Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly - Aug. 9, 2013

Business Weekly GREATER

FORT WAYNE

AUGUST 9-15, 2013

Daily updates at www.fwbusiness.com

LOCAL NEWS

Report faults VA Campus had suspended services

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Edgy ads cut through clutter Consumers less worried about what may have once been deemed offensive

Smit-T’s owner Dakota Smith, modeling a T-shirt specifically made for this story, said his company’s daring messaging in a radio commercial brought more business to the Auburn store.

RICK FARRANT

LINDA LIPP

A new building at the Heritage of Fort Wayne will serve multiple purposes. It’s expected to be completed next year.

Taking shape

BY RICK FARRANT rfarrant@kpcmedia.com

The play-on-words commercials were hard to ignore.

One touting a T-shirt company in Auburn used the phrase “oh, smit,” and contextually it sounded distinctly like, well, something else.

Two other commercials promoting a national retailer alternately used the phrases “ship my pants” and “big gas savings,” and “ship” didn’t sound like a mailing and “big gas” clearly intimated a bulbous body part.

For years, sex and sensuality have been used in advertising to draw attention to products and companies. The new entries — which could be construed as sophomoric or savvy or both — represent an elevated edginess that some observers suggest illustrates an expanding tolerance of what’s acceptable among listeners and viewers.

For Smit-T’s in Auburn and Kmart, there likely was only one desired effect and at least one of the companies said the commercials achieved that: increased business.

“It got a really good response,” said Dakota Smith, owner of Smit-T’s. “I didn’t have anyone saying anything bad about it. People

Viewed from the height of Interstate 469, the new life center complex under construction at the Heritage of Fort Wayne seems impressive.

From street level, off St. Joe Road, the new building that will house independent and assisted-living apartments, a nursing home, rehab center and memory-care units, is enormous.

The living center is part of a development by the nonprofit United Methodist Memorial Homes, which also operates the Heritage of Huntington and Heritage Pointe in Warren.

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Living center will expand residential options at Heritage

BY LINDA LIPP llipp@kpcmedia.com

See EDGY on PAGE 22

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INSIDE

Vol. 9 Issue 32

Local news .................... 3-7 BizView .............................. 8 Real estate........................ 9 Personal Business ... 10-11 Education ................... 12-14 Top List............................ 17 BizLeads..................... 18-21

See HERITAGE on PAGE 23

PERSONAL BUSINESS

EDUCATION

Leading the choir

Under review

Background, teamwork allowed Beights to expand programs

Legislators to take another look at ‘A-F’ school grades

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fwbusiness.com

August 9-15, 2013

Vera Bradley hasn’t met job numbers promised for previous tax abatements

BY LINDA LIPP llipp@kpcmedia.com

I V Y T E C H C O R P O R AT E C O L L E G E NOW OFFERING COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE TRAINING

Vera Bradley Inc.’s request for a tax abatement for its proposed investment of more than $26 million to expand two buildings on its campus southwest of Fort Wayne could come under additional scrutiny from the Allen County Council.

“There definitely will be questions asked when they come before us,” Council President Darren Vogt said Aug. 7.

The handbag and accessories manufacturer has three other county abatements on the books but has fallen far short of the number of jobs it promised to create in conjunction with those projects.

According to the most recent abatement compliance forms the company filed with Allen County, it created just 17 percent of the promised jobs on one abatement, 66 percent on the second and 43 percent on the third.

Together, the 149,000-square-foot expansion of its design center and the 10,000-square-foot addition to its distribution center Vera Bradley announced Aug. 2 are projected to create 128 jobs over the

next four years. The requested tax abatement — or tax phase-in, as the county now terms it — would save Vera Bradley an estimated $2 million in property-tax payments.

The Fort Wayne City Council has adopted a tougher stand toward tax-abatement compliance, voting in July to rescind abatements on 11 projects that had not produced the promised results. Vogt said he didn’t think the County Council would be likely to follow suit, in part because he said county projects have had a better record of compliance.

“I think ours did a pretty good job of living up to expectations,” Vogt said.

At the end of the day, he added, the tax break a company gets is based on the increase in assessed valuation a project creates, not the amount of the investment itself. Like investing $2,000 to put a new engine in an old car, the value of the car isn’t increased by the amount spent, Vogt explained.

Vera Bradley’s expansion is slated to be completed late next year. About $10 million of the project’s cost will be in the compan

See VERA on PAGE 7

Ivy Tech Corporate College continues to do what it does best— responding to the needs of our northeast Indiana economy. We are now offering commercial driver’s license, or CDL, training. This is in response to a need in our region’s logistics companies to train skilled drivers.

Chicago O’Hare. 3.5-hour drive.

Indianapolis International. 2.5-hour drive.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a need for 21 percent more drivers from 2010 to 2020—that’s more than 330,000 employees!

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Fort Wayne International. Drive our economy.

Training consists of classroom time, hands-on driving time, and pre-trip inspection and lab work

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Classes are eight-weeks in length and are located at SIRVA’s Fort Wayne office, 5001 U.S. Highway 30 West

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Program cost: $3,995 (covers instruction, materials, Department of Transportation physical, application for learner’s permit and license, and first attempt at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles skills test) Flying out of Chicago or Indy means a tiring drive, For more information or to register, call (260) 480-4118.

congested parking and long lines. That’s hard. Fly conveniently out of Fort Wayne. It’s the easy way out.

FWA. Taking our economy to a whole new altitude.

IvyTech.edu/CorporateCollege

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GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

fwbusiness.com

Report raises concerns about VA campus’ services Officials had called for suspension to address issues

BY RICK FARRANT rfarrant@kpcmedia.com

Officials at the VA Northern Indiana Healthcare System Fort Wayne campus were already working on addressing issues raised in a recently released Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general’s report, a spokeswoman said.

The report, released Aug. 2, was sought last November by Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., in the wake of a self-imposed suspension of some inpatient services to review processes and provide training for staff.

All of those services have since been reopened with the exception of the four-bed intensive-care unit, which drew significant

attention in the inspector general’s report.

Among the key findings of the report: • Prior to the suspension, the facility failed to consistently engage sound clinical judgment and deliver quality care.

• Crucial clinical positions at the facility were vacant.

• The competency assessment process for nurses was inconsistent.

• The intensive-care unit was categorized as a Level 3 unit but was operated as a less-comprehensive Level 4, if that.

Donnelly and Stutzman were sharply critical of the pre-suspension conditions at the facility, calling them “unacceptable” and “inexcusable.” n

THE PATH TO THE PGA TOUR COMES THROUGH FORT WAYNE August 26 – September 1 at Sycamore Hills Golf Club.

BUBBA WATSON 20 05

MATT KUCHAR 20 06

WEBB SIMPSON 20 08

KEEGAN BRADLEY 2010

These notable PGA TOUR professionals pictured got their start on the Web.com Tour. The Hotel Fitness Championship, a Web.com Tour Finals event, will feature the next generation of golf stars competing on the path to the PGA TOUR. Witness players from the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR veterans as they battle for 50 PGA TOUR cards for the 2013-14 season. That makes the inaugural Hotel Fitness Championship an unprecedented opportunity to experience championship golf at its best right here in Fort Wayne.

See VA on PAGE 7

Visit HotelFitnessChampionship.com to get your tickets today!

CONTRIBUTED ILLUSTRATION

KPC Media Group launches community news website KPC Media Group Inc. on Aug. 5 launched a new website to deliver arts, entertainment and community news to its audience in the greater Fort Wayne area.

INFortWayne.com features story-driven new and traditional media with content from the Times Community Publications and Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, which are owned and published by KPC Media Group.

INFortWayne editor Ryan Schnurr, who earned degrees in communication studies and film from Huntington University, brings a unique perspective to community news coverage. His intimate, documentary-style videography and photography will spot-

light more obscure stories from within the community.

“I am interested in the smaller, everyday stories,” Schnurr said. “There’s definitely value in covering the major stories, and there are people doing that very well. But there’s also value in the smaller stories, the daily life stories. We’re making a point to introduce you to people, places and events you might not otherwise come in contact with in an effort to help demystify those narratives.”

Each week, Schnurr will release new videos and photo galleries featuring topics n

See WEBSITE on PAGE 7

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Retail adds jobs; economist calls numbers ‘lackluster’

Rent-a-book Why buy when you can rent?

The National Association of College Stores said nearly all of its 3,000 college bookstore members now offer students the chance to rent textbooks rather than buy them. Students spend an average of about $662 on course materials each year, and print rental programs allow students to save 45 percent to 66 percent on textbooks.

Across the country, rentals saved students a total of about $450 million during the last school year, the associa-

August 9-15, 2013

tion said.

Surprisingly, 77 percent of students continue to prefer the print version of a textbook over the digital. Renting a printed book also is often less expensive than the digital format, the association noted.

MOVE-IN CALL FOR DETAILS

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t 1 bdr from $512 t 2 bdr from $565 t 3 bdr from $686 PGA executive golf course

(260)-247-7606 *on Select Apartment Homes 2316 Abbey Drive, Fort Wayne

Managed by: OP Property Management, LLC

We are pleased to welcome

Chad A. Glassburn, CCIM

Reporter’s

NOTEBOOK

Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It was the sector’s strongest month of job growth since November, with increases coming in particular in the general-merchandise, food and beverage and building and garden supply store Linda Lipp categories.

“Contrary to the record increases on Wall Street, employment continues to be a lagging indicator of the recovering economy,” said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist for the National Retail Federation. “Despite the underwhelming and discouraging job gains in July, NRF expects the economy to pick up in the third and fourth quarters. The employment trend is positive yet lackluster.”

REAL ESTATE & RETAIL

COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL PERMITS EXPERIENCE GROWTH

as the newest member of our commercial real estate team. Chad carries over 13 years of experience in commercial real estate ownership and sales. A graduate of Indiana University, Chad specializes in investment properties, focusing on multi-housing and senior care investments.

Chad Glassburn, CCIM Call Chad for all your commercial real estate needs.

Retailers n accounted for 46,800 of the 162,000 new jobs created in the U.S. in July, according to figures from the

Sales Associate cglassburn@naihd.com

The value of construction permits issued in Allen County through the end of July was up $73.3 million, or 24.3 percent, from the first seven months of 2012.

The year-to-date increase was driven by a $22-million, or 17.5-percent, increase in the value of residential building permits issued; and a $51.3-million, or 29.3-percent, increase in the value of commercial permits, according to data provided by the Allen County Building Department.

DIRIG SHEET METAL

www.naihd.com

Local Experts. Global Resources.

Dirig Sheet Metal was awarded a contract to install heating, ventilation and air-conditioning ductwork for Indiana Tech’s new, 63,000-square-foot academic center. The project is expected to be completed in August 2014.

BND COMMERCIAL Karl Behrens represented the tenant, Shambaugh & Son LP, in the lease of

100,000 square feet of space at 2219

Contractors Way from Seigle Fort Wayne Investments LLC, which was represented

by Steven Zacher and John Adams of Zacher Co./CORFAC International.

Shambaugh also is leasing 75,000 square feet of a storage building from Seigle and will sublease 30,000 square feet of space to Ferguson Enterprises, a longtime tenant.

Ron Conrad Jr. represented the tenant, Rebekah Miller, doing business as Polished by Bekah Miller, in the lease of 1,080 square feet of retail space at 901 Cardinal Court, Auburn, from Cenway.

Brian Fleming represented the buyer, MidWest America Federal Credit Union, in the purchase of a 3,160-square-foot office building at 1220 Medical Park Drive.

Dave Stemen represented the seller, Curry Group LLC. Behrens, David Dumas and Roger Koehlinger represented the landlord, RMD Resources LLC, in the lease of 42,250 square feet of space at 2704 Goshen Road to Home Acres Building Supply Co. LLC. Phil Knapke and Steve Wesner represented the seller, MKB Products LLC, in the sale of the 35,000-square-foot building at 4532 E. Park 30 Drive, Columbia City.

The buyer, Breyden Products Inc., was represented by Knapke.

David Norton represented both the seller, NSS Properties LLC, and the buyer, Fort Wayne Habitat for Humanity Inc., in the purchase of 40 acres of land at 4308 W. Cook Road.

ZACHER CO./ CORFAC INTERNATIONAL Alfred Zacher represented the landlord, GAA Investments LLC, in the renewal of a

lease of restaurant space at 1050 E. Coliseum Blvd. to Ruby Tuesday.

Dan Reese represented Innerpack Inc. in the purchase of a 17,254-square-foot industrial building at 1430 Dividend Road from Mike Sorg SRA. John Adams represented the tenant, the city of Auburn Electric Department, Fiber Division, and Adams and Steven Zacher represented the landlord, Signature Products, in the lease of an 8,000-square-foot warehouse space in the industrial building at 1000 Auburn Drive, Auburn.

