met while at FSSA

Three veterans of state government have pooled their years of management experience to launch the women-owned business consultancy Engaging Solutions LLC. Led by Venita Moore and Debra Simmons Wilson, the company set up shop in the Indiana Black Expo building on North Meridian Street this spring to provide fiscal management, strategic planning, outreach, training and economic development services. They and part-time principal Tammy Butler Robinson say the firm’s focus on serving government agencies, not-forprofits and faith-based organizations fits their backgrounds….

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NOTIONS: Variety spices our Midwestern life rather nicely

Got an invitation in the mail. It was addressed to “Bruce Hetrick and Guest.” The invitation was from a client. It said my guest and I could join him at an upcoming Marsh Symphony on the Prairie performance. I could choose between a pops concert called “The Golden Age of Black and White,” a Mozart classical concert or “Big Band Night.” My guest likes to dance. So I chose “Big Band Night.” The concert was Friday night. Thousands of people…

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Incubator under new ownership: Aim is to return center to its entrepreneurial mission

Any small-business incubator can offer tenants Internet service, fax machines and conference rooms. But what about the convenience of on-site oil changes or the stress relief of a pinball machine? For Scott Meyers, new owner of the revamped Indianapolis Enterprise Center, the extra incentives are just a small part of his overall plan to make the neareast-side facility more attractive to fledgling entrepreneurs. Meyers, 36, bought the former A&P grocery warehouse in May. He declined to disclose the purchase price…

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Pension fund opens coffers: $506M could be boon for venture capitalists

The Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, Indiana’s largest pension system, is preparing to unleash half a billion dollars into venture capital, real estate and other privateequity investments. And the fund’s managers aim to put the bulk of it to work inside state lines. Hoosier venture capitalists are salivating at the prospect. T h a t ‘s t h e equivalent of nearly seven BioCrossroads Indiana Future Funds. “If there are excellent opportunities to invest in Indiana, we ought to be looking…

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VIEWPOINT: Asian trade mission: different kind of trip

Sweat and fatigue. These two conditions dominate my memories of the recent trade mission to Taiwan and Japan. The week-long mission led by Gov. Mitch Daniels was the largest ever of Indiana business leaders and state officials to these countries. Many of the more-than-70-member delegation had independent agendas. Those of us who accompanied the governor never had an opportunity to adjust to the Asian clock, which was 14 hours later than Hoosier time (whatever that means). Most days were packed…

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Museum deflects pork perceptions: Policy wonks decry grant of $12.5M in transportation funds

“Why are taxpayers in California and Texas and Massachusetts paying for a museum in Indianapolis?” David Boaz, executive vice president of the Washington-based Cato Institute, wrote on the think tank’s Web site in May as the bill was coalescing. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis landed the grant under the $286 billion transportation bill signed by President Bush this month. The grant was included in the bill courtesy of Rep. Julia Carson, D-Indianapolis. “Congress constantly uses the Department of Transportation’s budget…

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Adidas sale could bring changes to former Reebok facility: German sports giant has a history of using overseas manufacturing sites

Adidas’ plan to buy Massachusettsbased Reebok International Inc. for $3.8 billion has put the future of Reebok’s eastside manufacturing plant in doubt again. Though Reebok officials insist the immediate future is secure for the 600,000-square-foot operation off Post Road, industry experts say changes are on the way. Reebok took ownership of the facility in 2001 when it bought Indianapolis-based licensed apparel maker Logo Athletic out of bankruptcy court. Since then, Reebok has invested heavily and expanded local staff from 400…

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Group wants energy czar: Coalition believes utilities slow to climb on efficiency bandwagon

Chris Maher’s crews at Thermo-Scan Inc. have been plenty busy inspecting for drafts and puny insulation in many of the 14,000 new homes built each year in the metro area. Even so, the principal at the Carmel firm can’t help wonder about the vast potential to make the hundreds of thousands of existing homes and businesses more energy efficient-if only homeowners had a little more incentive. Utility companies, he says, have relatively few dollars budgeted to coax customers to install…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Indiana’s 2 economies: Indy and everyone else

I work for a state university. That’s an important reason why I try to keep up to date on what is happening in the state economy. That involves tracking what’s going on with things like job growth, unemployment rates, and earnings across the state. I also try to judge how the state’s economy is performing against other states, particularly those in the Midwest. That’s convenient, but it’s also a little misleading. Because for quite some time there really have been…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Reaping the benefits of the American Jobs Act

Astute real estate professionals should be taking advantage of several tax-saving provisions of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The act was signed by President Bush last October to spur economic development and investment. The primary components of the Amer ican Jobs Creation Act include increased depreciation deductions on leasehold improvements, greater flexibility for real estate investment trusts, modification of expensing rules for equipment and vehicles, and a reduction in the tax rate for domestic manufacturing activities. Leasehold improvements…

