An Indianapolis Business Podcast: Off the Circle

Joined by Frank Leonard and Harry Howe, on this episode, we speak with attorney Wes Zirkle who was part of a sports talent representation firm that went international and Emily Schoenbaechler, who worked extensively in the State House and is passionate about female representation in our technology space. The conversation about our business climate was frank and honest. We're all proud Hoosiers who have invested heavily in our home state and want it to move forward. No doubt, we've had some setbacks, but that shouldn't stop every company that works here from helping one another drive their businesses forward! Special Guests: Emily Schoenbaechler and Wesley Zirkle.

On this episode, we interview Rich Banta, founder and Chief Compliance Officer of Lifeline Data Centers. Rich leads the country in compliance and certifications and has been instrumental at driving innovation in the Data Center industry. His certifications include: CISSP (ISC²) Certified Information Systems Security Professional - April 2017 - Present CCSP (ISC² & CSA) Certified Cloud Security Professional - May 2017 - Present CISA (ISACA) Certified Information Systems Auditor - September 2010 - Present CRISC (ISACA) Certified in Risk & Information Systems Control - December 2010 - Present CFCP (FISMA Center) Certified FISMA Compliance Practitioner - October 2014 - Present CDCDP (CNet/BTEC) Certified Data Center Design Professional - February 2014 - Present CDCAP (CNet/BTEC) Certified Data Center Audit Professional - February 2018 - Present DCIE (IDCA) Data Center Infrastructure Expert - February 2018 - Present The defense acquisition system exists to manage the investments of the United States in technologies, programs, and product support necessary to achieve the national security strategy and to support the United States Armed Forces. The primary objective of DoD acquisition is to acquire quality supplies and services that satisfy user needs with measurable improvements to mission capability and operational support at a fair and reasonable price. Rich is an expert in compliance and the regulations associated with them. Rich speaks regionally and nationally on all topics related and is a saught out speaker. Special Guest: Rich Banta.

On this episode, we interview Steve Sanner, President of Hoosier Automotive Services. In 1985, Steve Sanner and his partners started what is now known as Jiffy Lube of Indiana. Since that time, the Indianapolis-based business has expanded to 48 Jiffy Lube locations (46 in Indiana, two in Illinois) with more than 400 employees, creating one of the largest systems of franchised service centers in the industry. In 2017 alone, the company performed nearly half a million oil changes. While Jiffy Lube of Indiana is well-known for providing superior vehicle care, its commitment to employees is what Sanner says has led it to become one of the leading Jiffy Lube franchises in the U.S. Through the company’s “Growing People Through Work” program, lives of employees and their families have been transformed. Recognized for several years by Training Magazine as one of the best training programs in the country, highlights of Growing People Through Work include: $5,000 loans for managers who are first time home buyers to use as a down payment Tuition reimbursement and college scholarships for employees’ children Seminars with experts, designed to coach employees on financial literacy, health and wellness, and attitude/pride-in-work A Jiffy Lube Cares Fund that has provided more than $220,000 in no-interest loans to employees for emergency situations Lonnie Hinkle, COO of Jiffy Lube of Indiana, is a living example of how Growing People Through Work can change lives. He started at Jiffy Lube with a part-time job vacuuming cars, moving up through the ranks to become manager and eventually COO and company partner. He credits Jiffy Lube with paying off his student loans, helping him buy his first home – and even helping him lose 120 pounds! Special Guest: Steve Sanner.

