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EYE ON THE PIE: Values, economics go hand in hand

“Why,” I asked myself, “do I write so much about politics when my interests are in economics?” “That’s easy,” I answered myself. “As an economist, I am interested in the decisions that determine who gets what. Many of those decisions are made by politicians. They decide which roads are repaired, whose children get a good education, who gets good medical attention, and who gets mediocre services. They decide who pays how much in taxes, thereby deciding how much we have…

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Paid boards spur not-for-profit debate: Critics: If directors won’t give time, who will?

Indianapolis-based USA Funds is a large, complex organization, and members of its governing board are busy people. Same goes for the NCAA, another local not-for-profit with a national reach, a nine-figure budget and directors who are anything but professional volunteers. The two organizations have one key difference, though: USA Funds pays its board members. The NCAA does not. “It’s simply the nature of the world,” said Norm Lefstein, an Indiana University law professor who chairs the compensation committee at student-loan…

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CFO had humble start: Eli Lilly veteran lands in high-profile, high-pressure role

Derica Rice started figuring out his future the day he glanced in his mother’s refrigerator and actually paid attention to the insulin vials stored there. Eli Lilly and Co.’s new chief financial officer recalled being home at the end of a summer. He was fresh off an internship with another company and was in casual job talks with Lilly representatives. He had seen the clear vials his mother, Inez-a Type II diabetic-stored in her fridge, but he never read the…

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Local facility first to offer overnight help for anorexia: Lotus House fills void for those with eating disorders

A spacious home near Stony Creek in Noblesville once known as the Hare estate has been transformed into an intensive treatment facility for young women struggling with severe eating disorders. Dubbed Lotus House, the three-story residence began hosting patients in October. Partners Patrick Hall, 40, and Misty Rees, 33, founded the facility to provide an inpatient alternative to standard care. The facility, which offers therapies for anorexia nervosa and bulimia, is just the second in the Indianapolis area to treat…

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Financial Strategies Mortgage Inc.: Training firm meeting national demand More states require continuing education for mortgage lenders

Launched in 1998 by consultant Aaron Wilson, the training firm is cashing in on the national demand for continuing education programs. Revenue topped $5 million last year, a significant jump from the $200,000 the company collected the first year it offered classes. Financial Strategies found its focus in 2000, when the state began requiring loan officers in Indiana to take continuing education classes-even though there weren’t any classes here for them to take. Wilson jumped on the opportunity. “In one…

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NOTIONS: College tour reverie: How we got from there to here

The Lenox Hotel, Boston-My son, Austin, doesn’t remember this, but we’ve stayed here before. Last time around, he and his twin brother, Zach, posed in the buff for a Beantown photographer. Now, don’t get the wrong idea about my sons. That was 17 years ago. And they’re nearly 18 today. So we’re talking infant shots here. Baby pix. Neophyte photo fare sans Pampers. Back then, I worked for an East Coast ad agency. One of our clients, a Massachusetts hospital,…

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COMPEN$ATION CLASH: Complexity boosts not-for-profit pay, but should work be its own reward?

At least two large Indianapolis not-for-profits have been investigated-and cleared-as part of an Internal Revenue Service examination of compensation practices at tax-exempt organizations. Preliminary results of the nationwide inquiry aren’t expected until fall, but the scrutiny already has increased the volume in an ongoing debate over how not-for-profit executives should be paid. Some observers have called for setting limits on not-for-profit compensation, citing the charitable nature of the work. Others insist sixor seven-figure pay packages are not out of line…

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EYE ON THE PIE: School projects create winners and losers

Strange it is that Indiana newspapers are atwitter with concern about changing the clocks. One would think this is some terrorist threat. All Indiana counties will go to daylightsaving time, which will be a novelty for the majority of us. Some counties now on Eastern time will switch to Central time and not have to change their clocks until October (Central Daylight Time being the same as Eastern Standard Time). The time switch is a non-event. It is an unnecessary…

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Tourism’s new buzz: Product development: Officials want to build on Indiana’s unique assets

Billboards in southern Indiana used to tug spelunkers in four different directions. Come to Marengo Caves. Spend an afternoon at Bluespring Caverns. Visit Wyandotte Caves. Don a headlamp at Squire Boone Caverns. Two years ago, however, operators at the four attractions decided it might be a better use of cash to market the area as a single attraction. They pooled their advertising budgets and printed a brochure that listed all four destinations. They also created a passport that visitors could…

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Brand balances big bucks and books: NCAA chief: Boosting revenue not out of sync with education

Which of those constituent groups is most important to Brand is open to debate. Since Brand stepped down as Indiana University president to take over at the NCAA in January 2003, the association’s annual revenue has grown from $433.2 million to $521.1 million. The increase is driven largely by an 11-year, $6 billion TV contract with CBS that took effect during the 2002-2003 sports season. Under Brand’s watch, the NCAA has ushered in new sponsors, including Sirius Satellite Radio, Direct…