Adams represented the seller, EMG Properties LLC, in the sale of a 22,900-squarefoot industrial building at 205 E. Collins Road to PBK Properties LLC. Fletcher Moppert and Steven Zacher n

See REAL ESTATE on PAGE 7

August 9-15, 2013

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City employee pens romance Study to look at bringing e-book set in Fort Wayne back translation services Karen

Morris

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Reporter’s never intended to write a book, NOTEBOOK much less get one published.

But in the summer of 2010, the Fort Wayne mother of two found herself sidelined with a broken ďŹ nger from playing ball with her sons and looking for something to occupy her down time. “I’m sitting there with a cast on my hand and Rick Farrant I thought, ‘What am I supposed to do with myself?’ I found that I loved writing.â€?

The result of her writing is her ďŹ rst novel, a romantic suspense e-book titled “Armed With Steeleâ€? that was published

by Lyrical Press and ofďŹ cially released Aug. 5.

The novel, which features a barechested man on the cover, is set in Fort Wayne and, according to Morris, is tasteful when it comes to scenes of intimacy. “There’s some romance in there,â€? she said. “But it’s not agrant. It’s not ‘50 Shades of Grey.’â€?

She didn’t mention the salty language, which was evident during a cursory review of the manuscript.

Writing books, especially in the romance genre, doesn’t seem to coincide with Morris’ decidedly technical occupation. She is program manager in the city of Fort Wayne’s water pollution control maintenance department.

But there are apparently two shades to Morris. “I can do the technical stuff,� she said, “but you go cross-eyed every once in a while. So you know how people are leftbrained or right-brained? Well, I think I’m just stuck in the middle.�

MEDIA & MARKETING

GREATER FORT WAYNE

Business Weekly (USPS 024-494) Periodicals postage paid at Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Morris, 38, is now at work on more novels, presumably under the pen name she used for the ďŹ rst one: Kyra Jacobs.

She decided to use a pen name to achieve some anonymity, which, she acknowledged mid-interview, “is totally out the window now. My thinking was: If the book tanks, I can walk away and everybody will forget about it.�

WFFT HIRES SPORTS ANCHOR Aguayo , most recently sports anchor/reporter at WABG-TV in Greenville, Miss., has joined WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne as weekend sports anchor.

She replaces Courtney King, who departed for WITI-TV in Milwaukee.

Aguayo is a native of Elizabeth, Colo., and served two internships while in college, including one at KUSA-TV in Denver.

Christina

weekend

NEXSTAR HAS RECORD REVENUE Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc., parent company of WFFT-TV, reported record revenue for the second quarter, but a drop in net income.

Nexstar had net revenue of $126.2 million for the three-month period ending June 30 compared to $88.9 million for the same period a year ago — an increase of 42 percent. But net income slipped 27 percent from $8.8 million in the second quarter of 2012, or 29 cents per diluted share, to $6.4 million for the same period this year, or 20 cents per diluted share.

Perry Sook, chairman, president and CEO of Nexstar, attributed the income decline to one-time legal, accounting, professional and other expenses associated with acquisitions and other growth strategies.

BY LINDA LIPP llipp@kpcmedia.com

Starting over in a new community is difďŹ cult. Starting over when all the paperwork that documents your birth, education, marital status and work experience is in another language is a special challenge.

For years, many new immigrants to the Fort Wayne area turned to the Multicultural Information Exchange, a program of the Northeast Indiana Chapter of the Red Cross that provided translations of 48 different languages into English.

Though highly regarded in the community, the program fell victim to budget cuts imposed on the local chapter and folded at the end of 2012, leaving a void that has not been ďŹ lled. “How can you really begin a new life here when you need your documents translated and you don’t have the money to pay for it?â€? asked Max Montesino, associate professor in organizational leadership and supervision at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and president of the Hispanic Leadership Coalition. “You can’t even get a driver’s license.â€?

Some other social-services agencies have stepped in to provide translation services for new residents — as well as those already in the area — but they have only been able to pick up a little bit of the slack. “There is a need that is not being met by anybody else ‌ Probably 95 percent has been left hanging,â€? Montesino said.

There are private translators in the community providing the service, sometimes at exorbitant fees. But outside the court system, there are few standards or qualiďŹ cations for translators, so the quality of the work might be suspect, noted professional translator William

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 3306 Independence Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Published weekly every Friday, the annual subscription rate is $49.

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See STUDY on PAGE 6

EAST ALLEN COUNTY

LAND AUCTION

If you have items of interest for the media and marketing column, please contact Rick Farrant at rfarrant@kpcmedia.com, (260) 426-2640, ext. 308, or at Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, 3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808.

3306 Independence Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46808 (260) 426-2640 Fax: (260) 426-2503 www.fwbusiness.com

Klemme.

Through its staff members and roster of more than 100 volunteers, MIX provided a one-stop shop for those needing translation services. The translators had been vetted on their language skills, so the MIX stamp on a document meant the quality of the translation provided was assured. “They were reliable service, a quality service, they had developed a great program,� Montesino said.

Steve Hoffman, president and CEO of Community Action of Northeast Indiana, learned about the impending demise of the MIX program last November, as did many others in the community. There was a urry of activity as the Red Cross and other agencies scrambled to ďŹ nd a new host and funding source that would preserve the program, “but it was kind of late in the game at that point,â€? Hoffman said.

CANI subsequently obtained funding from the Foellinger Foundation and United Way of Allen County to help ďŹ nance a study of the need in the community for translation services and develop a plan to meet them. It hired a consulting ďŹ rm, True North, which is surveying area agencies and conducting focus groups and is expected to have a report completed by the end of this year.

Among the questions the study will address, Hoffman said, are: What is the need? Where will the program live? How will it be structured? And perhaps most critically, how will it be funded?

MIX, for example, did not charge individuals with limited English for translation and interpretation services. Some agencies paid fairly small fees while other partners, such as Fort Wayne Community

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BRIEFLY

A LL E N C O U N T Y

FORT WAYNE CHOOSES FIRM FOR RIVERFRONT STUDY SWA Group was selected by Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry to head a $500,000 downtown riverfront development study that could lead to new projects along the city’s rivers.

The study is funded through Legacy Fort Wayne, which was established when the city sold its former electric utility to Indiana Michigan Power for $75 million.

SWA Group is headquartered in Sausalito, Calif., and provides landscape-architecture, planning and urban-design services.

In a statement, the city said the study will begin in September and take a year to 18 months to complete. The study is expected to consider: land use; engi-

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neering and infrastructure investments; watershed issues; trail connectivity; river access; urban design guidelines; retail; entertainment; and housing.

SWA Group will receive assistance for the study from MKM Architecture + Design in Fort Wayne, as well as: Baltimore-based Biohabitats Inc.; Long Beach, Calif.-based Moffatt & Nichol; and AMEC, which is headquartered in London and has an office in Indianapolis.

“The riverfront provides a valuable opportunity to position ourselves for future growth and success,” Henry said in the statement. “We look forward to working with SWA and learning from them on ways to make downtown riverfront development a sustainable reality for our community. The positive momentum we continue to see in our city is a tremendous indicator that we’re ready for transformational change.”

STUDY: Need to find secure source of funding

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Schools, paid nothing.

Both Montesino and Hoffman believe there is still a need to offer at least some people translation services for free, or could accept the use of a sliding scale based on an individual’s or agency’s ability to pay, but Hoffman added a caveat.

“I think when it’s needed, clients will find a way to pay for the translations, but we have to think about what else in their lives is falling apart because they’re spending money on that translation,” he said.

Because their numbers in the community are greater, Latino and Burmese residents probably have more options for translation services, Montesino acknowledged. “But what about the people from Chad? What about the people from Kosovo? There is a need there, too,” he said.

So efficiency is another issue to be addressed: Will the service be divided among different entities, with translations for different languages perhaps offered by different providers?

“It might make more sense to have it all together,” Hoffman said.

Montesino and several others who attended an Aug. 1 meeting of the Hispanic Social Services Network agreed there is no need to reinvent a structure for a new community translation service. They think the model MIX developed will do just fine. It just needs a new home and a more secure source of funding.

“Every single time we had a need, MIX was there,” Montesino said. “We need a program with the same strength as the MIX, but with less vulnerability (to funding cuts) … I am absolutely committed to helping what ever arrangment comes out of this.”

August 9-15, 2013

Medical Protective reaches centennial with Protector Medical Protective has reached

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Reporter’s

the centennial mark NOTEBOOK with the Protector, its risk-management journal for the health-care industry.

An announcement on the publication’s 100-year anniversary said Fort Wayne-based Medical Protective has been providing health-care malpractice insurance for more than 110 years and is the nation’s Doug LeDuc highest-rated as well as oldest company in that business.

“While healthcare risk management and patient safety initiatives are relatively recent focus areas for some, MedPro has been committed to helping our healthcare providers reduce risks and improve outcomes for their patients for over a century,” Tim Kenesey, president and chief executive officer, said in the announcement.

The announcement said the Protector has evolved with the industry as it has undergone transformation through advances in medicine and medical research, technology and procedures.

The publication that was focused on shorter commentary 100 years ago eventually came to feature more robust articles and offer collateral risk-management tools and resources. Since 2011, medical professionals have been able to earn continuing-education credits through its offerings.

“Over the years, Protector has focused on prevalent and emerging risk issues and offered risk management expertise and insight, best practices, risk-reduction tools, proactive strategies, and valuable resources to help insureds improve patient safety and satisfaction and minimize liability risks,” Theresa Essick, clinical risk management vice president, said in the announcement.

“The mission is clear,” Dr. Graham Billingham, chief medical officer, said in the statement. “Investments that are made now in education, human factors engineering, patient safety, technology, and research will all serve to improve care and will pay great dividends in the years to come.

“Protector is designed to do just that — provide ‘lessons learned’ and actual cases

BANKING & FINANCE

to prevent errors before they happen.”

ANNUITY BUSINESS BOOSTS LINCOLN NATIONAL EARNINGS Strong performance from its Fort Wayne-based annuities business contributed to 10-percent growth in Lincoln National Corp.’s income from operations for the second quarter.

The Philadelphia-based insurance and financial-services company that does business under the Lincoln Financial Group brand reported second-quarter income from operations of $351 million, up from $319 million for the same period last year.

The company’s second-quarter earnings fell 1 percent to $317 million, or $1.15 per share, from $321 million, or $1.09 per share, for the prior-year quarter.

“We had an exceptionally good earnings quarter, and the level and mix of sales will help provide for future growth and further ROE development,” Dennis Glass, Lincoln’s president and chief executive officer, said in a report on the company’s financial performance for the period.

The annuities business segment reported second-quarter income from operations of $195 million, which was up 23 percent from $158 million for the year-ago quarter.

Income from life-insurance operations was flat at $135 million; income from retirement-plan services rose to $39 million from $38 million; income from group protection operations fell to $22 million from $27 million; and the loss from other operations increased to $40 million from $39 million.

‘SMART MONEY DAYS’ OFFER HOMEBUYER EDUCATION South Bend-based 1st Source Bank plans to hold a couple of real-estate-related financial education events later this month in Elkhart.

An announcement on the “Smart Money Day” events said the bank has scheduled them for 2-4 p.m. on Aug. 23 at its branch at 2020 E. Bristol St. and on Aug. 30 at its branch at 4594 Elkhart Road.

If you have items for the banking and finance column, please contact Doug LeDuc by e-mail at dleduc@kpcmedia.com, by phone at (260) 426-2640, ext. 309, or by mail at Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, 3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808.

August 9-15, 2013

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REAL ESTATE: Transactions completed

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VERA: Workers

Continued from PAGE 4

Expressway.

will be relocated

represented the landlord, Indiana Becknell Investors 2011 LLC, and Moppert represented the tenant, GTA Acquisition Inc., doing business as GTA Automation, in the renewal and expansion of a lease for 48,000 square feet of space at 4422 Airport

If you have items for the real estate and retail column, please contact Linda Lipp by e-mail at llipp@kpcmedia.com, by phone at (260) 426-2640, ext. 307, or by mail at Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, 3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808.

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WEBSITE: Will present stories creatively

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of local interest, beginning with “Phresh,” a look at Fort Wayne artist Theoplis Smith’s art brand Phresh Laundry.

“INFortWayne will explore our community with professionally produced multimedia that is unlike anything else being produced in the region,” said KPC Media Group digital media director Kelly Lynch.

“KPC has invested not only in quality media production, but also in local talent, making for an opportunity to showcase our region’s stories meaningfully and creatively.”

In cooperation with Times Community Publications editor Garth Snow, INFortWayne.com also will feature content from weekly neighborhood newspapers Aboite & About, the Dupont Valley Times, the St. Joe Times and the East Allen County Times. Business-focused content will come from Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly in cooperation with editor Barry Rochford. One of the area’s most comprehensive community calendars also can be found at INFortWayne.com, and users can submit their own event information via the “Events” tab.

“I am pleased KPC Media Group can bring such wonderful, insightful content

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to the greater Fort Wayne area,” said KPC Media Group COO Terry Ward. “In the last few months we added some very talented people to our team. They’re more than just journalists; they have a passion for storytelling. They’ve invested time, energy and creativity into this project for several months and I am confident Fort Wayne will be thrilled with the end results.”