On this episode, we interview Robert Bogue. Robert has a driving passion for delivering solutions through both teaching and learning. His drive for resolving problems is fueled by his creativity and innovation – by his ability to find solutions that others cannot find. His experience in the technical world has given him a unique opportunity to learn how to solve problems both in a technical sense and an organizational sense well before problems arise. Robert is an Indianapolis leader and has owned his business, Thor Projects (https://www.thorprojects.com/), for over 10 years. He has authored 26 books and has been an editor for over 100 additional books. Robert has received the prestigious Microsoft MVP designation fifteen times. He combines his love for emotional intelligence, communication skills gleaned from working in the IT world and having to talk to others, and his dynamic presentation skills to help change lives one at a time. Robert is an engaging presenter who speaks at local, regional, national, and international events. He has spoken to tens of thousands of professionals. Robert has fine-tuned his ability to focus others into effective communicating to create a wonderful experience for his audiences. He can bring together all departments of an organization to help build communication bridges to increase employee satisfaction and therefore increase efficiency within the organization. He is committed to making the complicated, simple. His approach to continual learning has led him to be an expert in instructional design and video production. Which led our host, Douglas, to travel to Robert's home studio where Thor Projects can sit down and record a podcast or video lesson at the click of a button. It's truly an exceptional resource for Robert and his wife who both provide content for learning management systems. On this episode, we speak to Robert about the studio, the equipment, and the lessons learned along the way. Special Guest: Robert Bogue.

On this episode, we interview Scott Rudd, who works for Indiana's Lieutenant Governor's office as the Director of Broadband Opportunities. We discuss how Indiana is leading the country in driving innovation with broadband access. As well, we interview Scott's work in Brown County got the attention of the state, where he's been hired to help transform the broadband accessibility in our state. Scott wworks closely with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to work with farmers and farm businesses within the community on ways to make sure they are keeping up with the advancing technology that will keep the agriculture industry thriving. Scott also works closely with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to collaborate with communities and identify the best ways to attract reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet to rural Indiana. As a part of the task set forth for the director of broadband opportunities, Rudd is working with OCRA on their Broadband Readiness Plan in the Community Development Block Grant Planning Grants program. Special Guests: Nik Thomas and Scott Rudd.

On this episode, we interview Susan Marshall, a 20-plus year technology veteran who's been deeply involved in the rapid evolution of digital marketing, video, audio, mobile, social and data management technologies. Digital marketing is complex. Marketers today need guidance on how to identify what's truly a top priority and help to get it done. At Torchlite, they believe it's not enough to just create another software solution. It's about bringing people and technology together to create a fast, nimble, and tech-enabled approach to get marketing done. Susan's excitement is contagious and Indianapolis' Torchlite continues to evolve as a leader for companies to attract and assemble their outsourced digital marketing teams. Unlike most freelance directories, Torchliters are vetted and their performance monitored to ensure the highest quality resources are assembled. The Torchlite management platform provides a new way to get digital marketing done right by seamlessly combining people, technology, and campaigns into a single interface. And their marketplace of experts helps you make the most of your digital marketing - inspiring you to focus on the work you love most. Special Guest: Susan Marshall.

On this episode, we interview Evan Tester and Steven Meyer of King Park and discuss how Community Development Financial Institutions are helping to play a key role in developing underserved parts of our community. King Park Development Corporation is a non-profit community development corporation (CDC) committed to improving housing, economic development, and quality of life in the King Park area. Founded in 1987 by concerned residents and neighborhood groups, King Park has helped drive the revitalization of neighborhoods in the northern downtown area of Indianapolis through various public and private partnerships. King Park focuses on comprehensive community development by: * Revitalizing neighborhoods by renovating and building affordable housing. * Driving economic growth and sustainability with our business services. * Directly impacting and contributing to the quality of life through public programs. The King Park service area includes the following neighborhoods: Old North Side, Herron Morton Place, Kennedy King, Reagan Park, Fall Creek Place, Friends & Neighbors, and Crosstown. Each neighborhood offers a unique experience, and our efforts have helped create vibrant, growing communities in the heart of Marion County. Special Guests: Evan Tester, Jenn Golding, and Steven Meyer.

