The IBJ Podcast with Mason King

4.6 (50)
BUSINESS NEWS
UPDATED WEEKLY

A weekly take on business news in central Indiana from the Indianapolis Business Journal. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

6D AGO

What’s behind the Indiana Legislature’s special session on redistricting and how could it play out?

Gov. Mike Braun has called a special session of the Indiana Legislature, set to begin Monday, Nov. 3, that could make Indiana one of states to redraw its congressional maps before next year’s midterm elections. The Trump administration has lobbied Braun and Republican lawmakers since at least August to reapportion the state’s nine districts in hopes of engineering a GOP sweep next year. Indiana’s congressional delegation already is dominated by Republicans, but two of the state’s nine seats in the U.S. House of Representatives currently are held by Democrats. Braun called the special session despite a definitive report from Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray’s office that there wasn’t enough support in the Indiana Senate to redraw the maps. But Braun believes the votes will be there. In this edition of the IBJ Podcast, host Mason King is joined by two local journalists with significant experience covering the legislature to dissect the events that led to the special session and explain how it could play out. They also discuss the history of redistricting in Indiana and the decades-long battle to expand political power by changing boundaries on a map.

35 min
OCT 27

Pat East on the new buzz over buying businesses—and potential red flags

We’ve developed a romantic ideal of entrepreneurism in recent decades closely connected to startup culture and the brave souls who want to create something that can disrupt a product type or even a whole industry. But for a variety of reasons, a growing number of aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages are choosing to become business owners by acquiring a company rather than starting one from scratch. Among the benefits: Folks who acquire companies are working with products or services that already are proven in the marketplace. They can immediately start paying themselves from existing sales. And getting financing can be easier when your business has an established track record. Our guest this week on the IBJ Podcast is a great example of the surging interest in ETA—shorthand for entrepreneurship through acquisition. Pat East and his wife founded a digital marketing company from scratch in the early 2000s and turned it into a behemoth with 75 employees and $10 million in annual sales. They sold it in 2020, which allowed East to focus more on his other role as executive director at The Mill, a nonprofit Bloomington co-working space and entrepreneurship center. He recently stepped down from The Mill in hopes of getting back into business for himself, and he discovered that Indiana doesn’t have a very robust community for aspiring entrepreneurs interested in ETAs. So he’s hosting meetups across the state to help fill that gap while he searches for his opportunity. In this week’s podcast, East discusses his exit from Hanapin Marketing, provides tips for those considering ETAs and breaks down the warning signs entrepreneurs should beware.

58 min
OCT 20

Pete the Planner on what to do when you're furloughed

As the federal government shutdown drags on and thousands of federal workers are going without paychecks, we thought it would be a great time to check in with Peter Dunn about what to do if you’re suddenly laid off or facing a loss of income. Peter writes the Pete the Planner column and hosts the Pete the Planner podcast where he talks about money. He’s also the founder and CEO of Your Money Line, which provides workplace financial advice for companies across the country. He talked with IBJ Editor Lesley Weidenbener about the challenges facing federal workers for whom the future remains murky. And they discuss what those and other laid off or furloughed workers can do – and what they shouldn’t do – to address the situation.

49 min
OCT 13

The serious business of scaring patrons at Indy Scream Park

Anderson native Benjamin Nagengast comes by his bent for entrepreneurism and artistic design naturally. His mother founded a prominent design and engineering firm in the Anderson area, and his father was involved in several enterprises, including his own ceramic pottery business. When Ben was 10, his mother suggested the family start a pumpkin patch on their 75-acre farm. The lessons learned there helped Ben start an enterprise at the age of 13 that would become White River Paintball. Eleven years later, in 2010, he co-launched the haunted house attraction Indy Scream Park, also in the Anderson area. Ben and his wife, Mariah Nagengast, went on to create three more family-fun theme parks, all located in Dade City, Florida, a short drive east of the Tampa area. The five parks in Florida and Indiana fall under the umbrella of the entertainment development firm Point Summit. Ben is the CEO, and Mariah is the chief acquisitions and financial officer. They now live in Florida, but they still have their fingers on the pulse of the Anderson attractions and recently invested $300,000 to upgrade elements of Indy Scream Park. They also are looking at creating new attractions on land they own next to the Scream Park and paintball business. Ben and Mariah are our guests this week to explain what it takes to operate a sprawling fear factory. The Scream Park is a serious seasonal business requiring nearly 200 employees on a busy night to create a sense of impending doom—but not danger.

43 min
OCT 6

What a state audit reveals about the IEDC, Elevate Ventures and more

Gov. Mike Braun’s administration last week released an audit the governor ordered last spring of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. — the state’s job creation agency — and related organizations, including the IEDC’s foundation as well as Elevate Ventures, the Applied Research Institute and other groups. From the beginning, the governor and Commerce Secretary David Adams referred to the review as a “forensic audit,” a term generally used when fraud or legal irregularities are expected. But the Governor’s Office said the review uncovered nothing criminal. Still, the auditors included dozens of findings in their report, including situations involving conflicts of interest, poor documentation and a lack of transparency. IBJ Editor Lesley Weidenbener talks with IBJ reporter Susan Orr, who has been following the issue for months, about what the audit found and what the results mean for several organizations. You can read more coverage of the audit at IBJ.com.

