Local radio icons Big John Gillis and Jeff Pibeon will be broadcasting live this year from the Indiana State Fair. But
you won’t find their show on any radio station. Gillis and Pigeon have been hired by locally based Compton Strategies to create
audio-only, Internet-based shows for area events, companies and entertainment venues.
A housing crunch resulting from a flood of foreclosures has cast the spotlight on the deceptive practices that cause borrowers-particularly those with weak credit-to unknowingly pay more than necessary for a mortgage. The Federal Reserve earlier this month unanimously approved new lending rules in an attempt to tighten standards and prevent another such crisis. The changes will apply to all mortgage lenders and take effect Oct. 1, 2009. In the subprime category, a lender will have to assess a borrower’s…
Depending upon when IBJ lands in your hands, the 15th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be either coming to or going from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So let’s talk racin’. Let me begin by saying how pleased I am that Tony George took that giant leap in 1994 and welcomed NASCAR to the hallowed openwheel grounds of IMS. By most accounts, the Brickyard 400 instantly became the second-most-coveted prize on the NASCAR circuit and it has remained in that…
Tim Russert died last month at age 58. He was Washington bureau chief for NBC and the moderator of “Meet the Press.” His physician, Michael Newman, described the cause of death as coronary thrombosis-sudden cardiac arrest. Russert’s untimely death was possibly preventable. We can learn something here that may save lives at our businesses. Russert had been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease that he controlled with medication and exercise. According to Newman, his stress test in April was normal….
A few months ago, after considerable cajoling, my friend Erik convinced me to join yet another online social network. This one’s called Smaller Indiana. It bills itself as “making people and ideas findable.” So now, in addition to being “LinkedIn” with a few hundred of my friends and colleagues past and present, and in addition to being what BusinessWeek calls a “fogey on Facebook,” I’m also a Smoosier-the moniker for Smaller Indiana members. No sooner had I become a Smoosier…
It was a scary scene, reminiscent of the Great Depression: Customers lined up outside California’s IndyMac Bank branches to withdraw deposits after a bank run led to the bank’s failure. The images have driven some central Indiana customers-businesses and individuals-to take a more critical look at the strength of their banks and the safety of their deposits. Even as financial stocks rallied in mid-July, the risk remains for more bank failures. Dismal earnings reports and massive write-downs continued in recent…
This has been a dizzy stock market, maybe even ill, but it isn’t terminal. Learning how to manage one’s own emotions while investing is an important part of success. And, the most crucial factor is practicing realism over optimism, instead of the reverse. Hope is helpful in most areas of life because it gives us optimism and a reason to live, but in the investment arena, it can quickly drive our portfolio into negative territory. Our desire for excessive investment…
Arming patients with portable electronic medical records that physicians can access during emergencies is becoming more prevalent among health care providers. The Heart Center of Indiana in Carmel, a partnership between St. Vincent Health and The Care Group Inc., the state’s largest cardiology group, recently started the practice. Community Health Network and Dr. Tim Story, who chairs the largest group of physicians at Clarian North Medical Center, are among others who have rolled out portable records systems. The health information…
Of this, that and the other: Timing, as they say, is everything. The University of Notre Dame lost its athletic director, Kevin White, to Duke University on June 1 and has been actively engaged in identifying his successor. A couple of weeks later, Indiana University announced its athletic director, Rick Greenspan, would resign but serve in lameduck status until the end of the year. Somewhere in the middle of those circumstances was Indianapolis attorney Jack Swarbrick, a Bloomington native but…
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….
On July 4, my college-aged sons came to visit. We grabbed a late lunch, talked for a while, and sat down in the family room to await the big party in the neighborhood courtyard. Austin and Zach got out their laptops and started browsing. I turned on the TV and started surfing. I landed on HBO’s production of “John Adams.” As we watched, the Continental Congress was in session in 1775 and 1776. The delegates-during and between meetings-were arguing various…
With supreme overconfidence garnered as a result of the Finish Line investment return discussed in my March 24 column, I instructed my retirement plan to purchase shares of Steak n Shake at $6 and change. Steak n Shake owns and operates full-service restaurants with counter and dining room seating. It also has drive-through and carryout service. I have enjoyed Steak n Shake for years, particularly the double steak burger platter and genuine chili. The place is always clean, the food…
Fast-growing Fishers has the kind of assets economic developers dream about-strong schools, affordable housing and median family income of $81,971. Now the town wants to build on that foundation by adding a high-tech business park to its list of amenities. “Businesses are looking to come to a site where they can find employees with the requisite level of education and the ability to get additional education close by. Education is the key,” said Fishers Town Council President Scott Faultless. “We…
Appliance retailer HHGregg is facing allegations that it improperly installed dryer vents in potentially thousands of consumers’ homes, despite warnings that such vents could cause fires or other safety hazards. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court claims the Indianapolis-based retailer installed plastic or foil “slinky” vents, even though many dryer manufacturers specifically call for heavy metal ducts to be used. The suit asks that HHGregg replace the improper vents and pay an unspecified amount in fees and damages. “Our…
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.
This week, China art at the Indianapolis Art Center. And a famous scroll finds itself in remarkable company at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Anyone who has set foot into the Indianapolis Art Center has bumped into the name Fehsenfeld. It is, after all, half the moniker of the center’s Churchman-Fehsenfeld Gallery. And so I think some skepticism was to be expected when I heard that one of the two artistic worlds showcased in the Indianapolis Art Center’s “Two Worlds,…
On June 19, The New York Times business section led with an article titled, “Regional Banks are Rocked.” The accompanying graphic indicated that National City Bank lost 86 percent of its market value since the beginning of this year. No wonder. The news has not been good. On June 10, Peter Raskind, chairman and CEO of National City, acknowledged publicly that on Feb. 5, the bank had been placed under a memorandum of understanding by the comptroller of the currency….
A federal court this month gave a thumbs-down to a lawsuit filed by Angie’s List claiming that AT&T Yellow Pages violated
trademark laws by publishing ads containing the Angie’s List logo of a servicewoman giving a “thumbs-up.” But on June 25–two
weeks after the court dismissed the suit saying its legal arguments were “meager” and “insubstantial”–the publisher of online
and print business directories filed an amended case against AT&T in U.S. District Court.
Local advertising powerhouse Young & Laramore signed a new contract with Steak n Shake, one of its flagship clients, just
two weeks ago, but ad industry observers can’t help but wonder if the 18-year-old relationship is about to run its course.
Before the ink on the contract was dry, the struggling hamburger chain had a new board chairman who is likely to shuffle Steak
n Shake’s executive suite and take the company in a new direction.
Joe Ruffolo learned a great deal over 35 years as an executive at PepsiCo., Squibb Corp., Reynolds Aluminum and North American Van Lines. Now running his own investment banking company, Fort Wayne-based Ruffolo Benson LLC, Ruffolo also holds seats on a halfdozen company boards. Executive compensation experts say that’s too much on one plate. Ruffolo is one of a handful of Hoosiers who serve as independent board directors of more than one Indiana-based public company. Experts say it’s an increasingly…