On this episode, we interview Jeffrey Ton, a Hoosier native who has worked in IT for over 35 years. Jeff has written hundreds of blog posts about technology and technology leadership and most recently published his first book, Amplify Your Value: Leading IT with Strategic Vision (https://amzn.to/2oY3u9c). His articles have appeared on Forbes, CSO Online, People Development Magazine, Intel’s IT Peer Network, and his own blog, Rivers of Thought (https://riversofthought.net/). Throughout his career in business, Jeff has developed and fine tuned his leadership skills to become a business focused leader who drives results. He brings a strategic view of business and identifies innovative approaches to achieve business objectives by leveraging technology where and when appropriate. Adept at building and leading teams, both in-line and cross-organizational, he has been a catalyst for change across the businesses he has served. In this discussion, we speak about the evolution of the IT industry, its products and services. Jeff's insight into the business is incredible. Regionally, he's also launched the Indy CIO Network that holds monthly lunch and dinners with over 250 CIOs in attendence. Special Guests: Frank Leonard and Jeffrey Ton.

On this episode, we interview Harry Howe. Harry has mentored hundreds of young people, entrepreneurs, and businesses in the community. As soon as you meet him, you'll understand why. We wanted to put the spotlight on Harry as a thank-you for all he's done for us and to find out more about his story. We discuss his military service, his education at Bucknell University, his corporate career at General Electric, and what brought he and his family to Indianapolis. Harry is now launching a community to spread his influence and wisdom, the Indy Grit Community (https://indygrit.community/). Indy Grit was created to embrace the messy reality of entrepreneurship and professional development. It's not a networking event, it's a community of peers that will share the truth of their failures and how they were overcome with grit, a character asset that every entrepreneur must muster. Special Guests: Chris Hoyt and Scott Taylor.

Indiana leads the way in life sciences and agri-business, areas critical to global interests. Information technology companies are exploding here, creating a wealth of technology, talent, and support for other companies. Advanced manufacturing thrives here. Leadership across all sectors—business, government, universities and health care—is strong and forward thinking in Indiana. On this episode, we interview Oscar Moralez, a Serial Entrepreneur from the Life Sciences industry and Founder of Indianapolis' Largest Angel Investment Firm, VisionTech Partners. The Angel investment group is composed of inventors, entrepreneurs, investors, universities, and strategic partners who converge to share, develop, fund, and launch innovative technologies. VisionTech Partners brings a thoughtful, systematic, and proven approach to deliver financial and strategic support to promising entrepreneurs and startup companies. They provide investors with meaningful opportunities to invest and build companies based on extensive due diligence. They engage a network of seasoned business, industry, and technology partners who are available to lend their expertise. And they also maintain a national network of angel and venture capital firms, leveraging their ability to find and procure capital and commercialization opportunities. Special Guest: Oscar Moralez.

Wilks & Wilsonʼs hand-crafted, organic infused and all natural elixirs, though also meant for use in non-alcoholic beverages, cooking and coffee, are intended for use in cocktails. Many of these cocktails were common to the late-1800s to the early 1900s– also known as the pre-Prohibition era. The exact origin of the term cocktail is disputed. However, what is known is that, since even before this time, people have been using various blends of spirits, sugar and other natural ingredients as a way to enjoy their favorite alcoholic beverages. Every spirit has its own nuance. Every cocktail has its own history and ingredients that have been carefully selected to bring out and enhance those nuances. Elixirs play a large role in that process. Zach and Greg wanted to brand themselves in that era, going for the term “patent medicine.” Patent medicine was the term for secret, original remedies common to this period, which often carried crazy names and wild claims. Today, we are witnessing a return to the appreciation of the finer, hand-crafted cocktails of yesteryear. Staying ahead of the trend, Wilks & Wilson has scoured the annals of bartending to find the recipes and stories behind the greatest cocktails in history. Zach said his style of bartending centers around the pre-Prohibition era, naming it as his sweet spot. Instead of focusing on more modern practices, he said he researches and mixes historical, cultured cocktails, then puts a modern twist on them to make them his. Wilks and Wilson make the finest cocktail elixirs available today. Every cocktail has a story and, with Wilks & Wilson, the story of the hand-crafted cocktail will continue to be written with taste and distinction. Special Guests: Greg Wilson and Weston Hegerfeld.

