The IBJ Podcast

Jeff Simmons on Elanco’s global HQ and creating a magnet for talent, innovation

Elanco Animal Health on March 12 broke ground on its $100 million headquarters campus on the former GM stamping plant site just west of downtown Indianapolis.

CEO Jeff Simmons explains why the project is far more than simply an office building. He tells host Mason King that the goal is to create what the company calls "a post-COVID workplace destination" that attracts talent to the city and the company and gives workers more flexibility and engagement.

And Simmons is aiming to make the campus an epicenter for animal research and innovation, while connecting the neighborhood to downtown.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

Lebanon’s millennial mayor navigates path between charm, change as state seeks land

Matt Gentry was just 26 when he was elected mayor of Lebanon in 2015, after running a campaign in which he argued it was time for the Boone County city to embrace change, attract jobs and revitalize its downtown.

Since then, Lebanon has become one of the fastest growing communities in the state—both in terms of population and commercial development. And now, the state is negotiating to buy as many as 7,000 acres of land just outside Lebanon for what could be a high-tech business park.

Gentry talks with podcast host Mason King about his approach to growth, why he's excited about the state's efforts and how he's trying to ensure Lebanon retains its character while embracing change.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

The story behind Andrea Bocelli’s big gig with ISO in Indy

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra announced last week that Andrea Bocelli, the operatic star who has sold more than 90 million albums worldwide, will perform Dec. 7 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse along with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

In this week's episode of the podcast, IBJ arts reporter Dave Lindquist talks with James Johnson, the CEO of the orchestra, about how the show came to be and what will make it special for the ISO and the city. 

Plus, they dive into what’s upcoming for the orchestra, how the hunt for a new music director is going and how the symphony is working to diversify its organization as well as the works its performs.

Dave is filling in for host Mason King, who is on vacation and will return next week.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Pete the Planner goes car shopping during an auto-industry shortage

Anyone who has driven past a car lot knows that dealers have virtually no inventory. So what do you do if you need a car?

IBJ personal finance column Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn found himself in just that predicament recently. And he tells host Mason King that shopping for a car was like nothing he's experienced before.

Buyers have no negotiating power. Zilch, he says. And that's because there are as many buyers on a lot looking for a vehicle as there are cars. In fact, dealers are pre-selling the cars they're expecting to receive.

The upshot, Dunn says, is to try to avoid buying or leasing a car right now. But if you have little choice, you might want to listen to this conversation before you head out to the lot.

For more, read Dunn's latest IBJ column:

Pete the Planner: Time bigger purchases (if and when you can)

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

Children’s Museum CEO talks dinosaurs, COVID and the price of admission

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis has just reopened its Dinosphere exhibit after a year of renovations that added two huge long-necked sauropods and a new prehistoric marine area—all based on bones found in a museum-owned dig site.

CEO Jennifer Pace Robinson, who took on the museum's top job about a year ago, talks with Mason King about the importance of the exhibit, the logistics of hanging all those bones, and what makes the experience different than visitors might find at other museums.

Plus, King quizzes Robinson about what's ahead for the museum, what it plans to do with the historic Drake building that it owns and why it costs so much to buy a family membership.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Group recruits IU athletes to help not-for-profits via NIL deals

Hoosiers For Good Inc., the brainchild in part of Cook Medical Group President Pete Yonkman, is a new organization that is looking to pay Indiana University athletes to represent and promote Indiana not-for-profit organizations.

Just a year ago, such an arrangement would not have been possible. But last summer—under pressure advocates for student-athletes as well as  states legislatures and Congress—the Indianapolis-based NCAA approved new rules that let student-athletes be paid for endorsements, autographs and more.

In most cases, companies will pay athletes for the right to use their name, image or likeness—referred to as NIL—to sell shoes or endorse other products. In many cases, that will involve athletes using their social media accounts to align with brand.