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Clarian plans training center: Doctors, nurses to sharpen skills in $44 million building

A team led by Clarian Health Partners will add a $44 million training center to the cluster of life sciences businesses taking root around the Central Canal on the northern edge of downtown. The Indianapolis hospital network recently filed plans with the city to build a six-story, 182,750-square-foot building on the eastern side of the canal. The site sits just south of a pathology laboratory on 11th Street that Clarian plans to dedicate later this month. The Indiana University schools…

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Indiana Sports Corp. expands youth initiative: John Byers hired from Tabernacle Presbyterian to lead effort to address health issues of city’s children

After more than 20 years heading up one of the biggest youth sports programs in Indianapolis, John Byers is leaving Tabernacle Presbyterian Church to help Indiana Sports Corp. play a bigger role in improving the health of Hoosier children. Byers will become ISC’s vice president for youth programming, a new executivelevel position at the not-for-profit, on April 10. “The Indiana Sports Corp. made a decision to look at youth wellness in our city and in our state,” said Susan Williams,…

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VIEWPOINT: ‘Eating our young’ as a way of mentoring?

I recently came across an insightful publication by the Center for the Development of Peace and Well-Being at the University of California, Berkley, called Greater Good. One article especially caught my attention: “Inspiring Good Work” (spring-summer 2005 issue) by researchers Wendy Fischman and Howard Garner, of Harvard University’s GoodWork Project. As highlighted in the article, the GoodWork Project’s research, under way for the past decade, has revealed that young people leaving college and embarking on their professional careers are finding…

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Web sites drive business 24/7:

Define your objectives Before investing in a design, decide what you want to accomplish. For example, you may be trying to: Let people know about your company. Your Web site establishes credibility by providing customers and prospects an introduction to your firm. Develop a research tool. Online surveys help gather information regarding customer preferences, interests and market trends. Operate a retail shop. Some sites offer customers the opportunity to collect information, view pricing and shop online. Extend your customer-service department….

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SPORTS: Byproducts abundant at basketball’s big event

Our big basketball week is upon us. With it, I have some hopes. For starters, I hope we don’t take the event and all that comes with it for granted. The NCAA’s Men’s Final Four is one of the few moveable mega-feasts in sports. That local visionaries dreamed big dreams and put in place the venues, forged the relationships, and formed the partnerships to make Indianapolis the only city to be part of the Final Four’s permanent rotation is an…

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Master planner: Veteran event organizer Smith helps city land major events

Maribeth Smith never talks about herself. Despite engineering some of the biggest events in the city’s history-everything from Final Fours to the Jazz Fest to last year’s meeting of the American Association of Museums-she’s loathe to use the word “I.” She prefers “we.” As in “we” the city. Or “we” Maribeth Smith & Associates, her 14-year-old event planning firm. But as reticent as the 62-yearold Smith might be to take credit for her accomplishments, convention organizers and city officials say…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Short but historic session produces election plot lines

You can go home now (unless you live in Perry Township) and rest somewhat assured that the governor and state lawmakers won’t do anything untoward to you until, at the soonest, November. Yes, the 2006 short session of the Indiana General Assembly has run its course, and left the state with some key policy and economic legacies. Not the least of them, as we have discussed at length in this column, and has been covered elsewhere in these pages, are…

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New Rose-Hulman chief a contrast to predecessor: Arizona academic takes reins after Midgley ouster

If higher education were a business, graduates would be its core product. Economic development would be a promising second line. New Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology President Gerald Jakubowski wants to make sure he’s delivering exactly what the market demands. “At Rose-Hulman, we need to make sure we’re meeting the needs of business and industry,” Jakubowski said. “For a seamless transition into the work force, students must learn by doing.” Jakubowski, 56, could be describing his own path to the president’s…

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Art Institute students face changing world of design: Businesses should keep interior designers in demand

Facing an expanding world of corporate rebranding, homier hospital rooms and high-tech theaters in every suburb, students entering the field of interior design know they’ll be doing more than redecorating high-end homes. What once was considered predominantly a luxury service for wealthy homeowners wanting to expand their drawing rooms, interior design became a necessity in business years ago. Today, a majority of interior designers handle both residential and commercial work. And a growing number of firms that specialize in commercial…

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Ad firm’s new HQ shows imagination: Former school gets makeover for Young & Laramore

The Indianapolis-based advertising firm’s former building, at 409 Massachusetts Ave., featured an interior atrium, open work spaces and a large fish sculpture in the window that caught the eye of passersby on the busy commercial corridor. For its new building, a former school tucked into Lockerbie Square a few blocks away, the firm had to decide how to creatively use a choppedup floor plan, complete with a gymnasium in the middle. Young & Laramore enlisted Eric Rowland and Sarah Schwarzkopf…

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