KPC Media Group, with offices in Kendallville, Auburn, Angola and Fort Wayne, has been locally owned since its founding in 1911. It publishes three daily newspapers, The News Sun in Kendallville, The Star in Auburn and The Herald Republican in Angola, along with community newspapers in Garrett, Butler and Ligonier.

It also publishes the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, the Times Community Publications in Allen County, the Greater Fort Wayne Family magazine and the Smart Shopper, along with phone books and real estate guides in northeast Indiana. The company also has commercial printing and direct-mail divisions and offers expanded digital services.

Visit the website at INFortWayne.com, find it on Facebook or follow on Twitter @ INFortWayne.

VA: ICU decision won’t affect facility’s viability

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Neither congressman took into account any improvements that had been subsequently made.

Donnelly spokeswoman Elizabeth Shappell said later: “The scope of the OIG report was on what led to the pause, not what actions have been taken since. Sen. Donnelly was commenting on the findings of the report, which were extremely concerning. He is committed to working together so that all issues can be addressed.”

Jennifer Baran-Prall, spokeswoman for the Fort Wayne VA facility, said officials there welcome the “congressional input and are committed to working with them to understand their residual concerns.”

She said the facility has improved clinical oversight, is resolving the nurse competency assessment issue and has filled a

majority of the vacant clinical leadership positions, although a few remain open.

“There are,” she said, “a variety of reasons leading to the difficulty in filling these positions, and they range from a lack of interest in the geographic region or VA (to) applicant qualifications and compensation packages.”

The intensive-care unit issue, meanwhile, remains largely unresolved, although Baran-Prall said the ultimate determination regarding the ICU will not adversely affect the viability of the facility.

“We continue to refer and pay for veterans’ care in community hospitals for ICU services,” she said, “and are committed to exploring our options about ICU designation and services and making an informed decision as we move through our restarting of the service plan.”

ny’s 2014 fiscal year, so its previously disclosed capital expenditure guidance will rise to about $30 million from about $20 million, the company said in its announcement of the plans.

As a result of the expansion, 253 current Vera Bradley employees who work at facilities on Production Road and Industrial Road eventually will be moved to the southwest campus. The company also has a production facility in New Haven, and “Down the road, our plan is to bring all northeast Indiana employees to one campus,” spokeswoman Melissa Schenkel said.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered up to $1.75 million in performance-based tax credits to the company.

Vera Bradley sells its products through 79 company-owned retail stores and 14 outlet stores, as well as more than 3,000 specialty stores and the Dillard’s department store chain. It has 2,800 employees, 1,000 of them in Allen County.

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Bennettt’s grade inflation Former Indiana superintendent of public instruction Tony Bennett resigned recently as Florida’s education chief after The Associated Press brought to light emails documenting he had pressed his staff in Indianapolis to change the school grading formula he had championed, which transformed Christel House Academy’s “C” to an “A.” Finally, there was at least some accountability for the man who preached it.

Bennett maintains he did nothing wrong. Christel House’s founder, Christel DeHaan, has been a major contributor to Indiana Republicans, including Bennett, to whom she gave $130,000. Last year, as Bennett and the state Department of Education were preparing to release the “A-F” letter grades for schools across Indiana — a practice he had instituted in 2011 — a member of Bennett’s staff pointed out Christel House’s just so-so score.

Bennett, who had been using Christel House as an example of how education reform was working in Indiana, became alarmed. “They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work,” he wrote in an email.

Oh, the irony of that sentence now.

The school grading formula was

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EDITORIAL

massaged, then massaged some more, and finally Bennett got his “A” for Christel House. We don’t know yet how the school grading formula was changed to reflect Bennett’s desired outcome. But we do know that with the publication of Bennett’s emails, he seems less a proponent of school accountability and more an advocate of juicing the books so the numbers suit his needs.

Bennett said Christel House, an Indianapolis K-12 charter school, isn’t the only school that benefited from the formula manipulation, but he has not identified the other schools that saw their grades climb. He also hasn’t fully explained why the formula — which his own staff created under his supervision — needed to be changed.

Now the state is left with an absolute mess. The entire “A-F” grading system, which, among other things, can be used as justification to take over a so-called failing school, has about as much authenticity and veracity as a forged absence slip.

In the spirit of Bennett’s emails, we would like to take this time to adjust his grade as superintendent of public instruction. He gets an “F.” Anything more compromises all of our accountability work.

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GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly n

August 9-15, 2013

Ease vs. responsibility

Terry Housholder

rfarrant@kpcmedia.com

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WHAT’S YOUR VIEW? Want to share your thoughts on something you’ve read? Business Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns. E-mail them to news@fwbusiness. com, fax them to (260) 426-2503 or mail them to Business Weekly, 3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808. Business Weekly reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length.

I have just returned from a trip to the former East Germany and the current Czech Republic. Both were under communist rule for 40 years and they both, in different ways, are working toward the benefits and pitfalls of capitalism.

A tour guide in Prague summarized the situation well when he said, “Under communism, we had little freedom, but life was, in many ways, easy. Under capitalism, we have freedom and the responsibility that goes with freedom. Many long for the easy life, but most rejoice in having freedom.”

Under communism, people did not have the freedom to say what they thought or travel where they wished. But everyone had a job. It was against the law not to have a job. Everyone worked and the rewards were meager, but everyone had “enough to survive.”

The communist governments did not invest in infrastructure, and the investments they did n make were often on the cheap side. Hence many buildings today have been or should be torn down if they cannot be restored. Since the fall of the communist governments, major investments have been made in highways and public transit. These wise spending programs improve commerce and facilitate the interchange of people within and between nations.

Under capitalism, people do have the freedom to say what they please, but there should also be a responsibility to know and to speak the truth.

More shocking than anything on the trip was the ignorance and blatant acceptance of nonsense by some of those from the United States in our traveling party.

Morton J. It was not only that they were ignorant about Marcus Europe. They were ignorant about America and believed the most obvious lies about our federal government — the American flag no longer flies over the White House.

Under capitalism, as we know it, people are free to travel, in the manner and to the extent they can afford it. Freedom to improve one’s self by preparing for the type of job one prefers was limited under communism. Under capitalism, freedom means job seekers must be aware of what the market wants and what sacrifices they are willing to make for the jobs they want.

Communism made life easy because it removed the need to feel responsible for one’s self. It was the bureaucrats, the leaders, always someone else who was responsible for your condition in life.

Capitalism, as we know it, demands individual responsibility. Life is not easy. Economic and political currents toss our personal boats over uncertain waters.

Yet, personal responsibility seems to be the last thing many of us want. Many would like an easy life with the guarantee of a well-paid job. We don’t want the central control of a communist state, but we also don’t want the instability endemic to capitalism. We expect government to be all powerful, but we don’t want a powerful government.

This paradox, the desire for ease and the need for individual responsibility, is a universal characteristic not limited to former communist states. It applies here at home just as well.

EYE ON THE PIE

MORTON J. MARCUS is an independent economist, writer and speaker formerly with Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. He can be reached at mortonjmarcus@yahoo.com.

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McDonald’s franchisees rebel as chain raises its store fees (Bloomberg) — McDonald’s Corp., already struggling to sell burgers in the U.S., now must contend with a brewing franchisee revolt.

Store operators say the company, looking to improve its bottom line, is increasingly charging them too much to operate their restaurants — including rent, remodeling and fees for training and software. The rising costs are making franchisees, who operate almost 90 percent of the chain’s more than 14,100 U.S. locations, less likely to open new restaurants and refurbish them, potentially constraining sales.

McDonald’s is “doing everything they can to shift costs to operators,” said Kathryn Slater-Carter, who in June joined other franchisees in Stockton, Calif., to brainstorm ways of getting the chain to lessen the cost burden. “Putting too much focus on Wall Street is not a good thing in the long run.”

Asked if McDonald’s is shifting costs to franchisees, Heather Oldani, a spokeswoman, said in an email: ‘‘We are continuing to work together with McDonald’s owner/operators and our supplier partners to ensure that our restaurants are providing a great experience to our customers, which involves investments in training and technology.”

Cooperation between McDonald’s and its store owners is deteriorating, according to an April 11 letter from a franchisee to other store owners reviewed by Bloomberg News.

“Many of you have said that you don’t feel that the top management understands the economic pressures that we face,” the letter said. “The tone has become much more controlling and less inclusive.”

This isn’t the first time the world’s largest restaurant company has found itself at odds with the people who own and operate its stores. McDonald’s in the mid-1990s alienated U.S. franchisees when it expanded too quickly and new stores began cannibalizing other locations, said Dick Adams, a former McDonald’s store owner and restaurant consultant in San Diego.

Under pressure from franchisees, the company slowed the expansion. It opened 1,130 net new domestic restaurants in 1995; by 1998, it had cut that number to 92.

“There was a time at McDonald’s when the franchisee morale was extremely low and everyone was extremely upset,” Adams said. “We’re getting there again.”

Today’s tensions between Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s and store operators coincide with the company’s struggles to grow after consumer confidence fell in July after increasing for the past three months and with the unemployment rate stalled at 7.4 percent or higher. On July 22, the shares fell 2.7 percent, the most in nine months, when McDonald’s reported second-quarter profit and revenue that trailed analysts’ estimates. Chief Executive Officer Don Thompson said economic weakness would hurt results for the rest of the year.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

A customer carries a tray with food as others wait in line to place their orders inside a McDonald’s Corp. restaurant in Oak Brook, Ill.

The Big Mac seller, which owns or leases most of its U.S. stores, has been generating more income from franchisees. Revenue from franchised stores, which includes rent and royalties, increased 8 percent on average during the past five years, while total revenue rose 4 percent.

Some franchisees are paying as much as 12 percent of store sales in rent, according to notes of an April 23 meeting attended by store operators. Instead, they want the company to return to a historic rate of about 8.5 percent, the document shows.

U.S. McDonald’s restaurants average about $2.5 million in annual sales, according to Chicago-based researcher Technomic Inc. That means franchisees who have recently renewed leases are paying an average of $300,000 a year, up from $212,500 at the 8.5-percent rate.

At the April meeting at a community center in Paramount, Calif., a group of franchisees spent five hours discussing ways to get the company to reduce rents and other costs. Another cadre of McDonald’s store owners met in Stockton in June to discuss similar issues. The group in Paramount suggested reducing rents, royalty rates and creating a regional real-estate team of store owners to help set lease rates.

Rent is “the firmest of fixed expenses,” said John Gordon, principal at San Diego-based Pacific Management Consulting Group and a consultant to restaurant franchisees. “You pay that before you remodel, you pay that before you take owner salary out.”

As a result, some run-down stores aren’t getting fixed up, which in turn is alienating customers, he said.

“People don’t want to be in an old space, even if they’re going through the drive-through,” Gordon said. “You get better employees, you just get a better vibe if it’s a newer store.”

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WHITLEY COUNTY

CONSTRUCTION STARTS ON INDUSTRIAL BUILDING Construction has begun on a new 75,000-square-foot shell building in Whitley County’s Rail Connect Business Park, which is expected to be available for lease or sale in the fourth quarter.

The shell building is being developed by Whitley RC Investments LLC, which is a partnership between local businessman Simon Dragan and Harbor Investments LLC of Fort Wayne. Dragan is president of Whitley Manufacturing Co. Inc. The building will have 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 5,000 square feet of office space on more than 14 acres in the Rail Connect Business Park near U.S. 30 and County Road 600 East. The park is certified shovel-ready.

According to an announcement from the Whitley County Economic Development Corp., the building can be expanded to 190,000 square feet.

RE Crosby Inc. is general contractor for the project, and CBRE Sturges will represent the building.

The Whitley County Council on Aug. 6 approved a 10-year tax abatement for the building, which will join Triad Metals International and Indiana Materials Processing in the business park just outside of Columbia City.

The Whitley County EDC will market the building and look for businesses that would be suitable for it.

ALLEN COUNTY

FRANKLIN ON THE MOVE Franklin Electric Co. Inc. has begun moving into its new, 120,000-squarefoot headquarters and tech center on the southwest side of Fort Wayne.

The first employees were moved in late July, and the process is going to be spread out over a period of several weeks, said spokesman John Haines.

Some research-and-development equipment also will be relocated from the space the company leases in Bluffton.

That will take longer, but the entire process should be completed by the end of August, Haines said.

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“Standing up for what’s right is always the right thing to do” What first got you started working in the nonprofit sector?

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

As executive director of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, Denise Beights can take advantage of her background in education and music, and her experience working at nonprofits.