On this episode, we interview Mike Wilson, Chairman of Leaf Software Solutions. Leaf has been helping businesses reach their corporate goals since 1987. At its core, Leaf takes great satisfaction in being a principle-centered company. They believe in fairness, kindness, effectiveness, and significance. The four principles are deeply embedded in their corporate DNA. They expect that their customers, their employees, their vendors, and their community will benefit from the careful attention they give to living out their principles on a daily basis. And it's working. Leaf Software is continuously leading the pack of the Best Places to Work in Indiana. Mike is not your conventional Chairman and doesn't even come from a technology background. Listen to his amazing story here and you'll get a clear sense of why the culture they've established at Leaf is one for every business to model. Special Guest: Mike Wilson.

On this episode, we interview Zac and Robert of Charitable Allies, a charity that provides legal, educational, administrative support, training, and consulting services to nonprofits. Serving nonprofits may not be unique, but being a nonprofit itself surely is! Charitable Allies also provides its clients: Legal services - Most charities are unable to afford excellent, experienced nonprofit legal services. Charitable Allies provides these services at free and greatly reduced rates to charities and charitable programs. Governance, education and training - Charitable Allies provides educational training, in partnership with myriad other charities, for Boards of Directors, officers and staff, related to governance, leadership, and charitable and philanthropic programming best practices. Administrative support services - Many nonprofit leaders are great at charitable programming, working with their boards, and maybe even fundraising, but may lack essential administrative skills; this can mean that the nonprofit is not as successful as it could be if its leaders were free to play to their strengths. Other nonprofits are stuck in the starvation cycle and don’t spend enough on administrative and “back-office” support. Charitable Allies provides a back office extra set of hands so your nonprofit leaders can do what they do best. Special Guests: Robert Miller and Zac Kester.

On this episode, we interview the leadership of Terra Environmental Corporation, Project Manager Jeff Stone and Rusty Wheat, the founder and President. It's a fascinating conversation about the environmental industry with some information on when you'd need to hire an environmental consultant. We discuss issues regarding meth house cleanup through the complications with commercial real estate issues. Terra Environmental works with business to identify recognized environmental conditions (RECs) in order to quantify the risks associated with environmental issues and cleanup. Customers who have benefitted from their expertise include attorneys, banks, commercial real estate agents, insurance companies, petroleum dealers, and other businesses that may have a need for environmental services. Rusty and Jeff perform site assessments, investigations, and even the remediation of environmental issues. Special Guests: Jeff Stone and Rusty Wheat.

On this episode, we interview Darrin Gray, the President of The Center for Serving Leadership. Darrin is an incredible mentor in our community and has dedicated his life to help develop leaders throughout the region and the NFL. The Center for Serving Leadership cultivates the global community of Serving Leaders, strategically located at the Sagamore Institute, an Indianapolis-based action-oriented Think Tank. With more than 25 years of executive experience in leadership, media, branding, sports philanthropy and non-profit sectors, Darrin provides leadership advisory services which include The Lions Lead behavioral assessments, executive coaching and Serving Leadership trainings that lead to higher levels of organizational performance and improve corporate culture. Darrin has also served All Pro Dad for 11 NFL seasons to advance the impact of an amazing not-for-profit founded by best-selling author and NBC Sunday Night Football TV personality, Tony Dungy. Together, they reach fathers and kids across America with a unique brand of “strategic sports philanthropy”. They are blessed to have the involvement of NFL insiders including Steelers Coach Tomlin, Lions Coach Caldwell and many more. Special Guest: Darrin Gray.