But the organizers of Hoosiers for Good thought the new rules could also be used to pay athletes to endorse causes or charities. So the group has well more than $1 million, according to Yonkman, and will use that to connect athletes with not-for-profit groups they believe in. The goal is to benefit the not-for-profit but also to help student-athletes become community leaders. 

Host Mason King talks with Yonkman and the group's executive director, Tyler Harris, about the mission.

To learn more, read IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey's story about Hoosiers for Good.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

These women wanted a mid-life career change—and bought franchises

Buying a franchise is one way to become an entrepreneur—and it can be an effective way. You’re starting with an established brand, some built-in marketing and, hopefully, a solid business plan provided by your franchisor.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Just ask Lori Meyer, owner and operator of Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh in Zionsville, and Melinda Rowan, owner and operator of The Human Bean at 5405 N. Keystone Ave.

On this week’s IBJ Podcast, the new business owners detail just how much money and time they spent launching their stores in the middle of a pandemic. And they tell host Mason King about the biggest hurdles (think rising labor costs and supply chain troubles) and why they don’t regret their mid-life career changes.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Why the Irsays are spending millions on ’Kicking the Stigma’ effort

In 2020, Colts owners Jim Irsay and daughters Kalen Jackson, Carlie Irsay-Gordon and Casey Foyt launched the "Kicking the Stigma" campaign to boost awareness about mental illness and raise money to help not-for-profits expand addiction and mental health treatment.

Since then, the effort has committed more than $16 million to local and national organizations—and most of that was donated directly by the Irsay family. The Irsays have created and paid to broadcast several national public service announcements, many featuring prominent celebrities and athletes, including Snoop Dogg, Rob Lowe, Mike Epps, Carson Daily and Peyton Manning.

More than a dozen organizations have received game-changing grants, and the Irsays recently donated $3 million to Indiana University to create a research institute to study mental health issues.

Jackson is a vice chair in the Colts organization, overseeing operations and community relations, including the club's philanthropic efforts. That includes overseeing the Kicking the Stigma campaign.

She talked with host Mason King about why the family decided to focus on mental health, what they've learned about the problem along the way and how they got so many celebrities to participate.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

 

Groundbreaking history of African Americans in Indianapolis debuts

Entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker. International sports star Marshall “Major” Taylor. The Indiana Avenue commercial and entertainment district. Crispus Attucks High School. The foundations and luminaries of Black history in Indianapolis have received due attention in recent decades and have been the subjects of books and documentaries. But there hasn’t been an authoritative history of African Americans in Indianapolis—featuring the highlights as well as the crushing obstacles thrown in the path of the Black community—until this month.

Historian David Leander Williams has built on his previous works documenting the city’s jazz and rhythm-and-blues legacies with “African Americans in Indianapolis: The Story of a People Determined to Be Free,” published by Indiana University Press. It covers the 150-year period between 1820 and 1970—from the establishment of the Black community on the banks of the White River after a ruinous flood and malaria epidemic to the destruction of Black neighborhoods due to the construction of Interstate-65 through downtown and the expansion of IUPUI.

In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Williams discusses his personal connections to some of the key figures and places in the Black community, including jazz legend Wes Montgomery, the Bethel AME Church and Crispus Attucks High School. He also explains the clever ways he was able to reconstruct Black life in the city’s first decades, when record keeping was rare. And he pinpoints the ways the Black community has been set back economically, including the loss of thousands upon thousands of jobs in the city’s manufacturing sector that once served as passports to the middle class.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Stephen Goldsmith talks Circle Centre revamp, equity in workforce development

Stephen Goldsmith is the Indianapolis mayor who pushed Circle Centre Mall into reality some 27 years ago. But he's not surprised the mall needs some reimagining—something its owners are now undertaking.

In fact, Goldsmith—who is now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School—says he's surprised the mall remained as successful as it did for long. That's because the project was less about creating a retail space, he says, and more about spurring downtown revitalization. 

Host Mason King talks with Goldsmith about how the city and the mall owners should think about what's next. And they talk about Goldsmith's new book, "Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development," which includes some examples from Indianapolis.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.