I had graduated from music school in August, and all of the teaching positions had been filled by that time. So I looked for a “gap” job until I could teach. My first job was at the American Heart Association as a fundraising associate. I worked there nearly a year and conducted fundraising events in the counties north of Allen County. Then the next school year I secured a teaching position as the band and choir director at Bishop Luers High School. The kids and families were great, but it just wasn’t my thing. Around the same time I was ending my year of teaching, my mom died unexpectedly. That was a turning point in my

life, and I decided I wanted to work somewhere that helped other young women not lose their mothers at such a young age. At that point, I went to work at the American Cancer Society. I also worked for four years at Lincoln Financial Group, but I have pretty much worked and volunteered in the nonprofit sector for most of my career.

What is it about nonprofit work that you find the most rewarding? What is the most challenging?

I love working in the nonprofit sector.

I know at the end of the day, I can put a face on my work; I know my work helped a specific child be a part of the program, or to enhance the community through

our programming. It’s very rewarding. I also get to tell stories all day about our who we are, who we serve and how others can get involved. The most challenging is raising enough funds to carry out the mission.

There are very real barriers to acquiring sustainable funding. We’ve been very successful at the children’s choir to develop relationships with donors throughout the community, but our board and staff are always dreaming bigger, and therefore, I have to raise more and more to make that happen.

CAREER PATH

Name: Denice Beights Organization: Fort Wayne Children’s Choir Title: executive director Length of time there: four years Website: www. fwcchoir.org Education: bachelor’s degree in music education from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; certificate in fundraising management from Indiana University School of Philanthropy

What did you learn from the corporate world that you have applied to the nonprofit world? What are the biggest differences between the two?

I learned that standing up for what’s right is always the right thing to do. Early in my tenure in management in the corporate world, I had a manager who stood up for me, who believed in me. She taught me a valuable lesson, and one that I have paid forward. Your team will support you and go to the end of the line for you if you support them. She took a risk on me and it paid off. I have never forgotten how important that one manager was to my trajectory at that company and to my career. When the chips are down, you go to bat for your team.

Period.

As well, I have come to realize that corporate America and the nonprofit world aren’t that far apart. The desire to be more effective, to dream, to grow — all are aspects that are in both sectors. The biggest difference I found was the ability to n

See BEIGHTS on PAGE 11

August 9-15, 2013

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impact the end user. During my time in the corporate world, I felt like I worked really hard and did a good job, but I didn’t get the chance to interface with the end user (the policy holder or agent). I was just part of a large machine chugging along. It was important work, but I didn’t get to know or understand who I was impacting with my work. In the nonprofit sector, I can see and talk with those we serve. I can learn their stories. I can use what they tell me to implement course corrections in our direction. I feel like I’m making a difference in a specific person’s life. It made all the difference for me.

What does your work with the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir entail?

I am the lead staff for the organization. I work with the board of directors and senior leadership to form and implement the strategic direction for the organization. I lead the marketing and fundraising functions for the organization and manage all administrative staff. We have an 18-member staff comprised of administrative and artistic staff and serve over 250 families annually. During my tenure at the children’s choir, I’ve lead efforts to increase community awareness, solidify our branding and marketing strategy, raise more funds through foundation and corporate support, grow our community choir programs and establish our own children’s choir festival for choirs from the Midwest.

I also work alongside a great artistic director who is leading our artistic programming, and we are changing children’s lives through music education. It’s been an exciting four years. However, I couldn’t have led any of these efforts without the work of a great team. This staff works hard, has great ideas and makes us really think and stretch as we are serving the youth in our community. It’s a great job for me, one in which I can merge my education and background in music education and my experience in nonprofit management and fundraising.

Why did you form DKB Solutions and what services does it provide? Where do you see that business going in the future?

DKB Solutions started very humbly.

I was working at the American Cancer Society at the time as the director of volunteerism. In this role I was working with staff across Indiana and Michigan and working with them on how to recruit, retain and reward volunteers. I was doing lots of staff training. A friend of mine was in the Junior League of Fort Wayne. We were talking about our respective careers, and I mentioned the training I was doing.

She asked if I could come and share that training (volunteerism) with the Junior League. From there, I picked up one or two training opportunities that following year, just through word of mouth. After a while, the opportunity presented itself to do one of the trainings for IPFW Continuing Studies. I loved it. So I’ve continued to keep five to six sessions a year. Sometimes I get the chance to do a few more depending on needs in the community.

Currently through DKB Solutions I’m leading professional development sessions that revolve around developing individual management and leadership potential, including all aspects of performance management, as well as facilitating the DiSC behavioral assessment. I think DKB Solutions will continue to be a side business, but maybe one I can expand sometime in the future.

Fort Wayne Entrepreneurial Summit Saturday, September 21, 2013 @ Fort Wayne Public Safety Academy: Ivy Tech South Campus

Two of Fort Wayne’s best business conferences are joining forces to create one even better event for: • Small Businesses • Medium Sized Businesses • New Businesses • Growing Businesses • Entrepreneurs • Students Featuring: • A Dynamic Keynote Speaker • A Panel of Local Business People • Educational Breakout Sessions • Programming Specifically for Young Entrepreneurs

Prepare to be inspired, uplifted and educated!

Admission • $20 for adults 21 and over • $10 for those either under 21 or with a student ID For more information, visit www.entresummitfortwayne.com

Sponsorship opportunities available!

What advice would you give a young person thinking of a career in the nonprofit world?

I firmly believe all students should take advantage of internships. I hope that all young people will do an internship in a nonprofit sometime during their college career, or immediately after their college experience. You can learn so much during an internship and decide what is the right fit for you. Nonprofits are always looking for interns. We have big dreams, and sometimes not enough paid staff to make the big dreams into big reality. Interns are perfect for those roles.

I believe the old adage is true, “Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” That doesn’t mean that work is play: If it were play, it wouldn’t be called work. I also don’t believe you can force it.

But take the time to find a job, and a career, about which you can be passionate.

By Linda Lipp. To suggest an idea for “Career Path,” call (260) 426-2640.

Follow Business Weekly on Twitter: @fwbusiness

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After School Care for Youth who have a Disability x x x x x x x x x

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State to review grading formula (AP) — Indiana’s top lawmakers are creating a task force to review the state’s “A-F” school grading system following the revelation former state schools superintendent Tony Bennett changed the grading formula for a Republican donor’s charter school.

Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Long, Fort Wayne, and Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma announced Aug. 2 the creation of an independent task force to review the school grading system.

They noted their previous concerns with the school grading system, but Bennett’s efforts detailed in emails obtained by The Associated Press raised new concerns for them.

“Since then, the issue has been brought to the forefront in negative ways and our concerns about the previous assessment system are increasing,” Bosma and Long wrote in a letter Aug. 2.

The two enlisted John Grew, a former aide to then-Democratic Gov. Frank O’Bannon, and Bill Sheldrake, the former head of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, to review the grading system. The pair are expected to complete that before Labor Day. The pair will evaluate the “A-F” formula, determine the validity of the grades awarded and make recommendations to the state Board of Education and General Assembly.

Bennett resigned from his job as Florida’s schools chief Aug. 1, a few days after emails were published about his efforts to change the school-grading formula for the Christel House charter school in Indianapolis.

Bennett attributed the revelation about the grades to political attacks from opponents and has maintained he did not grant special treatment to Christel House. The school’s founder, Christel DeHaan, has also said she did not seek special treatment and the emails show no request on her part.

Democratic state schools superintendent Glenda Ritz said her office is conducting an internal review. Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, said he is waiting to see what Ritz’s assessment uncovers before making any decisions.

“The most important thing we can do moving forward is to have an independent and fair assessment of the A-F school

PUBLIC RECORDS KEY IN BENNETT GRADE SCANDAL

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett announces his resignation at a news conference on Aug. 1 in Tallahassee, Fla.

grading process,” Long said in a statement Aug. 2.

Indiana’s school grades are used to determine how much money schools get and whether “failing” schools are taken over by private operators, like Charter Schools USA. They also have become critical economic-development tools in recent years, used in part by homebuyers picking locations based on the quality of their schools.

Indiana teachers unions and local school superintendents called for the immediate suspension of the grades Bennett’s office issued last year. But Statehouse leaders from Ritz to Long and Bosma have hesitated to make any immediate decisions.

Bosma said state lawmakers already had decided earlier this year to scrap Bennett’s “A-F” formula and return to the drawing board. Local superintendents frequently complained last year about an inability to get straight answers from the Department of Education on the formula used to determine their grades.

Bennett’s emails fill in some of those answers, although it’s still unclear exactly how he changed the grading formula last year.

(AP) — In algebra, students are required to show the steps taken to come to their answer, in part because teachers need to see whether they grasp the concepts.

Indiana’s former state superintendent Tony Bennett hid his calculations when coming up with the school-grading formula last year, working backward to make the equation fit a predetermined answer: an “A” for Republican donor Christel DeHaan’s charter school. His staff was quietly asked to figure out the rest.

The only reason the grade-changing scandal was unveiled was because it was detailed in emails he never deleted from his computer.

The fallout has cost Bennett his sevenmonth tenure as education commissioner in Florida and launched a pair of state reviews into the validity of a schoolgrading system that’s at the center of a national education overhaul movement.

Bennett called the reports last week “malicious and unfounded” as he resigned in Florida, but school superintendents in Indiana said the emails finally began to give them the answers they so desperately searched for last year from Bennett and his team.

In Indiana, the state protects emails as public records. Jim Corridan, state archivist and director of the Indiana Commission on Public Records, points out that most emails must be saved for three years. Emails and other files dealing with policy can be required to be preserved permanently at the State Archives.

For the most part, emails can be legally “destroyed” after the three-year time frame, and not every trivial note — like if Bennett had written to his wife to say he’d be late for dinner — must be preserved.

But actually obtaining copies of crucial emails is a tough task, as state officials often rely on the “work product” exception to argue the missives should not be released.

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August 9-15, 2013

Pence: State must do better in connecting education to jobs

BY KATE STOLTZFUS kstoltzfus@kpcmedia.com

Gov. Mike Pence discussed strategies for improving Indiana job opportunities and economic stability at a roundtable talk with local leaders during a visit to Kendallville Wednesday, The News Sun reported.

Pence outlined n “We’ve got a four-part strategy, including: a more to get education balanced budget; a pro-business envi- back on board to ronment; improved infrastructure; and encourage people education reform to go out and get with an emphasis on work-force jobs.” innovation.

Rick Sherck Pence, who took Noble County office in January, Economic spoke with a group Development Corp. of local industrial leaders, city and state elected officials and economic-development specialists. The group met at Courier Corp.’s Courier Digital Solutions plant in the East Industrial Park.

The biggest goal is to connect jobs and education, Pence said. He advocated for a partnership between industry and schools to create a curriculum that benefits career pathways in this region.

“We really believe that Indiana’s prosperity should be built on foundations of education,” Pence said. “I’m determined to make career vocational education a priority in every high school in Indiana.

We want to work with employees to identify where the real needs are for skill sets and try to steer adults into that kind of education.”

Rick Sherck, executive director for the Noble County Economic Development Corp., agreed, saying, “We’ve got to get education back on board to encourage people to go out and get jobs.”

This story originally appeared in The News Sun, which is published by Business Weekly owner KPC Media Group Inc.

August 9-15, 2013

n GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

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Ivy Tech helps prepare Hoosiers for success In May 2003, n I became the first sibling in my family to graduate from high school. My father encouraged me to take a summer job in the factory he was employed with at the time to understand what it was like. His hopes were that it would create a drive in me to apply to college and build a career that would have meaning and purpose. I knew I was going to apply; however, what I didn’t know was where and for what degree would be most interesting to me.

As my summer job came to an end, I began to do some collegiate research and learned that Ivy Tech Community College was a strong possibility to begin my college term. After visiting with faculty and getting a campus tour, I knew it was a great fit.

JON-PAUL CAPITO

The small class sizes created more one-on-one time with professors, and the flexibility of the class scheduling helped tremendously, as I was working on two different startup businesses at the time. I was able to apply much of what I learned in school to both companies, and because of the low-cost tuition I was able to pay my school debt off before I graduated.

After graduating from Ivy Tech, I stayed true to my commitment and applied to Trine University to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Since graduation, I have gone on to sell one business and created four new startup companies in different industries. I was also honored to be chosen as Ivy Tech’s 2012 New Venture Competition business-plan contest champion for my custom clothing line DeRossi.

Many of us close to Ivy Tech Community College have been following stories in the media over the last couple months, and as a proud alumnus of the college, I feel n

See CAPITO on PAGE 14

YOU DON’T HAVE TIME FOR A DEAD-END JOB

Telling yourself it’s time for a change? Indiana Tech offers master’s degrees to help you reach the next level, including an MBA program with several concentrations to suit your goals. Online and classroom courses are available to help you build a schedule that fits your life. Get started at Indiana Tech today.

indianatech.edu/cps Call 800.288.1766 for graduate classes forming now.

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BRIEFLY

A LLE N C O U N T Y

STUDENTS REACH BIZ PLAN COMPETITION FINALS Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast named three finalists in its 2013 New Venture Competition, which provides the winner with $20,000 in startup funding.