27 min
SEP 29

Goodwill CEO expands programs, embraces mergers, tries new territories

Kent Kramer registered an inkling of his calling early in high school when he started working for a supermarket in his native Muncie. He loved helping customers, getting to know them better, examining what they were buying and seeing how they stretched their food dollars. After college he jumped onto the store management track with Sam’s Club, deep in the heart of American consumer culture. This ultimately led him to his dream job with the global nonprofit Goodwill Industries, best known for the thrift stores that help power a wide variety of programs that help people become economically self-sufficient. Kramer became president and CEO of Goodwill of Central Indiana in 2015 and has captained aggressive expansion of its programs and footprint. Now known, at least for the time being, as Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, the organization serves 40 Hoosier counties and 21 counties in central Illinois, while it establishes its model in Puerto Rico. Kramer has overseen impressive expansion of his organization’s employment, education and health services. That includes growing its maternal and natal care program to all 92 Indiana counties and scaling up its Excel Center program for adult education on a national level. Over the summer, IBJ Media recognized Kramer as the first recipient of its nonprofit executive of the year award, and he is our guest for this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast discussing his early love for retail, how central Indiana’s Goodwill extended its influence to a U.S. territory and how the organization has handled the challenges of several mergers with like-minded nonprofits.

1h 3m
SEP 22

Rugby star wants to make Indy the sport’s home field

Two months ago, one of America’s most prominent rugby players—both on the professional and international level—announced he was retiring at the age of 30. As a news event, this wasn’t on the level of an NBA All-Star retiring. But if you were a rugby fan or an alumnus of Indiana University, you probably knew the name Bryce Campbell, who had the distinction of being named the nation’s top collegiate rugby player while competing for IU’s team. Campbell’s new goal is to significantly raise the profile of Indianapolis in the rugby world and turn the city into a hub for the sport at the amateur, professional and national levels. Campbell is a partner in Riverside Sports Properties, which recently signed a 20-year lease with Indy Parks and Recreation to manage and operate Kuntz Stadium on West 16th Street. It’s in the midst of millions of dollars in improvements to upgrade the field and stadium proper, prior to construction of a training facility, garage and plaza. In this week’s edition of the podcast, Indianapolis-native Campbell recounts his years as a Cathedral High School and IU phenom as well as his distinguished career as a pro and a member of the U.S. national team. He is using those experiences and connections to advance his goal of making Indianapolis the center of the rugby world, including landing a Major League Rugby franchise and carving out a role for the city in the 2031 and 2033 World Cups. And don’t be surprised to see toddlers learning the basics at Kuntz Stadium.

45 min
SEP 15

Pew Research’s Richard Fry unpacks gender gap in college enrollment

The gap between women and men attending college in Indiana continues to grow in favor of women. In raw numbers, 72,419 more girls than boys who graduated from Indiana high schools from 2009 to 2023 went on to higher education. Another head-jerking trend: The overall percentage of high school grads in Indiana who enroll in higher education stumbled from 61% in 2018 to 52% just five years later in 2023. Richard Fry, senior researcher at Pew Research Center, joins IBJ to discuss the widening gender gap in U.S. college enrollment. Fry analyzes federal data from 2011 to 2022, highlighting a sharp drop in college attendance among young men, shifting public views on the value of a degree, and rising wages for workers without one. He also examines racial and ethnic differences, workforce participation trends, and challenges in tracking training programs.

40 min

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4.6

out of 5

50 Ratings

Excellent Host

07/21/2024

misterbuzz

Mason is one of the best podcast hosts and interviewer there is. He does his homework on the weekly topics and guests, so is well prepared with questions. He’s inquisitive while extremely polite and conducts the interviews in a relaxed and engaging manner. The conversation flows in a concise and logical fashion. He’s a real gem of a gentleman. I look forward to his podcast every week!
Great public service to Indy

01/31/2024

Jared Herbert

This podcast is a great public service to Indianapolis and Central Indiana.
Great insight

08/22/2022

Kthomasjr

Mason and his team provide a fantastic overview of what is happening here in Indianapolis. While the intent is business based, I feel like this podcast is the only way I find out the context and history of what is happening here in Indy. Great job and keep it up
The voice of Indianapolis

12/12/2018

ReportThis505

IBJ’s first venture into the podcasting world successfully continues a growing need for podcast reporting at the local level. Whether a listener is commuting downtown, sipping their morning coffee or working at their desk, the funky intro beat appropriately ushers them into the day’s top news story. Solid interviews introduce the listener to story subjects and the reporters who break the story. Host Mason King is a smooth moderating talking head who asks the right questions to journalists. However, the podcast is missing an overview of other top IBJ stories. My personal taste for news podcasts include a list of quick news bits from the day’s paper at the beginning or end of a podcast. Maybe a quick sound bite of an interview to accompany the news bits too. Although, I just listened to the podcast about the Indiana Pacers Bike Share program and loved how the episode interviewed one of the sources. Even though it could have benefitted from King’s direction, Scholette’s interview with the program director stood out from previous episodes because it gives a source of the story a voice as well. Perhaps interviewing sources could become a staple for future episodes? Originally from around South Bend, the bike share story in particular draws parallels with the increase in scooter and bike share programs around ND. The program subjects such as the midterm elections speak in accordance to Indianapolis, but like every local area, some subjects contribute to the national conversation. Kudos to IBJ for starting on the right foot and getting ahead of the curve. The Indy Star and other local media need to be taking notes.