On this episode, we interview one heck of a character, Patrick Doerflein. Patrick is a Veteran, worked a career as a Waste Water Treatment Manager, and is disabled. When his physical pain prevented Brad from working any longer, he took an entrepreneurial turn. Patrick attended Eleven Fifty Academy to learn how to program mobile applications and launched his own - Burn & Bet! Special Guest: Patrick Doerflein.

On this episode, we interview a sitting judge, a corporate attorney, and a small business attorney... all members of the Indianapolis Bar Association. It's a unique look inside the legal community, its adoption of technology, and the key issues facing Indianapolis businesses today. Since 1878, the Indianapolis Bar Association has played a significant role in providing for the needs of Indianapolis legal professionals. Founded by former U.S. President Benjamin Harrison and other prominent local lawyers for the education and support of one another, the IndyBar continues with that same core purpose. Located at the heart of it all, the IndyBar empowers its members to never stop learning, to make a difference in the community, to lead by example, to provide a voice for the profession and to build a network of professional and personal contacts. The Indianapolis Bar Association-the heart of legal excellence. Their message is to serve our members, promote justice and enhance the legal profession. Special Guests: Heather L Wilson, James Bell, and Timothy Oakes.

On this episode, we interview CEO Tammie Barney and Program Manager Thomas Christenson of TeenWorks. TeenWorks provides a year-round employment and college readiness program with supportive services for teens throughout the school year. While their paid employment program gives teens the chance to earn a paycheck, the TeenWorks experience is much more than a job. Participating teens build professional resumes, gain job skills for the future, participate in volunteer projects to give back to the community, and receive hands-on instruction to build key college and career readiness skills in one of our five career pathway areas: Health & Life Science, STEAM, Logistics Distribution & Transportation, Hospitality, and Entrepreneurship. During the summer training program, TeenWorks provides transportation, daily meals, and direct support to help teens discover passions and career aptitudes through exposure, experience, and assessments including MBTI & Strong. During the school year, TeenWorks continues to provide support to their students through employability skills training, mentoring, SAT and ACT prep, and community service outings. Upon successful completion of the program, all TeenWorks teens are also eligible for one of six annual college Scholarships provided by the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Family Foundation. As they begin their post-secondary plans, TeenWorks Pro students who have completed 2 or more years of the program are encouraged to apply for a TeenWorks Scholarship through CICF. Most importantly, the TeenWorks experience empowers teens to discover a new level of self-confidence and recognize that going to college and achieving professional success is within their reach. Special Guests: Tammie Barney and Thomas Christenson.

Indianapolis is home to some great industry leaders. Joe Mack started his career as an Army Officer who graduated from West Point Military Academy. He moved on to Perot Systems, mentored and guided by Ross Perot. Joe Mack has personally been in charge of over 50 teams, ranging in size from 3 to over 150, in military and civilian organizations, in both peacetime and forward-deployed situations... and he's consulted on enterprise-level technology transformations for companies ranging from "mom and pop" shops to household names. Joe has developed an innate ability to recognize both good and bad examples of management, leadership and corporate culture almost instantly. He's worked for managers of just about every kind. He fondly remembers those that he would have followed to the ends of the earth, and wince when "he remembers those that could not pour pee out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel". Join us for this entertaining conversation with Joe on his lessons of leadership. Special Guests: Benjamin McCann and Joe Mack.

Remember when you first started your business? You had a clear idea of exactly what kind of workplace you wanted to build, and were sure your employees would thrive in a fun, productive, and challenging environment. But somewhere along the way, something went wrong. Perhaps personality conflicts emerged. Maybe you grew faster than you could manage. Possibly, your organization lost sight of its original goals and ideals. Or it could be that you’re anxious to prevent any of these problems before they occur, enabling your company to grow to its highest potential. Diane and David, from Archos Advisors, assist companies develop internal cultures that spur innovation, employee loyalty, and - ultimately - bottom line results. In this interview, we discuss the often over-utilized term company culture and have a frank discussion of what it means, how businesses get there, and how they can improve their own. Special Guests: David Graham and Diane Brown.