Ivy Tech-Northeast students wrote business plans for the competition, now in its third year. The winner will be named at an event at 5 p.m. Sept. 19 at Ivy Tech-Northeast’s Coliseum campus, 3800 N. Anthony Blvd.

The three finalists and their business plans are: • Robert Bibbo of Fort Wayne, who studies computer information technology. He submitted a business plan for American Combat Veteran Clothing, a clothing line designed and made by combat and disabled veterans.

• Faith Maslonka of Anchorage, Ala., who is a general-studies major. She submitted a business plan for Outdoor Gear Fitters, which provides gear packs to campers, from novice to expert.

• Adara Fath of Fort Wayne, who studies business administration.

She submitted a business plan for Addie Fath Photography, which specializes in doing lifestyle portraits for customers.

“Our student-entrepreneurs presented a wide range of business models, demonstrating creativity and excellent marketing research,” Jim Tolbert, who heads the competition for Ivy Tech-Northeast, said in an announcement.

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findings don’t tell the entire story Continued from PAGE 13

strongly about what Ivy Tech provided me as well as what it has the ability to provide to the nearly 200,000 students it serves on an annual basis — with adequate support.

Since the college became the community college of Indiana in 2005, its funding gap to support its growing student body has continued to increase. The state funding has not kept pace with demand. At the same time the General Assembly reined in funding for all higher education during the recession, Ivy Tech’s enrollment soared by 71 percent across the state and 59 percent in northeast Indiana.

Also, a state report in June concluded that the college was doing a poor job of closing the state’s skilled-worker gap. The report said that only 4 percent of first-time, full-time students in the Ivy Tech system graduate within two years, and 23 percent earn diplomas within six years.

On the surface, that seems troubling. But they don’t tell the entire story, especially as they pertain to Ivy Tech-Northeast. Only 429 — or 3.7 percent — of the 11,213 students enrolled at Ivy Tech Northeast are first-time, full-time students.

At Ivy Tech, most students are like me: working individuals with many other things going on in life, which all play a part in getting to graduation.

The amount of support and knowledge I obtained from Ivy Tech has been overwhelming, as I wouldn’t be the same person I am today without it. It gave me the chance that no other university would have been able to provide me, and it thoroughly fulfilled its commitment to providing me with a quality education.

There are thousands of Hoosiers who need the same support — and more — I received. Indiana, let’s embrace our community college. I embraced it, and it changed my life.

JON-PAUL CAPITO is an Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast graduate, with a degree in business administration.

August 9-15, 2013

n GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

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PAGE 15

A conversation about why social media matters to your business There’s a lot of n hype about social media. Too often, style wins out over substance, and the next big thing is presented as a panacea when it’s really not all that different than what came before.

When you look beyond the hype, however, there’s an undeniable business case for social media driven by a very real shift in our communication and marketing environment. Knowing how this affects your customers is central not just to the success of your social media efforts but to the very future of your business.

Understanding why social media matters begins by acknowledging how it’s different than other marketing and communication tools you’ve used in the past. Consider this definition from consultant Marta Kagan: “Social media is people having conversations online.” This is pretty simple, but it’s also profound in that it highlights the most important word in social media, the key difference between social media and other forms of of marketing and mass media communication: conversations.

Why is the word “conversations” so critical? First, it’s an excellent reminder of the fact that social is the first mass-media channel that gives consumers a voice equal to that of brands. Other forms of marketing communication have been somewhat like communicating via a megaphone, wherein you simply craft the message you think the audience wants to hear, pick up a “megaphone” (television, print or radio, for example), point the megaphone in the general direction of the audience and shout your message at them. Want to reach more of them? Simply turn up the volume by spending more money or increasing reach or frequency.

Today’s consumers will no longer tolerate that approach. They have too much choice in where they can direct their attention. If they don’t immediately discern how a message is relevant to them and they don’t see an opportunity to participate, they’ll go elsewhere. In short, they want a conversation, not a monologue. Furthermore, they want those conversations to be tailored to them on a personal level. Gone are the days of broadly marketing the same message to everyone. The digital age has ushered in the ability to target our messages to specific audiences to make them relevant and therefore resonant.

ANTHONY JULIANO

It’s also important to understand that consumers prefer to source answers from their peers more so than brands. They always have, in fact, but historically it was very difficult for them to do so — and that’s part of the reason they used to tolerate the marketing megaphone. The branded megaphone message wasn’t a reliable source of answers, but what they could get from their peers wasn’t much better.

Why? Until very recently, soliciting information from your peers was only possible via face-to-face interaction, phone calls, or email. Not only was this labor intensive, but you could only access information from those you knew. The difference with social media is that it has now become incredibly easy to reach those you trust quickly and effectively, while also allowing

you to reach beyond those you know.

It may seem like brands would be shut out of this conversation, but they don’t have to be, not if they truly understand social media. In this environment, brands have the opportunity to listen, respond, engage and — most importantly — help customers and prospects solve problems. What consumers won’t tolerate is a one-sided conversation that ignores their needs. And why would they, when they can get exactly what they want elsewhere, anywhere, at any time?

This phenomenon is affecting businesses of every kind. It’s not just restaurants and retailers but also business-to-business entities, health-care companies, governmental bodies — anyone who has customers, in fact. When you consider the implications of a better informed consumer who has a voice

equal to that of your brand, you can quickly see how this is a different time requiring a different approach.

The fact is the battle is over, and consumers have won. Their collective voice is now more powerful than your brand’s will ever be. If you think social media is all about getting your message out, you may never make the most of social media.

ANTHONY JULIANO is a marketing and social media strategist, teacher, trainer and writer. He is vice president of marketing and social media strategy at Asher Agency in Fort Wayne, and he teaches social media and marketing classes at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Connect with him at LinkedIn.com/in/ anthonyjuliano or via e-mail at anthonyj@asheragency.com.

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PAGE 16

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GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly n

August 9-15, 2013

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Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly Top List

August 9-15, 2013

n GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

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n PAGE 18

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NEW BUSINESSES M Clingerman Enterprises LLC 3804 N. 350 West Albion, IN 46701 Michael Clingerman Wickliffe Wildlife Removal LLC 812 E. Hazel St. Albion, IN 46701 Samuel Wickliffe Steuben Lakes Environmental Consortium LLC 6580 W. South Lake Gage Drive Angola, IN 46703 Allen Lefevre Lucky Radio Controlled Hobbies Co. 285 S. 600 West Angola, IN 46703 Patrick Lowe SST LLC 4330 W. 250 North Angola, IN 46703 Ronald A. Sanders Angola Post No 31 The American Legion Inc. 1450 S. 418 West Angola, IN 46703 James N. Timpe Jagged Edge 2 LLC 9205 E. 40 S. Angola, IN 46703 Jody Porter Automated Maintenance Solutions LLC 1508 Hammel Drive Angola, IN 46703 C Mcgee Lifebridge Ministries Inc. 60 Lane 201 A, West Otter Lake Angola, IN 46703 Dana Slack Southern Michigan Bank & Trust 3305 N. 300 West Angola, IN 46703 Trisha Pawloski Marina of Clear Lake LLC 114 E. Maumee St., Suite 102 Angola, IN 46703 Michael L. Morrissey Warriors from the Sky Inc. 502 Williamson Circle Angola, IN 46703 Kent Alwood MB Lake House LLC 5975 C.R. 31 Auburn, IN 46706 Megan Moss

READER’S GUIDE BizLeads is a collection of information gathered from northeast Indiana courthouses, state government offices and informational Web sites.

These listings are intended to help companies find new customers as well as stay on top of happenings with current customers, vendors and competitors.

New Businesses lists firms that were recently incorporated in the state of Indiana. Information is gathered from the Indiana Secretary of State.

Addresses listed may not be the actual address of the business.

Building Permits are issued by the Allen County Building Department during the specified period of time.

Real Estate is a list of agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential real estate sales recorded by the state of Indiana.

Bankruptcies are from the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Indiana. For complete data involving a particular filing please access the The PACER Service Center, the Federal Judiciary’s centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court records. Its Web site URL is http://pacer.psc. uscourts.gov.

Patents include the following: Patent number, local inventor and assignee, brief description, filed date and approved date. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Listings may vary due to information availability and space constraints.

Nagel Arms Inc. 530 North St. Auburn, IN 46706 Benjamin Nagel

Carmen LLC 1100 N. 450 East Bluffton, IN 46714 Rosa Bravo

MTA Sales Corp.

1401 S. Grandstaff Drive Auburn, IN 46706 Jeffrey L. Turner

Aimee Ronquillo-Cortes LLC 1211 Lancaster St., Lot 2B Bluffton, IN 46714 Aimee R. Cortes

Subler Properties & Investments LLC 659 Hendricks St. Berne, IN 46711 Kathryn M. Subler Forest Ridge Tree Service LLC 2670 S. 650 West-1 Bluffton, IN 46714 Joe A. Isch Gerber Fuel Inc. 515 S. State Road 201 Bluffton, IN 46714 Chad E. Gerber Harry Byers Trucking LLC 0125 Linn Road Bluffton, IN 46714 Harry F. Byers T&R Investment Group LLC 0505 N. 100 West Bluffton, IN 46714 James E. Miller II

All Things Power LLC 425 E. Silver St. Bluffton, IN 46714 Nick Hale HGI-Midwest I LLC 1390 S. Adams St. Bluffton, IN 46714 HGI-Indiana LLC DTM International Corp.

53259 Monterey Drive Bristol, IN 46507 Michele L. Olson Bravo International Inc. 19319 C.R. 8 Bristol, IN 46507 Mitchell Bender A-Square LLC 53201 Sylvan Court Bristol, IN 46507 Vijay A. Mehta

BizLeads

n

High Bonding Coatings Consulting Service LLC 50924 Cornwall Road Bristol, IN 46507 Leif Bouskill

Rhinestones-N-Rodeo LLC 7130 S. 400 East Columbia City, IN 46725 Jody Ratliff

Jackson Aviation LLC 11273 W. Syracuse Webster Road Bristol, IN 46507 Bradford L. Jackson

B3 United LLC 1129 Stoneridge Drive Columbia City, IN 46725 Theresa Curry

Ganesh Enterprises Inc. 53201 Sylvan Court Bristol, IN 46507 Vijay A. Mehta

Greaf Enterprises LLC 5025 S. 500 E. Columbia City, IN 46725 Janice L. Greaf

JB Yoder Logistics LLC 3382 C.R. 59 Butler, IN 46721 Joel B. Yoder

Orion Computer Consulting & Repair LLC 0804 C.R. 32 Corunna, IN 46730 Edward Kemph

Washler Real Estate LLC 7420 S.R. 8 Butler, IN 46721 Donald M. Washler

Back 40 Fencing LLC 2097 C.R. 9 Corunna, IN 46730 Travis W. Fry

WKJ Enterprises Inc. 101 Ivy Lane Butler, IN 46721 Willis K. Jack

Spoonwater LLC 927 C.R. 32 Corunna, IN 46730 Aaron M. Sponhower

Zettabit LLC 13025 McDuffee Road Churubusco, IN 46723 Robert J. Green

Auslyn Auto Sales LLC 110 S. 13th St. Decatur, IN 46733 Tyler Hirschy

Eagle Fleet Washing LLC 5298 S. C.R. 15 Claypool, IN 46510 Debra Sevrence

4C Realty Investments LLC 1321 Eagle Glen Court Decatur, IN 46733 Walter C. Coshow

Debt Droppers LLC 5988 S. Red Bud Lane-57 Columbia City, IN 46725 Jeffrey Rood Iam Holdings Inc. 51265 W. Countyline Road North Columbia City, IN 46725 Aman Yehdego Prez’s Aircraft Service LLC 4501 W. 275 North Columbia City, IN 46725 James Prezbindowski Bel Sogno Community Association Inc. 116 N. Main St. Columbia City, IN 46725 Terry L. Smith DL Miller Trucking LLC 4570 W. Lincolnway Columbia City, IN 46725 Darin Miller Unlimited Fleet Service LLC 7385 N. 350 West Columbia City, IN 46725 William C. Merritt Allstruct LLC 995 N. Johnson Road Columbia City, IN 46725 Wesley T. Geisler Sanctified LLC 5524 S. Raber Road Columbia City, IN 46725 Joseph A. Gomez

PAGES 18-21 Sudds Express Inc. 29200-5 C.R. 20 Elkhart, IN 46517 Roger L Suddarth SSC Real Estate Holdings LLC 1522 Greenleaf Blvd.

