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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Is techno-speak making your mind spin?

A BBC online story from November got me thinking about funny looks. I get those a lot, and not just because most mornings I look like a poorly repaired sidewalk. I get them because of the words I use. But I can’t help it. Nobody in technology can help it. When we talk about technology, we always sound like we’re mumbling jargon, even when we’re not. The article (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6118828.stm) dealt with the frustration workers have with supposedly cool business jargon,…

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NOTIONS: From a father to his sons upon their graduation

Dear Austin and Zach: Well, my sons, it’s milestone week: your last day of high school; your 19th birthday; your mom and stepdad’s move to new digs designed for you as occasional guests rather than fulltime residents. Next up: “Pomp and Circumstance,” forgettable oratory and lots of unsolicited advice. And, of course, your big reward for 12 years of educational servitude: You get to move a tassel from the right to the left side of a rented mortar board. Inevitably,…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Infrastructure is costly to improve, but costlier to ignore

A recent article in Strategy+business magazine estimated that “the world’s urban infrastructure needs a $41 trillion makeover” between now and 2030. The article explained that $41 trillion is roughly equivalent to the “2006 market capitalization of all shares held in all stock markets in the world.” Some experts think that “new technology” will be the answer, and it may be when nanotechnology takes over the world. For now, however, the trend usually reinforces the trend, and we do the same…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Creation of state officer reconfirms value of GIS

Virtually unnoticed in the spate of bills that emerged from the 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly was creation of a new officer in state government who can be extremely helpful in the state’s economic development efforts. The law creating a Geographic Information Officer, or GIO, gives official status to an important discipline that has been blossoming over the last 25 years and is increasingly relied upon in business and political decision-making. A Geographic Information System is a collection…

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Techpoint honors Indiana companies, educators: Judges narrow 80 nominees to 13 Mira winners

This year’s recipients of Techpoint’s Mira awards include some of the area’s best-known technology startups as well as lower-profile firms that have racked up big achievements. On May 18, the technology trade group was scheduled to acknowledge the accomplishments of Hoosier entrepreneurs in information technology, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and education with its eighth annual gala at the Indiana Roof Ballroom downtown. “It’s always good to recognize companies and give them a pat on the back, put them on the…

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Welding school’s custom curriculum gains notice: Institution counts on business-to-business contacts

Seeking to take advantage of a growing statewide welder shortage, the area’s first school specializing in advanced welding opened this month. Photon School of Welding Inc. Director Charles Garinger and a silent partner have invested more than $300,000 to open the school at West 84th Street and Zionsville Road. The operation is financed through the founders’ savings and a loan from National City Bank. It opened this month in a 6,000-squarefoot facility with a capacity of 52 welding booths. Many…

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Initiative aims at more minority participation: Construction group says current strategy not working

More needs to be done to improve minority involvement in the construction industry than simply employing a certain percentage of the companies on projects. That’s the consensus of the Indiana Construction Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the biggest users and providers of construction services. Its diversity outreach initiative aims to increase minority participation within the trades by rewarding contractors who support education and training, employ minorities and women, and mentor small minority- and women-owned businesses. The initiative…

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Group training for national dash: Not-for-profit wants to take race beyond hometown

A 2-1/2-year-old Indianapolis not-forprofit that funds melanoma education and research through an annual race hopes to extend its footprint around the country. Outrun the Sun Inc. has had preliminary talks with a race management firm in Los Angeles, said co-founder and Executive Director Anita Day. Los Angeles is the headquarters of Neutrogena, which recently agreed to sponsor Outrun the Sun’s annual race. Momentum to take the organization national also picked up this year when it landed Shape magazine and Subaru…

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TeePee could rise again: Local man hopes to revive restaurant that was city fixture from 1930s to ’70s

Dick Turner is looking for an entrepreneur who shares his taste for nostalgia and Big Chief cheeseburgers. For 20 years, he has dreamed of opening an updated version of the classic TeePee restaurants that served as hangouts for generations from the 1930s to 1970s. At its peak, the chain had three Indianapolis locations, each with dining rooms and curb service, on Madison Avenue and Fall Creek Boulevard and in Nora. Turner can show you the frayed legal documents that outline…

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Award-winning financial planner not ready for retirement: Cooke, sons gain notice for helping well-heeled clients

As veteran financial planner John Cooke rehashes the highlights of his venerable career, it’s evident that nothing can top the experience of working with his two sons. Close behind, though, are the accolades he’s picked up along the way, including several mentions in various publications as one of the nation’s top advisers. The latest recognition comes from Barron’s magazine, in which Cooke is the only money manager in Indianapolis to make its list of the nation’s top 100 brokers. His…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: A word to the generally assembled

