“Salute to Business” awards shine a spotlight on St. Joseph County individuals who innovate, succeed and inspire others.

by Bob Kronemyer

Two of the six major recipients of this year's “Salute to Business” awards bestowed by the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce (along with title sponsor Lake City Bank) are in healthcare. This comes as no surprise, considering health expenditures represent nearly 20 percent of our country's gross domestic product.

“These annual awards represent a cross section of individuals and businesses transforming our community,” says Paul Laskowski, executive vice president of the chamber. The individuals honored “have and continue to move others to action to create business and community success,” he says, whereas the enterprises singled out “have shown growth and reinvestment in our community. They demonstrate innovation, a strategic focus and commitment to excel.”

This year's theme is “Building Champions” and emphasizes “the collaboration and win-win relationships that lead to positive community transformation,” Laskowski notes.

Diane Stover-Hopkins, chief marketing, innovation and experience officer of Beacon Health System (encompassing Elkhart General Hospital and Memorial Hospital of South Bend) was presented with the Athena Award for attaining and embodying the highest level of professional career excellence, plus assisting women in realizing their leadership potential.

Experience design is one of Stover-Hopkins' professional fortes. “There is a unique connection between the brand – how we represent ourselves to the world – and the actual patient experience,” she says.

An example of how the brand and experience were designed was the launch of Memorial's bariatric surgery program. Interviews with patients who had the procedure performed elsewhere revealed “that these people struggled with acceptance before and after surgery and there was a need to look beyond just the typical surgery experience,” Stover-Hopkins explains. “We learned it was a transformation, not just a surgery. We designed experiences focusing upon a bridge from your heavy self to your healthy self.”

The valuable patient feedback was used to enhance staff communication as well as placement of a decorative bridge in the lobby used for a crossing-over ceremony during discharge from the program and a way to begin to embrace a new life.

Stover-Hopkins is active in grooming high school and college women for leadership roles though internships at Beacon Health System. She is also a volunteer for youth projects at the Y and created the HealthWorks! Kids' Museum in downtown South Bend in 2000. “The museum allows kids to learn about the importance of their decisions about living a healthy lifestyle,” she says.

Data Realty LLC, the first technology-based company to locate in South Bend's Ignition Park on the former Studebaker grounds, was one of two recipients of the Economic Impact Award. “All the organizations in our region are collecting more and more data,” observes president and COO Rich Carlton. “We are a collection of data scientists with a customized infrastructure that is state-of-the-art.” He says mid-size firms normally would not be able to afford to contract such an infrastructure and talent pool. “We not only store and protect a client's data, but more importantly we analyze that data. Mid-market companies can really gain a competitive advantage by learning more about their customers and suppliers and using data to make better, faster and smarter decisions,” Carlton says.

To date, Data Realty has spent $15 million in building a 47,000-square-foot facility, which it occupied in November, and is projected to spend an additional $20 million in expansions over the next three to five years. The company has also been able to reverse the area's “brain drain” by hiring several Notre Dame graduates.

Furthermore, the technology firm has created an operational model in which clients (currently nine) participate as investors. “Instead of a client-vendor relationship, we have a partnership relationship,” Carlton says.

Sprenger Health Care of Mishawaka also received an Economic Impact Award. The $17 million rehabilitation, skilled nursing and assisted living care center opened in December and is the first location in Indiana for the third-generation, family-owned and operated Ohio-based Sprenger Health Care Systems. The facility can accommodate 100 residents (30 skilled nursing and 70 assisted living).

“Our mission is to provide the best in quality care and employee satisfaction,” says Nicole Sprenger, CEO of corporate services. “Through state-of-the-art therapy, equipment and therapists, we basically rehabilitate residents back to their top functioning level, whether that be home or assisted living.” Employees are valued by having a safe and welcoming work environment.

The Mishawaka site expects to reach full capacity by the end of the year, at which time it will employ around 100 people. Meanwhile, assisted living apartments offer a contemporary, open-design concept with private bathrooms, refrigerator and microwave, and an emergency response system. These residents are also provided 24-hour nursing staff oversight, housekeeping and laundry services. Other amenities for all residents (including skilled nursing) include fine dining, a theater room, an outdoor putting green and free transportation to scheduled appointments.

Foegley Landscape in South Bend is Small Business of the Year. It is owned by John Foegley, whose father started the enterprise in 1959. The company offers a wide range of landscape contracting and maintenance services, ranging from landscape design and plant installation to irrigation maintenance and turf fertilization. The younger Foegley, who took over management in the mid-1990s, is guided by the Native American proverb, “Treat the earth well; it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

This commitment is reflected in designing landscapes that are well thought out and sustainable. “We try to be leaders and innovators when it comes to technology,” Foegley says of his firm that has annual sales of roughly $3.4 million. “In the late 1990s, we were one of the first companies in the area to use a bark mulch blowing truck, instead of relying on a pitch fork and wheelbarrow to spread bark.” What used to take two or three trucks and a large crew to distribute bark can now be accomplished with one truck and two employees.

Foegley Landscape has also switched to several propane-powered lawn mowers for less pollution and cost-savings. The company is also a supporter of the South Bend Symphony and South Bend Civic Theatre.

Outstanding Young Business Leader Tim Leman, 38, is CEO of Gibson Insurance in South Bend and attributes much of his success to the number of “great mentors over the years. Those are two-way relationships, though. I think a lot of young folks are waiting for someone to mentor them and they don't put enough effort into it. I really try to do the best I can to give my mentor something out of the relationship as well.”

For instance, Leman shares information and updates with his mentors, as well as keeping them abreast of what is going on in his life. “That might sound like it's all about me,” he admits. “But I love to hear from people I've mentored. Perhaps I've meaningfully impacted their lives.”

Leman joined Gibson Insurance in 2005, and in 2010 was instrumental in establishing the Gibson Employee Stock Ownership Plan. “Our employees are engaged deeper and we are able to share the financials in a more transparent way and help them understand why we make the decisions we make,” he explains. “As a result, the employees are more supportive of those decisions because as owners it impacts them.”

One of Leman's mentors is his predecessor, Greg Downes, who handed over the CEO reins to Leman in 2011. It was Downes' example of community service that led to Leman's involvement and becoming vice chair of the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County. Leman also serves on the Dean's Executive Council at Indiana State University and as a youth basketball coach for Upward Michiana.

The W. Scott Miller Distinguished Business Leader award for entrepreneurial spirit, significant contributions to the area business environment and personal involvement and commitment to the community was given to Pete and Wilma Veldman, who emigrated from The Netherlands in 1949 and settled in South Bend in 1956. A year later, the couple opened their first service station, which led to other endeavors, including an automotive repair equipment business and a tire, battery and accessories distributorship.

The Veldmans also encouraged their son-in-law to open a retail tire store. The Tire Rack opened in 1979 in South Bend and is now the country's largest mail-order and e-commerce distributor of tires, wheels and accessories. In addition, the Veldmans are longtime supporters of community projects for youth and Catholic education.