Elkhart, IN 46514 Scott R. Chakan MNFL Property Management LLC 1440 Cedar St. Elkhart, IN 46514 Mark Neterer Northridge Dollars for Scholars Inc. 121 W. Franklin St. Elkhart, IN 46516 Randall Hesser Sam Cell Zone Inc. 3701 S. Main St. Elkhart, IN 46517 Arooj Kamal Wolf Pack LLC 57805 Ninth St. Elkhart, IN 46517 Ignacio Perez

GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly n

Tri-State Construction & Remodeling Inc. 50783 C.R. 5 Elkhart, IN 46514 Craig D. Clark Chapter Two Investments LLC 55340 Falling Water Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 David B. Baker Shine Plus Automotive Detailing LLC 350 Concord Ave. Elkhart, IN 46516 David Army Advanced Power Washing LLC 54329 Lagoon Road Elkhart, IN 46516 David D. Fiant Divine Enterprises LLC 57883 Sunbury Drive Elkhart, IN 46517 Krysten Shoulders Five Star Life Inc. 2204 California Road Elkhart, IN 46514 Seth Maust

August 9-15, 2013

Marin Brothers Inc. 5251 Distribution Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46825 Abel Marin The Chameleon LLP 2842 Northgate Blvd.

Fort Wayne, IN 46835 Rick Butts Bright Owl Educational Services LLC 600 E. 600 South Fort Branch, IN 47648 Rachel L. Burek Social Rocket Co. LLC 15016 Indian Creek Road Fort Wayne, IN 46814 William B. Smits Blanchette Mechanical LLC 7526 Regina Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Jason Blanchette CD & F Grease Recycle Inc. 5111 S. Camden Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46825 Fa De Zheng

Sabnis Inc. 56829 Bolton Court Elkhart, IN 46516 Raj Sabnis

Artistic Arrangements LLC 4022 Avondale Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Sheila Murphy

Star Hospitality Design LLC 58382 S.R. 19, Suite 106 Elkhart, IN 46517 Sajid Chaudhry

LRT Inc. 25738 Lake Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 Rachel Benedict

Brainy Beagle LLC 3715 Highland Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46804 Benjamin C. Messick

Hoehn Engineered Products LLC 5853 N. Piqua Road Decatur, IN 46733 Richard Hoehn

Jarvisworx LLC 57024 Copper Terrace Elkhart, IN 46516 Douglas L. Jarvis

Hulva Acoustics LLC 53569 Michael Court Elkhart, IN 46514 Mitchell A. Hulva

R&K Detailed Installs LLC 1723 Black Bear Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Kenneth J. Mccartney

B&C Golf Cart Parts LLP 7218 N. 100 East Decatur, IN 46733 Rick Cover

Jarvisworks Inc. 57024 Copper Terrace Elkhart, IN 46516 Douglas L. Jarvis

Photo-Video Jorge Inc. 2621 Decamp Ave. Elkhart, IN 46517 Jorge Fernandez

Personalized Picture Clocks LLC 10478 N. 200 West Decatur, IN 46733 Jerry L. Gerber

Guardian Order Inc. 825 Edwardsburg Ave. Elkhart, IN 46514 Andrew Vanmarter

RLGold LLC 27217 C.R. 6 West Elkhart, IN 46514 Russell Golden

Crossfit Raze LLC 2218 Grant St. Elkhart, IN 46514 Bobbie Sage

PMC Real Estate Holdco LP 121 W. Franklin St. Elkhart, IN 46516 James V. Woodsmall

My Hood Needz Me Inc. 3521 E. Jackson Blvd.

Elkhart, IN 46516 Talisha Sanders Star Hotel Group LLC 58382 S.R. 19 Elkhart, IN 46517 Sajid Chaudhry Garmen Transportation Inc. 29690 Prairieview Farms Blvd.

Elkhart, IN 46514 Brent L. Lehman RDT Global Solutions LLC 56620 Sapphire Blvd Elkhart, IN 46516 Robert D. Thrapp

Sigma Rho Alpha Inc. 904 W. Franklin St. Elkhart, IN 46516 Marie Hunsberger

MSNF LLC 228 W. High St. Elkhart, IN 46516 Lisa G. Schoetzow Charles Habic LLC 1340 Wade Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 Charles Habic Miguel A. Ponce LLC 505 W. Washington St. Elkhart, IN 46516 Miguel A. Ponce Welformed Materials LLC 358 S. Elkhart Ave., Suite 200 Elkhart, IN 46516 Cassidy C. Fritz

Yiyo’s Towing LLC 137 Wagner Ave. Elkhart, IN 46516 Jorge F. Fernandez Jr. Engineered Interiors LLC 57628 Hawthorne St. Elkhart, IN 46517 Steve Laplace Shadow of His Hands Inc. 51361 C.R. 11 Elkhart, IN 46514 Janice Braun Nazario Hernandez LLC 58390 Valley View Drive Elkhart, IN 46517 Nazario Hernandez

Product & Service Solutions LLC 9815 Dawson’s Creek Blvd.

Fort Wayne, IN 46825 April S. Grunden, Esq. Firstsite Properties LLC 7021 Homestead Road Fort Wayne, IN 46814 Angela Butler Eco World Auto Corp.

1510 Fairfield Ave., Suite 228 Fort Wayne, IN 46802 Meghan Kumzi JDL Realty Investors LLC 9439 Crystal Spring Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46804 John Leichty Prime Life Properties LLC 7021 Homestead Road Fort Wayne, IN 46814 Jamie Lewis UB Photography LLC 10505 Tesoro Cove Fort Wayne, IN 46845 William G. Frederick

August 9-15, 2013

n GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

New Wineskin Academy LLC 2925 Hoevelwood Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Ebene Burney

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMITS

Top Shelf Games LLC 6742 E. State Blvd.

Fort Wayne, IN 46815 John Rhoad

FORT WAYNE ABOITE TOWNSHIP

Santiago Garcia LLC 4519 Winter St. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Santiago Garcia Bac Homes LLC 3414 Covington Reserve Parkway Fort Wayne, IN 46804 Rebecca Clendenen Asertek Ventures LLC 4305 Fairlawn Pass Suite 100 Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Kevin Morgan The Nines Clothing Co. LLC 4904 Woodmark Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Ryan M. Shull Pinkmonkeys Boutique LLC 6906 Beaty Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46809 Clint Lightbourne

Colonial Homes Inc. 7904 Sky Breeze Court $226,452

NEW HAVEN ADAMS TOWNSHIP Delagrange Homes LLC 9135 Sunriver Court $202,700

ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP Delagrange Homes LLC 1526 Dunnagans Way $149,400

ALLEN COUNTY ABOITE TOWNSHIP Lancia Homes 727 Henlock Court $165,330 Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 308 Union Station Drive $173,900 Lancia Homes 1017 Almdale Drive $225,113

Ruiz Projects LLC 3508 Charger Court Fort Wayne, IN 46818 James M. Ruiz

Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 329 Victoria Station Way $152,000

Eck’s Mobile Marine LLC 5208 Landford Lane Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Thomas J. Eckrich Jr.

J&K Contractors 15226 Candlestick Court $290,000

East Washington Subway Inc. 3217 E. Washington Blvd.

Fort Wayne, IN 46803 Aman Dasson Dry Indiana Inc. 7201 Engle Road Fort Wayne, IN 46804 Jeremy V. Senk Jose Angel Atilano-Zaragoza LLC 259 Northeast Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46825 Jose A. Zaragoza Lisbeth Vivar Torres LLC 2805 Smith St. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Lisbeth V. Torres Shadow Trucking LLC 4435 Monroeville Road Fort Wayne, IN 46816 Gregory Anderson

COMMERCIAL BUILDING PEMITS FORT WAYNE WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP Witwer Construction Inc. 5230 Value Drive $520,000

Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 838 Beal Brook Pass $152,000

CEDAR CREEK TOWNSHIP Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 11643 St. Joe Road $311,242

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP Old Dutch Homes by Steury Construction 6405 Franke Road $245,600

LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 13286 Branstrator Road $220,405

MADISON TOWNSHIP Bremer Homes, LLC 11014 Franke Road $240,000

fwbusiness.com Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 15460 Towne Park Run $132,836 Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 15453 Towne Park Run $143,361 Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 13519 Galloway Cove $265,321

ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP Heller & Sons Inc. 7126 Holden Drive $224,000

REAL-ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

113 W. Wayne St., #402 From Elizabeth Miller to Carl M. and Marianne L. Miller $91,000 2120 Brooklyn Ave. From Armando E. Davilla to Natalia Lopez $60,000 1927 Taylor St. From Walter J. and Julie K. Smith to Rani Usha $25,000

46803

10728 Coneflower Drive From Michael McCarty to Charles M. Longworth $113,500 9521 Pinto Lane From Karen J. Morrow to Chad R. and Robert G. Imel $110,000 4314 Aboite Lake Drive From Amanda R. Jones and Benjamin T. Hughes to Mark E. Luarde $97,000 4211 Aboite Lake Drive From Florence Alexander to David G. and Ann E. Williams $92,000

46783

3309 Felician St. From Humberto and Maria M. Resendez to Kolin Young $11,000

2460 Randall Road From Fannie Mae to Gregory J. Schenkel $85,600

11301 Miramar Cove From Rod A. and Rhonda S. Zollinger to Larry E. and Benita L. Foster $234,000

1409 Division St. From DC&B Inc. to Silverio Romero and Maribel Barriga $17,900

9515 Camberwell Drive From the Suzanne C. Allen estate to Willaim A. and Lynn C. Ault $134,000

46788

46804

15562 N. State Road 1 From Ruth E. Liechty to Seiler Family Farms LLC $236,666

5823 Chase Creek Court From Roger W. and Eleanor B. Maurer to Susan L. Bunatta $239,000

18003 Cuba Road From Phyllis E. Peters to Emanuel E. and Susann Graber $68,300

46797 4780 Legacy Cove From Woodburn Development LLC to Granite Ridge Builders $28,106 23504 Kammeyer Road From William F. and Meta Kammeyer to Chad T. and Betsy L. Stuckey $104,000 4311 Elm St. From Freddie Mac to United Steel Workers Home Association Local 715 $30,500

46802 2064 Phenie St. From HUD to 1st Source Bank $65,882 203 E. Berry St. #904 From AWB Holdings LLC to Maria R. Valcarcel $291,885 2218 Ontario St. From Mason Rosemary to World Cup Realty LLC $20,000

PERRY TOWNSHIP Granite Ridge Builders Inc. 12490 Tocchi Drive $214,783

3521 Saginaw Drive From Stephen L. and Stacey A. Hammond to Robert P. Sandoz $189,900

2530 Darlene Court From CitiMortgage Inc. to Zipperzone Properties LLC $16,200

5332 Chippewa Trail From Steven E. and Suzanne Yentes to Ivan and Marlene K. Medina $142,000

4220 Aboite Lake Drive From the Eugene Hoffman estate to Timothy J. McArdle $101,000 10625 Sheffield Cove From Mark F. and Amber L. Caesar to Kasie K. and Christopher R. Miller $246,000

2071 Pauline St. From HUD to Lexco Management $19,100

8707 Ash Bourne Drive From Mark and Lori Bower to Jason R. and Alisa J. McPherson $122,500

3903 Stone Creek Run From Michael G. and Marcia K. Vaught to Ashley and Thomas Meehan $128,500

8418 Hialeah Lane From Bonnie A. Stout to Kristen T. Hines $132,000

2813 Bellaire Drive From John W. Ferguson to Gerard Grant $10,000

806 Nordale Drive From Linda S. Banks to Jesse T. Lammatzsch and Jessica L. Rorick $98,000

10107 Red Oak Court From Catherine A. Petrill to Todd and Kimberly Martin $246,000

7132 Melody Lane From Eric J. and Rachel R. Manson to Brian L. Hull $95,500

9126 Almond Tree Court From Gary L. Durkes to Kenneth P. and Bethany J. Maurer $154,900

1922 Red Oak Run From Gordon S. and Joyce M. Pixley to Donald C. and Dorothy M. Korte $146,000

7911 Sky Breeze Court From Colonial Homes Inc. to Charles R. and Carolyn A. Barnes $48,000

8005 Shady Lake Court From 3030 LLC to Granite Ridge Builders Inc. $48,000

4635 Blue Water Court From Michael R. and Joy R. Kitter to Tyler R. Freeland $105,000

8907 Stockbridge Place From Scott R. McMeen to William T. and Alyssa C. Grantham $210,000

9409 Woodstream Drive From David P. and Cassandra Marie Eccles to David A. Eccles $110,000

9624 Crystal Spring Drive From Scott and Dawn Fritts to Traci Robinson $118,900

8023 Sky Breeze Court From Connie R. Klinepeter to Michael J. and Jennifer E. Roth $183,000 8401 Pember Brook Drive From Tamyra R. Jackson to Nancy M. Stansberry $173,000 9711 Woodland Ridge From Paul F. and Beverly J. Hildebrandt to Jerome A. and Delores J. Ruefer $107,500 9440 Crestridge Drive From Jack K. Dunifon Jr. and Jennifer A. Dunifon to Benjamin A. and Chana N. Goodin $145,500 6130 Almond Bluff Pass From Millennium Development Inc. to Denise V. Lloyd $306,000 10414 N. Westlakes Drive From Charles D. and Mary M. Lymburner to Heath K. and Megan A. Lisenby $247,000 536 Tattersholl Court From Harold P. Schick to Margaret A. Savitska $117,500 1111 N. Hadley Road From Lincoln Fort Wayne Associates LLC to Brunswick Corp. $6,850,000 618 S. Hadley Road From WCC Properties LLC to Eric J. Augsburger $870,00