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Industry making push for creation of state fraud unit: Indiana one of only 10 states without insurance fraud agency, but funding issues could be major obstacle

Members of the insurance industry have begun a campaign to bolster the state’s fight against fraud by targeting the creation of a bureau to help combat the crime. Indiana is one of only 10 states without an agency addressing insurance fraud, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. But the goal of the task force convened by Jim Atterholt, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Insurance, is to have a fraud bureau operating within his department sometime next…

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Rising star in GOP recasts job agency: New chief uses secret shoppers, dress code to shake up state’s work force development

Indiana Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Ronald Stiver says the world is flat, with the United States no longer having mountainous advantages over other nations. And Stiver knows Hoosiers must prepare for it to get even flatter. “You’re talking to the converted,” Stiver said. “I believe in the 21st century, the major lever for economic development will be work-force development.” Stiver, 31, is reorganizing DWD with the new flat world in mind. He envisions an agency that moves beyond doling…

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Tax credits aid blighted areas: Help open to firms targeting Center Township projects

Federal tax credits supporting roughly $6 million in economic development projects are still available for small-business owners considering expanding or locating in Center Township. The funds are administered through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, which was established by Congress in 2000 to help revitalize blighted areas. In Indiana, the locally based Urban Enterprise Association Inc. helped secure tax credits that can fund $50 million worth of projects, including $12.5 million in Marion County. The tax credits already are supporting…

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Tech-park program tightens guidelines: Daniels administration hopes grants spur more innovation

In Shelbyville, home of the state’s third certified technology park, economic development officials are excited. They just broke ground on a promising new park business: A Santa Fe Steakhouse. Since 2003, the state has approved $1.2 million for Shelbyville to help develop its technology park-one of 17 now scattered across Indiana, each meant to modernize the state through the attraction and development of high-tech companies. In total, the state has approved $9 million in grants since the certified technology park…

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New director brings experience to center: Woodall to mentor entrepreneurs at Purdue facility

Jerry M. Woodall, the new director of Purdue University’s ambitious entrepreneurship center, enjoyed an illustrious career spanning three decades at International Business Machines Corp. But for the 66-year-old New Englander, a job at New York-based IBM emerged only after another public corporation, The Gillette Co. in Boston, rescinded its offer. It did so, oddly enough, after learning he had only one eye. A cataract led doctors to remove his left eye after birth. “I distinctly remember them telling me I’d…

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Marian College launches motorsports curriculum: Classes to focus on business side of racing

This fall, Marian College will begin offering a unique curriculum focused on the business of motorsports. Initially, motorsports-related classes will be offered within Marian’s sports management program, but school officials said they’d like to expand the program to offer a minor and major in motorsports management. Unlike programs at Purdue University, IUPUI and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Marian’s courses will not focus on computers and engineering. Instead, the program will instruct students in marketing, communications, sales and business management in…

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‘Clean’ manufacturing center seeking cash to survive: General Assembly kills funding for Purdue program

The center created by the Legislature to help manufacturers use environmentally friendly materials and production methods is scrambling for cash to keep stamping out solutions. The Indiana Clean Manufacturing Technology & Safe Materials Institute lost its $475,000 annual state subsidy-a little over half its income-amid budget cutting in the last session of the General Assembly. Industry and environmental groups are lamenting the potential scale-back or even closure of the institute if new funding isn’t found by August. “We certainly feel…

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Taking the pulse of life sciences: Experts weigh in on whether Indiana is keeping up in the economic development race

IBJ: Is Indiana gaining ground against other states in the race to grow as a life sciences hub? What are some specific benchmarks that underscore your opinion? JOHNSON: Indiana is gaining ground, but Indiana already starts on really very substantial ground. There are a lot of outside validations of that and I think it’s important for this audience to hear a couple of them because there is nothing like having people on the outside pay attention to what we’re doing…

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VC tax credit rarely used by startups: Less than 17 percent of incentives tapped

Last year, Indiana approved tax credits worth nearly $16.3 million to encourage speculation on local high-tech startups. Investors left most of the credits-$13.5 million worth-on the table. The highly touted Indiana Venture Capital Investment tax credit program debuted in January 2004. It allows investors in approved startups to write 20 percent of their outlay off their state taxes. Indiana certified 42 young companies last year as eligible for its venture capital credit. According to the Indiana Economic Development Corp., investors…

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VIEWPOINT: Creativity is key to competitive advantage

Central Indiana is flat as a result of the Laurentide ice sheet that surged toward Indianapolis 17,000 years ago. Today, the whole world is flat as a result of the technological and social seismic shifts that effectively leveled the economic world, and “accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda next-door neighbors,” says Thomas L. Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times. Richard Florida, researcher on regional economic development, challenges Friedman’s metaphor. Florida says, “The world is even more concentrated,…

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