Celebrating leaders who grow and sustain businesses in our region On our cover, we celebrate the 25th year of the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards. This year’s honorees are a diverse group of inspiring people with a passion for growing their businesses and contributing to our community. Laurie Wink profiles the winners and their outstanding accomplishments. Changing […]
Around the Region
ACCOUNTING Eileen E. Brassil, CPA, a partner at Legacy Professionals LLP in Schererville, has been appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel. The panel serves the needs of AICPA members by monitoring and advising on industry developments, trends and opportunities. AGRICULTURE Chester Inc. has hired Kent Wamsley […]
Entrepreneurial Excellence
Winners of the annual Northwest Indiana E-Day Awards It’s a daunting task to select the special individuals who receive Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards. Each year, the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center (NW-ISBDC) asks a 10-member steering committee to sift through countless nominees and identify the best of the best. The process has been going on […]
Health Care Consolidation
Many factors are causing small hospitals to join big health-care systems It has happened in everything from banking to beer, restaurants to retail chains, media conglomerates to medical device manufacturers. Why would health care be immune from the kind of industry consolidation that is rocking practically every other major industry? When the accounting and consulting […]
Construction Careers
Retiring workers and a wealth of projects create excellent opportunities Industry leaders are striving to pound home the reality and benefits of a career in construction while riding the wave of change to ensure a trained and knowledgeable workforce is available for Northern Indiana projects. Kevin Comerford, director of professional development at the Construction Advancement […]
Hosting Visitors is Good Business
Communities bank on economic impact of tourism Indiana is known for Hoosier hospitality. And hospitality is paying off big time for local communities, where visitor spending has a huge economic impact. The multibillion-dollar hospitality industry is one of the fastest growing business sectors worldwide. It encompasses a range of businesses centered on customer service. Indianapolis […]
The Port Connection
Healthy investments flow from Port of Indiana’s water connections. Rick Heimann chuckled to himself while pointing to a mountainous pile of scrap metal near the entrance of his massive workplace, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. He recalled a snide comment from a visitor who suggested that piles of scrap metal “junk” are not the best […]
Proactive Investment Strategies
Where to put your money in 2017? There’s no easy answer. The Brexit vote, unexpected U.S. presidential election results, a surging Dow, rising oil prices … 2016 certainly finished with some surprising financial results for many people. And 2017 is a question mark in many areas, particularly with some new personal and corporate tax rules […]
Modest Growth in 2017
The coming year promises to be an economic rerun of 2016 The performance of the U.S. economy in 2016 has been anything but stellar. Growth through the third quarter averaged a paltry 1.8 percent, signaling the domestic economy has settled into a period of low GDP growth. A more rapid recovery seems unlikely given the […]
Rick Dekker
CEO works to empower customers, local students and his community. The vacuum technology industry is not something that the average person thinks about on a daily basis. Rick Dekker, CEO of Dekker Vacuum Technologies Inc., is the first to agree with that statement. “We receive calls daily about vacuum cleaner repair,” laughs Dekker, “but we […]