46805

2709 Dodge Ave. From Allen County sheriff to Midfirst Bank $44,444 2433 Kenwood Ave. From Andrew C. Hathaway to Lynn M. Altevogt $64,000 2927 Westbrook Drive, Apt. 411 From Freddie Mac to Jessica Montalvo-Anderson $17,900 3611 Spy Run Hill Drive From William L. Shaffer to Steven L. Weber $157,000 1415 Pemberton Drive From Peter J. and Miriam J. Kujak to Matthew A. Grabner $79,500 3510 Eleanor Ave. From Marcella M. Bordner to Steve and Kelly Bordner $80,000 2516 Beacon St. From Kraig D. Akey to Jerry D. Ford $69,900 854 Columbia Ave. From Robert G. and Dorothea K. McCullough to Jason W. Delagrange $113,000

PAGE 19

1815 Randallia Drive From David G. and Rose M. McComas to Russell M. Trainer $92,500 2307 Kenwood Ave. From Annette M. Bush to Katherine R. Horn $59,500

46806 4939 Mount Vernon Park Drive From Veryl C. and Norma L. Roth to Oak Properties LLC $19,428 3610 Robinwood Drive From Veryl C. and Norma L. Roth to Oak Properties LLC $19,428 3521 Robinwood Drive From Veryl C. and Norma L. Roth to Oak Properties LLC $19,428 1115 Milton St. From Veryl C. and Norma L. Roth to Oak Properties LLC $19,428 4519 Werling Drive From Regna and Alberto Saldana to Antonio Saldana $8,000 5214 Yorkshire Drive From Nationstar Mortgage LLC to R&B Enterprises LLC $46,000

Residential Real Estate

AUCTION Executive Home in Sycamore Hills

3016 Crescent Ave. From Robert J. Spychalski to Robert Levandoski and Kathyrn Zamora $70,000 1609 Bayer Ave. From Melissa B. Mcfarland to Samantha R. Griggs $135,000 2813 Sherborne Blvd.

From Allen County sheriff to Freddie Mac $34,200 2927 Westbrook Drive, B-420 From Miranda J. Neuhaus to Jason S. Ehlerding $18,000 2012 California Ave. From Midfirst Bank to HUD $88,183 1831 Crescent Ave. From Midfirst Bank to HUD $82,367 1111 Crescent Ave. From Kyle Durnell to Joseph J. Branam $84,000

1809 Rothbury Ct. - Ft Wayne, IN Thursday, August 29 @ 5:30 Executive 2 Story Home - 4868 Sq. Ft. Walkout Basement - 4 Bedrooms 5 Bathrooms - Master Bedroom w/Fireplace Family Room w/Fireplace - 36 x 22 Garage SWAC Schools Open House: Tues, Aug. 13 from 5 to 6 & Sun, Aug. 18 from 1 to 2 Donald Fisher - Seller Steve Ness - Auction Manager, Cell 260-417-6556 Inspect - Arrange Financing- Bid your price 7HUPV &DOO IRU IUHH EURFKXUH RU YLVLW RXU ZHEVLWH Statements made the day of auction take precedence over previous printed materials or any oral statements.

For a Free Recorded Message, Call 1-877-297-7407 ID 6300 260-356-3911 or 800-356-3911

#AC39600001

www.NessBros.com

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GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly n

fwbusiness.com

2718 Euclid Ave. From Allen County Community Development Corp. to Pedroza and Karla E. Campos $8,002 4315 Marquette Drive From Carl H. and Beulah L. Egly to Robert J. Murphy Jr. $36,500 1412 Eckart St. From Maria C. Rodriguez to Merlin Silvino and Maria J. Carmona $15,000

2937 Bowser Ave. From Farr Stanley to Rafael Flores and Patricia NunezFlores $7,000 3731 Brentwood Ave. From Emory D. Jeffers to Alice and Jackie Fultz $15,000 4507 Kenilworth St. From Allen County sheriff to JPMorgan Chase Bank $52,540

5306 Salem Lane From Barbara A. Dailey to Danny E. Boykin $82,700 3605 S. Barr St. From Meza Alicia to Arellano Guadalupe $7,000 4009 Oliver St. From Rouyes Property Management LLC to Keith and Sharlette Jimerson $15,000

3601 Hessen Cassel Road From Allen County Community Development Corp. to Eugene Bonfiglio $6,228 4101 Hessen Cassel Road From Herdrich Gift Alliance LP to Humaidi Group LLC $150,000 3333 Winter St. From LRB Holdings Inc. to Angel R. Martinez $40,000

Internet Directory www.fwbusiness.com IT SUPPORT & SERVICES • Innovative Technology Group, LLC Contact: Bob Peters 3201 Stellhorn Road Fort Wayne, IN 46815 260-818-0135 itgnei.com

START-UP CAPITAL & ENTREPRENEURAL NEW BUSINESS RESOURCES • Northeast Indiana Innovation Center Inc. Contact: Gulya Alexander 3201 Stellhorn Road Fort Wayne, IN 46815 260-407-6442 niic.net

Be a part of Business Weekly's Internet Directory for $30/week.

Call Today!

260-426-2640 Innovation Park has the right environment, space, and services to meet today’s innovative and changing business needs regardless of your company’s size.

Check out some of our services: Financing • Business Training • Coaching • Mentors • Investors Conference & Meeting Facilities • Office Suites • Wet & Dry Lab Space

Mike Fritsch, Entrepreneur in Residence, mfritsch@niic.net

4111 Reed St. From Jedehiah M. Davis to Steven L. and Geoffrey A. Burns $15,000

Philip E. Wilson 122 Benwell Place Yoder, IN 46798 Assets: $19,650 Liabilities: $45,313

Carol A. Burgo 21411 Howe Road Monroeville, IN 46773 Assets: $43,950 Liabilities: $61,570

1502 E. Fairfax Ave. From Gregory and Panita Surfus to Hassan Saphilay $8,500

Joe E. and Patricia A. Johnson 420 Newton Square Fort Wayne, IN 46816 Assets: $5,550 Liabilities: $41,678

Jessica L. French 10634 N. County Line Road E. Spencerville, IN 46788 Assets: $206,600 Liabilities: $251,160

Carmen S. McAuley 1515 Fairfax Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Assets: $6,700 Liabilities: $19,320

Andrea S. Braden 1636 Schilling Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Assets: $2,584 Liabilities: $27,551

Pamela L. Brown 118 Eldorado Trail East Fort Wayne, IN 46825 Assets: $9,550 Liabilities: $64,281

Kevin J. and Sheila K. Farabee 5645 Centerhurst Terrace Fort Wayne, IN 46835 Assets: $108,650 Liabilities: $139,786

BANKRUPTCIES ADAMS COUNTY Susan L. Lutz 424 W. Water St. Berne, IN 46711 Assets: $114,086 Liabilities: $145,455 Heath A. and Katherine R. Thomas 7581 N. Piqua Road Decatur, IN 46733 Assets: $3,385 Liabilities: $72,352 Kelli R. Delagrange 2577 E. U.S. 224 Decatur, IN 46733 Assets: $16,311 Liabilities: $20,098 Brian D. Kershner 8528 N. 700 East Decatur, IN 46733 Assets: $29,679 Liabilities: $59,272 Kristiana M. Hooten 6797 Second St. Linn Grove, IN 46711 Assets: $2,528 Liabilities: $19,487

ALLEN COUNTY Ariel D. and Sarah M. Cooper 4630 Wayne Trace Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Assets: $9,698 Liabilities: $89,102 Lisa M. Dreher 1431 N. Park Drive New Haven, IN 46774 Assets: $5,825 Liabilities: $93,571

Tamara D. Babani 947 Buchanan St. Fort Wayne, IN 46803 Assets: $1,310 Liabilities: $30,139 Janet Carroll 3301 Cedar Ridge Run Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Assets: $5,700 Liabilities: $18,340 Dorothea F. Rogers 9918 Blue Mound Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46804 Assets: $187,650 Liabilities: $211,413 Gwendolyn D. Stalling 3405 Bowser Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Assets: $86,600 Liabilities: $153,115 James J. and Crystal N. Wolford 1606 Boone St. Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Assets: $5,600 Liabilities: $116,609 Jeffrey S. and Rebecca L. Loe PO Box 123 Harlan, IN 46743 Assets: $12,400 Liabilities: $163,281

Commercial space for lease?

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Northeast Indiana Innovation Center 3201-3217 Stellhorn Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46815

260-407-1754 • niic.net Indiana’s Fifth Certified Technology Park • ISO 9001:2008 Certified

Call 260-426-2640 ext. 305

Jerry L. Stalter and Clairerissa M. Thimlar 1206 Columbia Ave., #2 Fort Wayne, IN 46805 Assets: $110,450 Liabilities: $107,621 Jacqueline Wilson 4611 Standish Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Assets: $4,915 Liabilities: $23,588 Tracy A. Tilley 2210 Valley Creek Run New Haven, IN 46774 Assets: $11,523 Liabilities: $63,186 Tonya S.Thomas 4635 Kaibab Trail Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Assets: $186,250 Liabilities: $213,454 David J. and Amy M. Childers 2019 Maplewood Road Fort Wayne, IN 46819 Assets: $101,102 Liabilities: $107,034

August 9-15, 2013

Robert L. and Evelyn E. Lowe 10611 Monroeville Road Fort Wayne, IN 468169562 Assets: $107,548 Liabilities: $122,585 Francias N. Makridakis Sr. and JayLynn Makridakis 7506 Saddlewood Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46825 Assets: $94,208 Liabilities: $230,678 Sarah M. Poff 5217 Eastwick Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Assets: $8,986 Liabilities: $14,260 Roosevelt R. Carlisle Sr. 2710 Trentman Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Assets: $86,200 Liabilities: $125,607 Brittany J. Fechner 1668 Reed Road, Apt. A Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Assets: $11,145 Liabilities: $42,681 LaWanda K. Hodge 5948 Bunt Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46816 Assets: $5,400 Liabilities: $63,366 Polly T. Taylor 3216 Central Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46806 Assets: $16,800 Liabilities: $12,246 Javar L. and Nicole L. Hamilton 6418 Bellefiled Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46835 Assets: $90,150 Liabilities: $152,805 Mary E. Lupica 540 Professional Park Drive New Haven, IN 46774 Assets: $1,585 Liabilities: $35,406

August 9-15, 2013

n GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

Lance L. Coats 1909 Black Bear Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46808 Assets: $12,260 Liabilities: $42,700

Auburn, IN 46706 Assets: $141,587 Liabilities: $235,513

Tasha M. Glover 245 E. Hoover Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46816 Assets: $3,680 Liabilities: $20,550

Gary G. Weisbarth and Sandra J. Ruscoe-Weisbarth 45 C.R. 24 Corunna, IN 46730 Assets: $166,756 Liabilities: $120,353

Mary L. Briggins 3415 Pleasure Court Fort Wayne, IN 46815 Assets: $102,235 Liabilities: $140,619

Jennifer N. Smith 411 S. Peters St. Garrett, IN 46738 Assets: $72,600 Liabilities: $97,376

Sandra S. Clark 4917 Reed Road Fort Wayne, IN 46835 Assets: $8,093 Liabilities: $169,660

Keith L. Johnson 1263 C.R. 40 Auburn, IN 46706 Assets: $33,000 Liabilities: $57,726

Amanda M. Potts 3508 Turf Lane Fort Wayne, IN 46804 Assets: $3,350 Liabilities: $63,971

Nicholette V. Denham 301 N. Clark St. Auburn, IN 46706 Assets: $21,989 Liabilities: $29,901

Michael L. Yoquelet 4421 MoorďŹ eld Lane Fort Wayne, IN 46816 Assets: $88,155 Liabilities: $68,217

Kim R. Collingsworth P.O. Box 321 Garrett, IN 46738 Assets: $5,700 Liabilities: $23,073

Julie E. McCoy 6609 Salge Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46835 Assets: $34,337 Liabilities: $200,744

HUNTINGTON COUNTY

Aundrea V. Ewing 6014 FairďŹ eld Ave. Fort Wayne, IN 46807 Assets: $1,523 Liabilities: $99,175 Rosemary Whitaker 3619 Shadow Creek Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46818 Assets: $2,930 Liabilities: $27,674 Richard R. Fiedler 6354 C.R. 55 Spencerville, IN 46788 Assets: $3,050 Liabilities: $28,416

DEKALB COUNTY Curtis A. and Samantha J. Bryant 1202 Cristen Ave. Auburn, IN 46706 Assets: $21,758 Liabilities: $50,666 Ronald R. and Katherine S. Fike 565 Cedar St. Waterloo, IN 46793 Assets: $19,670 Liabilities: $112,386 Neil S. Justice 713 Erie Pass

fwbusiness.com Ronald E. and Kimberly S. Frazier 312 N. Detroit St. LaGrange, IN 46761 Assets: $4,450 Liabilities: $103,663