Like everyone else who’s interested in these sorts of things, I have my opinions about the recently completed 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly. Considering how long it took lawmakers to get on track, they accomplished some reasonably important business when it got down to the wire. Aside from the all-important balanced budget, tops on my list is the 44-cent increase in the cigarette tax. It should’ve been higher, but this will do for a start. For all you…

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NOTIONS: Hoosier college presidents teach a liberal arts lesson

Last Monday morning, my work took me to West Lafayette. When I learned that Purdue University would name a new president that afternoon, I decided to stick around for the festivities. Hundreds of people gathered in the Loeb Playhouse for the one-agenda-item trustees’ meeting. The vote was unanimous. The introductory speech outlined an “out-of-this-world” resume. And out from behind the curtain emerged 59-year-old France Córdova: astrophysicist, university administrator, creative writer-someone Purdue board chair J. Timothy McGinley called “truly a Renaissance…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Can Big 10 show us more than sports?

There is an issue of greater importance than gay marriage, abortion or the tragedies of Iraq and Afghanistan. State regulation of interior designers is a matter of such public concern that the Indiana Senate supported it by a vote of 44-5 and the House, 62-34. Then, when we finally had the public protected from the inappropriate placement of sofas, the governor goes and vetoes the bill. Mitch, the spoilsport. Well, there is always next year. The governor could not stop…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Gambling quenched lawmakers’ appetite for new revenue

The 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly is now history. Whatever else might have been involved in shaping its outcome, nothing was so determinative as the revelation in the closing days that property taxes-driven by the first application of trending, rising property values in general, the elimination of the inventory tax, and some old-fashioned political legerdemain on the part of some assessors in different regions of the state-were expected to rise an average of 24 percent for taxes payable…

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Former sales rep alleges Ohio roofing firm overcharged: Tremco denies civil charges of unfair business practices in its work for Indiana school corporations

A longtime sales representative for one of the roofing industry’s largest manufacturers alleges his former employer defrauded Indiana public schools out of more than $1.5 million. Brennen Baker charges that the company, Beachwood, Ohio-based Tremco Inc., circumvented Indiana’s public bidding laws for school projects; overcharged for its services; and billed for materials, services and equipment it never delivered. Baker was a Tremco sales rep for southwest and central Indiana from 1991 until January 2004. Baker, who later founded the Fishers-based…

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State’s big colleges don’t lead way in presidential pay: Chiefs at IU, Purdue, Ball State haven’t crossed half-million-dollar mark, but there are perks aplenty

Competition for top college presidents is intense these days. But neither Indiana University nor Purdue University trustees appear willing to break the bank to make sure they’re landing the right leader. About one in six of the public universities surveyed by the Chronicle of Higher Education now pays its president more than $500,000. That’s well above the $400,000 IU’s new leader, Michael McRobbie, will collect-though his wife, Laurie Burns McRobbie, will receive another $90,000 for her efforts to support and…

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Informatics job ‘special’ to dean: New leader of prominent IU school says no other offer could have lured him away from Colorado

Even before Bobby Schnabel became a candidate to take charge at the Indiana University School of Informatics, he knew enough about the program to know he wanted to lead it. By ending his 30-year affiliation with the University of Colorado at Boulder, Schnabel, 56, officially exchanges the black and gold of the Buffaloes for the cream and crimson of the Hoosiers on July 1. But of even greater significance is the fact that IU sought Schnabel to succeed J. Michael…

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Entrepreneur sees niche for for-profit law school

But Mark Montefiori wants to create a law school to train perhaps hundreds more lawyers each year. He plans to share
with potential investors his vision for The Abraham Clark School of Law, named after one of the lesser-known signers of the
Declaration of Independence, May 10 at the Indianapolis Marriott North.

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Flood of traffic latest twist in RiverPlace battle: Indianapolis planners find traffic impact study for Fishers project leaky

Environmentalists who lost a court battle to stop RiverPlace on grounds it will cause flooding upstream along the White River have been buoyed by concerns raised by Indianapolis officials that the 69-acre development could create a torrent of traffic trouble. Last month, in a letter sent to Fishers’ public works director, the Department of Metropolitan Development cited numerous shortcomings with a traffic impact study commissioned by RiverPlace developer Centre Properties. Indianapolis-based Centre has asked Fishers to rezone the property, just…

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Minimum wage set to increase: Small-business owners bracing themselves for change

Jeff Coppinger just can’t support legislative efforts to raise the minimum wage. Part-time employees at his Lazy Daze Coffee House in Irvington start at $6 an hour and top out at about $8-well over the $5.15 hourly minimum. But he knows that won’t be good enough if a pending federal rate change passes. “In the past, I’ve always been a champion for raising the minimum wage,” said Coppinger, who opened his business in 2003. “But now that I’m in business,…

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