The IBJ Podcast Indianapolis Business Journal

Our guest this week is Brandi Davis-Handy, who in February was named president of AES Indiana. That’s the electricity utility for Marion County and portions of the greater Indianapolis area, serving more than 500,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers. Davis-Handy was promoted from her position as chief customer officer, and prior to that she spent much of her career at parent firm AES Corp. in communications and public relations roles.That experience is entirely relevant to a major issue she now faces as president. In November, AES Indiana upgraded several customer-related systems that were at least a quarter of a century old. The complex operation hasn’t gone entirely as planned. At the height of the problems with the rollout, about 10% of the company’s customers were affected by billing issues—for example, being charged the wrong amount for service or not even receiving a bill. The fixes are ongoing despite the efforts of more than 400 people working on the project.Davis-Handy’s goals as president include improving customer service and communication, as well as the reliability of service. In this episode of the IBJ Podcast, she discusses the problems with the upgrade. She outlines the challenges of trying to grow the business when it’s hemmed in by other electric utilities, as well as the company’s final push to eliminate coal as a source of energy for creating electricity. And she discusses growing up in the Indianapolis area with dreams of becoming the next Oprah Winfrey and pursuing a career in media.
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This is the 300th episode of the IBJ Podcast, which debuted on June 3, 2018. In what has become a tradition for the podcast's anniversaries, host Mason King checks in with Pete Dunn, aka Pete the Planner, to get his latest take on personal finance and some of the knottier issues that arise when managing your money.
In this episode, Pete explores for the first time the relationship between career earnings and the assets you’ve accumulated. It’s a different way to think about what you’ve saved so far, as well as how much more you need to put away before you retire. Along these lines, he also spend a significant amount of time talking about the role that your housing decisions—good and bad—play in retirement readiness. And if you listen closely, you’ll hear a recommendation for a book of financial advice that despite being nearly 100 years old is still valuable today.
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If you’ve lived in central Indiana for more than a few years, you’re probably at least familiar with John Stehr, a lead news anchor for WTHR-TV Channel 13 for 23 years before retiring in 2018. He since has gone from reporting the news to becoming the news. At the age of 65, he is now the mayor of Zionsville, the fast-growing town just northwest of Indianapolis with one of the state’s highest median incomes. He ran on a platform that included reforming the culture and financial transparency of Zionsville government and taking better advantage of economic development opportunities while preserving the essential character of the town.He jumped into the job in January with a big-picture plan for addressing perhaps the most contentious issue in Zionsville over the last decade: how to develop the land just south of Zionsville’s gingerbread-like downtown business district. In the last decade, there have been at least three proposals for projects of various sizes with various uses for that area. None of them panned out. The typical result is that residents argue the proposals are too dense, would create too much traffic and would undermine downtown’s identity and power as a draw for visitors.Stehr has proposed a master plan for the South Village area that could bring $250 million in investment over 160 acres, including new homes and apartments, office space and retail development, and road upgrades, while devoting nearly half of the area to greenspace. In this week’s edition of the podcast, Stehr makes his case for South Village and how he can win over opponents in coming weeks. He also discusses progress on several of his other campaign promises, including lowering the temperature of Zionsville politics. It became heated during clashes between former Mayor Emily Styron and the town council over personnel issues, spending decisions and reviewing the town’s finances. Here’s our conversation.
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When Benjamin Hanna assembled the schedule for his first season as artistic director of the Indiana Repertory Theatre, he placed “Little Shop of Horrors” as the closing production for the 2023-24 season. The IRT, founded in 1972, had not previously staged “Little Shop of Horrors”—which debuted in New York in 1982 and was adapted for a 1986 film.
Perhaps more noteworthy is that “Little Shop of Horrors” is a musical. The IRT last staged a traditional Broadway musical in 2013, when Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” was part of the schedule.
For this edition of the podcast, IBJ arts reporter Dave Lindquist talks with Benjamin Hanna and “Little Shop of Horrors” cast member Rob Johansen, who preview the production that opens April 17th. Rob has appeared in more than 50 productions at the IRT. This time, he’s the puppeteer controlling Audrey Two, the otherworldly plant that requires human blood to thrive.
For more arts and entertainment news, sign up for Lindquist's "After Hours' newsletter here.
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Chick McGee has been a fixture on Indianapolis radio for 38 years as a cast member of “The Bob & Tom Show,” the morning show which originates from WFBQ-FM and is heard on close to 100 radio stations across the country. That’s 38 consecutive years, even if you count the six months in 1995 when he moved to San Diego to host another show and then resigned due to creative differences, home sickness and the earlier resignation of his co-host. He was quickly invited back to “Bob & Tom,” where his chemistry with the core cast continued to grow.Anybody who has listened to the show for more than a few weeks knows his central role: He’s the combustible comic foil for host Tom Griswold, who likes to claim the intellectual high ground while Chick wears his heart on his sleeve, including his seven or eight stents from cardiac disease.On this episode of the IBJ Podcast, Magee and host Mason King dive into the dynamics that drive the show and how his role developed and evolved over 38 years. You might know that co-host Bob Kevoian retired in 2015 and since has suffered serious health issues; Griswold had heart valve replacement surgery in 2021; and comedian Ron Sexton, best known as recurring character Donnie Baker, died last fall. Mortality isn’t necessarily funny, but it's fodder for McGee, who believes it’s important to be real on-air about difficult topics. McGee also runs through his origin story: growing up in an idyllic Ohio town, the rocky family life that shaped him and the mentor who encouraged him to embrace being funny.The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Back in 1990, Mark Hardwick had a courtside seat on the Ball State University bench for one of the most memorable games in March Madness history. Those were heady times for the redshirt freshman from tiny Dunkirk, Indiana, and a few years later he would have his chance to start in an NCAA tournament game for Ball State. But it’s the former squad from 1990 that came within a basket of defeating one of the greatest teams in college basketball history and has since been enshrined in the BSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
But Hardwick’s journey as a distinguished alum continues. In early 2021, he was named CEO of Muncie-based First Merchants Bank after more than two decades as an executive for the institution, including a 19-year run as chief financial officer. Over the course of his tenure at First Merchants, the bank’s assets have increased from $1 billion to $18 billion, and its employee base has grown from 200 to 2,100 in its operations over four states.
Hardwick has lived the vast majority of his life either in Muncie or just outside Muncie, but in April 2023 he moved to Carmel. He’ll be working out of the new Indianapolis regional headquarters for First Merchants, the former headquarters building of Duke Realty Corp. The bank purchased the building for a bargain $18 million after Duke was acquired 2022. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Hardwick and host Mason King of course tip things off by talking college hoops and the basketball lessons Hardwick now uses to preach business principles. He discusses the philosophy behind buying the Duke building in the Keystone at the Crossing area and why Muncie remains the bank’s corporate home base although most of the executives work in Indianapolis. And he dives into his passions for making lists of his goals and for developing leadership skills for himself and bank employees.
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