WHITLEY COUNTY

NOBLE COUNTY

David R. Frei 1188 W. Stoneridge Drive Columbia City, IN 46725 Assets: $144,959 Liabilities: $178,185

Daniel L. and Monica L. Rittenberry 316 Glory Ave. Kendallville, IN 46755 Assets: $152,970 Liabilities: $176,407 Dreyden E. Troyer 6012 S. Bend Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46804 Assets: $500 Liabilities: $44,322 Jay D. and Angela M. Nordman 1105 Terrain Ave. Kendallville, IN 46755 Assets: $104,600 Liabilities: $119,143 Keisha M. Handshoe 210 Lions Drive Rome City, IN 46784 Assets: $4,273 Liabilities: $64,706

STEUBEN COUNTY Jeremy L. Hack and Jamie L. Peterson 202 E. Railroad St., Lot 4 Hudson, IN 46747 Assets: $23,241 Liabilities: $39,499

Jeffrey L. Gruwell 1816 N. Meridian Huntington, IN 46750 Assets: $20,350 Liabilities: $29,290

Bryan T. Hall 330 Intertech Parkway, Suite 252 Angola, IN 46703 Assets: $3,120 Liabilities: $85,019

Michael J. and Misty L. Earhart 336 Hanna St. Huntington, IN 46750 Assets: $2,500 Liabilities: $121,923 Reynardo and Jill M. Leal 246 Vine St. Huntington, IN 46750 Assets: $138,701 Liabilities: $146,506 Todd L. and Mariah R. Howard 1512 Avon Place Huntington, IN 46750 Assets: $9,850 Liabilities: $28,334

LAGRANGE COUNTY Stephanie N. Mickem 0805 E. 200 South LaGrange, IN 46761 Assets: $116,820 Liabilities: $142,733

WELLS COUNTY Justin A. and Angela M. Haler 3123 S. Main St. Liberty Center, IN 46766 Assets: $67,814 Liabilities: $38,989 Victor M. and Jewell L. Bennett 5205 E. 800 North Ossian, IN 46777 Assets: $98,119 Liabilities: $146,828 Thomas J. and Jennifer R. Baatz 106 S. Bunn St. Ossian, IN 46777 Assets: $108,227 Liabilities: $108,709

Nancy L. Nesbitt 5835 E. Schrader Road Columbia City, IN 46725 Assets: $67,430 Liabilities: $14,570

Jerry L. and Paula C. Jackson 515 N. Walnut St. Columbia City, IN 46725 Assets: $107,091 Liabilities: $102,777

PATENTS 8,498,350 Communication system incorporating physical layer waveform structure Martin A. Stern, Fort Wayne Thomas E. Young, Fort Wayne Mark A. Gloudemans, Fort Wayne David E. Mussmann, Spencerville Raytheon Co., Waltham, Mass.

Filed: April 19, 2010 Approved: July 30, 2013

8,496,881 Chemical delivery assembly Jeffrey C. Pohl, Fort Wayne James A. Ritchie, Jr., Huntertown Jeffery A. Clark, Garrett Group Dekko Inc., Kendallville Filed: June 10, 2010 Approved: July 30, 2013

8,496,546 Rebounding apparatus Ronald C. Bulloch, Fort Wayne Filed: Aug. 24, 2010 Approved: July 30, 2013

8,491,596 Method for removal of bone Jack Long, Warsaw Brian Maroney, Fort Wayne Jose Guzman, Fort Wayne Frank G. Alvine, Sioux Falls, S.D. Stephen F. Conti, Pittsburgh Roy W. Sanders, Tampa, Fla. Filed: March 9, 2009 Approved: July 23, 2013

Betsy J. Chase P.O. Box 135 Ossian, IN 46777 Assets: $3,643 Liabilities: $28,231

Keep In Touch

Send us your comments and news tips to

news@fwbusiness.com

PAGE 21

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n Learn about valuable tools and how to use them!

Social Media Summit

8:30 A.M.-1 P.M. August 14 at The Chamber

Keynote address: Online and Offline Marketing: How To Connect the Dots. Kevin Mullett, Cirrus ABS Closing address: The 3 R’s of Linked In: A Formula for Making the Most of Your Time. Anthony Juliano, Asher Agency Other sessions to choose from: Æ Social Media & the Law. Tony Stites and Jeremy N. Gayed, Barrett & McNagny Æ Blogging and Content Marketing for Business. Derek Pillie, Cirrus ABS Æ Social Media Guidelines for Employees.

Heather Schoegler and Tamarah Brownlee, Parkview Health Æ Twitter 101 for Business. Amber Recker, Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana

Chamber members:

$

49

after Aug. 9: $69

Nonmembers:

$

99

after Aug. 9: $129 Lunch sponsored by Club Soda. Coffee sponsored by Office Depot.

The Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce is now part of Greater Fort Wayne Inc.

Register at fwchamber.org/smsummit

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www.edgertonstravel.com

EDGY: There are risks to pushing boundaries

Continued from PAGE 1

loved it. People said to me it was something different and it was something they’ll remember.”

Smith said his commercial, which ran in June and July on radio sports-talk programs aired by The Fan (106.7-FM and 1380AM), brought in 10 to 15 new customers, including two traveling youth baseball teams.

A Kmart spokeswoman said the national brand’s two commercials, which debuted on YouTube several months ago and remain posted on the Internet, have also been successful. One of the commercials graduated to cable television broadcasts.

The Kmart spokeswoman declined to say whether the commercials had led to increased business, but she noted the “ship my pants” commercial has generated more than 19 million YouTube views and the “big gas savings” ad nearly 6 million. She said the overall feedback from viewers has been positive and there has been little push-back from consumers.

That doesn’t surprise professionals like Matt Kelley, owner of the Fort Wayne advertising and marketing firm One Lucky Guitar, and John Cuneo, Chicago-based writer and director for Fort Wayne’s Punch Films.

“I haven’t done any studies, but my gut says Americans may be a little more liberal than the puritanical clothes we drape ourselves in,” said Cuneo, who has written scripts for print and broadcast promotions.

“We’ve been very genteel in our delivery for many, many years. Maybe (companies are thinking) it’s not the worst thing in the world to throw something out there that’s entertaining and is going to stick in the viewers’ minds.”

Kelly went so far as to say he liked the Kmart commercials “from a creative, craftsmanship perspective,” although he also cautioned that such commercials do present a risk.

“The risk in my mind is: Are you going to offend your core customer base, which probably is a little more conservative, to reach a new, younger (demographic)?”

Kelley said. “I think their decision was let’s risk a little of that with the opportunity to

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August 9-15, 2013

gain a larger audience.”

And in the process, he said, cut through the other advertising noise and position Kmart as a hipper brand.

“There are countless brands,” he said, “who have never tried to hip themselves up and they’ve fallen on their face.”

Not all brands, though, should consider straying from serious pitches in favor of choosing edgy humor to promote products, Kelley and Cuneo said. Some brands require a large measure of marketing restraint.

For Kmart, Cuneo said, going out on a linguistic limb was just fine.

“I mean, how serious do you want to take Kmart?” Cuneo said. “It’s not like it’s a new ad campaign by the Catholic Church to recruit priests. It’s Kmart. You’re going there to get a garden hose.”

Smith said the play on words was equally suitable for his kind of company.

“It does depend on what kind of business you have,” he said. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to hear (“oh, smit”) from a law firm.

But I have a T-shirt company and the commercial was funny.”

For his part, Kelley doesn’t intend to go down the same road with his clients, and “I feel rather proudly that we have clients who don’t say, ‘Find something that will shock our audience.’

“I’m looking to make a connection on a deeper level — to become meaningful to the audience,” he said. “And to make a lasting connection.”

Often, he said, with funny, edgy commercials “you get a short chuckle and then it’s gone. It meant nothing.”

Nevertheless, Kmart may have sequels, the company spokeswoman said, although nothing is planned.

And Smith, whose company provides custom embroidery and silk-screening for apparel as well as banner and sign products, said he would consider running a similar commercial again — and again place it in a program slot that largely draws an adult audience.

“Times have changed,” he said. “People are loosening up a little bit and that funny stuff, people are remembering it. You can talk about how good your product is, but everyone can talk about that.”

BRIEFLY

K O S C I U S K O C O U NT Y

SYMMETRY SURGICAL HAS NEW PRESIDENT Warsaw-based Symmetry Medical Inc. has appointed Ajey Atre president of its subsidiary, Symmetry Surgical, effective Aug. 12.

Atre will be responsible for leading the global Symmetry Surgical business, which is based in Nashville, and will report to Symmetry Medical CEO Thomas Sullivan.

Atre has nearly 20 years of experience in the medical-device industry. For the past five years, he was general manager of Zimmer Holdings Inc.’s trabecular metal technologies business.

August 9-15, 2013

n

n GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly

HERITAGE: Residents can customize homes

Continued from PAGE 1

The senior citizens residential project also includes winding streets lined with detached homes arranged around three small lakes, thus the name, the “Villas at Heritage Lakes.”

The villas were the first part of the project to begin construction, with the first one finished just over four years ago.

Despite a weak housing market, 37 of the 56 lots now have completed homes or are reserved or under construction.

“I’ve always felt grateful we’ve done each year we’ve done at least five or six units despite the economy,” said Pat Hart, who coordinates sales, marketing and admissions for the Heritage of Fort Wayne.

In fact, the weak housing market may even have made the villas more attractive.

Although each new one is built to suit its first occupant, the villas aren’t sold outright. Residents pay an entry fee, and then monthly rent and utilities, which are low because all the homes have geothermal heating and cooling.

Residents still get to customize the homes a bit to suit their tastes, but the buy-in makes the villas more affordable than a conventional purchase. And if and when they decide to move on, residents don’t have to worry about possible depreciation or the hassle of selling the home.

Lawn mowing, landscaping, snow removal, appliance services and maintenance also are included. And a clubhouse offers a meeting and party area as well as an exercise room that residents can use at no charge.

Should an individual or couple want or need later to move into the apartments, health-care center or memory-care units in the new complex, or at the Huntington or Warren complexes, there’s a discount based on their earlier entry fee.

Like the detached homes, which range in

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space from about 1,400 square feet to more than 2,000, the apartments in the new life center building will be spacious — about 900 square feet for a two-bedroom unit.

Apartments will have kitchens, but residents also will be able to get meal service if they prefer not to cook. Housekeeping services also are provided.

The nursing center will have 66 beds, each in a separate room that has both a living and bedroom space. Memory care will be provided on two levels: as assisted living for those who qualify and as nursing for those who require a higher level of care. On on-site rehab center will provide inpatient and outpatient physical-therapy services.

The life center also will have a small bistro that Hart said could be serve up food and occasional entertainment for residents in the villas and the main building as well as outsiders.

Scheduled to be completed next spring, the life center will offer the same high level of care the facilities in Huntington and Warren do, Hart said. “We are very resident oriented; it’s very patient-centered service,” she said.

Residents in the villas and the main building must be 65 or older. Many come from Fort Wayne, but the Heritage also has drawn interest from people in other states because they have family in the area, Hart said. Residents in the villas plan frequent activities — bridge, euchre, carry-in dinners, coffees, restaurant jaunts, etc.

‘It’s a very social group. They get to know their neighbors and they watch out for each other,” she said.

The Heritage villas are being built

by Colonial Homes. The life center was designed by MKM Architecture + Design, and its general contractor is Schenkel Construction.

BRIEFLY

E LK H A RT C O U N T Y

THOR TO SELL BUS BUSINESS FOR $100 MILLION Elkhart-based Thor Industries Inc. has reached an agreement to sell its bus business to Allied Specialty Vehicles Inc. for $100 million. The transaction, the latest in a series of deals involving the two companies, is expected to close by Nov. 1.

Thor’s bus business includes: Champion Bus Inc.; General Coach America Inc.; Goshen Coach Inc.; El Dorado National California Inc.; and El Dorado National Kansas Inc. Combined, the businesses had annual sales of about $450 million for

Thor’s fiscal year ended July 31. Thor will continue to own and operate the bus business until the closing date of the sale.

In May, Thor sold substantially all of the assets of its SJC Industries Corp. subsidiary to Wheeled Coach Industries Inc., a subsidiary of privately held ASV, which is based in Orlando, Fla. SJC’s Elkhart plant closed as a result, a move that cost 165 workers their jobs. In June, Thor announced the purchase of the former Navistar International Corp.’s Monaco RV production facility in Wakarusa.

Navistar had sold the assets of Monaco and its other RV businesses to ASV in May. ASV owns Fleetwood RV in Decatur and has begun moving production there from Wakarusa.

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3306 Independence Drive Fort Wayne, IN 46808

GREATER FORT WAYNE Business Weekly n August

Business Weekly

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GREATER FORT WAYNE

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