The membership program seeks to engage more businesses committing to advance racial equity.
Business Equity for Indy (BEI), a collective of local organizations committed to advancing racial equity and driving results for Black residents and residents of color, announces a new, free membership program. Through the new, free membership program, organizations will transparently share their commitment to and progress toward advancing racial equity. It is also an opportunity to join a collective, like-minded effort to learn best practices and find new resources to support their strategies for equity and inclusion.
“We are thrilled to introduce our membership program, which is a critical catalyst for change in Indianapolis. By joining forces with Business Equity for Indy, organizations can make a tangible impact in addressing racial disparities while unlocking the immense potential that diversity and inclusion bring to their businesses,” said Jeffrey Harrison, chair of Business Equity for Indy and President & CEO of Citizens Energy Group.
By becoming a member, businesses in Central Indiana can actively address inequity and promote a more inclusive and prosperous future for all with some specific, actionable commitments:
• Implementing or participating in several best practices, programs, and events;
• Providing data on their workforce, procurement practices, and public policy advocacy (to be published only in aggregate);
• Publicly sharing their progress as a collective business community to demonstrate the work accomplished and that inclusion is a key component of their organization’s strategy.
Organizations can choose between two membership tiers at no cost, Gold and Silver, each with different participation requirements aimed at advancing BEI’s pillars of People, Procurement, and Policy.
“Taking action against inequity requires more than just acknowledging the problem; it necessitates a genuine commitment to do the work,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP). “Through the membership program, organizations can demonstrate their dedication to advancing racial equity while sharing key initiatives, goals, and resources on diversity and inclusion efforts in Central Indiana.”
BEI invites businesses of all sizes and sectors to become members and actively contribute to the collective mission of advancing racial equity and creating greater economic opportunity. By embracing this program, companies can foster a more inclusive workplace culture and gain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining diverse talent, driving innovation, and building stronger connections with the community.
“Membership in Business Equity for Indy is a visible declaration of an organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Together, we can create a city where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” said Moira Carlstedt, Interim President and CEO of Indy Chamber.
“There is tremendous power in having multiple organizations committing to BEI membership and its goal to foster a more inclusive business environment,” said Tony Mason, president and CEO of Indianapolis Urban League. “Not only does it send the right message to employees, but it builds up the region as a place that cares about a more equitable future.”
For more information on BEI Membership or to join, click here.
IBJ Media on Thursday released its second annual Indiana 250, a list of the state’s most influential and impactful business and community leaders, representing public and private companies, law firms, universities, not-for-profits, government and community organizations.
The list, available at Indiana250.com, was compiled by the executives, editors and newsroom staffs at IBJ Media’s three news brands — Indianapolis Business Journal, Inside INdiana Business and Indiana Lawyer — after a monthslong process that included reviewing nominations, researching Indiana organizations and talking with community leaders across the state.
The Indiana 250 will be celebrated at an exclusive reception featuring remarks by Indiana Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers — who made the list for the second year — on July 20 on the Ohana Floor at Salesforce Tower. Title sponsors of the event are CareSource, Ice Miller, and Pacers Sports and Entertainment. Premier sponsors of the event are Bank of America and Indiana University. The host sponsor is Salesforce.
“Our 2023 Indiana 250 list is chock full of private- and public-sector leaders who are making big impacts in their communities, in our state and even in our nation,” said IBJ Media CEO Nate Feltman. “We chose these leaders because they are doing inspiring work, and we want to share their stories so others can be inspired, too.”
IBJ Media launched the Indiana 250 program last year, with plans to update it annually. Feltman said developing this year’s list was even more difficult than putting together the inaugural Indiana 250 last year.
“There are so many talented, generous people in the state who are making a difference that narrowing the list to 250 is hard,” Feltman said. “But we think that makes it special. We truly believe the people on this list are worthy of the honor.”
About two-thirds of the people on the 2023 list were also on the inaugural Indiana 250. They include CEOs of some of the state’s largest public and private companies, including Gail Boudreaux of Elevance Health, David Ricks of Eli Lilly and Co., Tom Salmon of Berry Global, Jeff Simmons of Elanco Animal Health, Kimberly Ryan of Hillenbrand, and Jennifer Rumsey of Cummins Inc.
IBJ Media added a number of additional executives this year, including Mark Millett, CEO of Steel Dynamics, Chuck Magro, CEO of Corteva, Amy Romain Barron, CEO of United Cos., and Tom Kelley, president and chairman of Kelley Automotive Group.
Indiana 250 Editor Lesley Weidenbener, who is also editor of IBJ, said inclusion on the list isn’t determined simply by title. The list includes leaders who are making an impact through health care, law, philanthropy, not-for-profit leadership and the arts.
Ashley Flowers, who founded podcast giant Audiochuck; Alan Bacon, co-founder of cultural startup GangGang; Claire Fiddian-Green, CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation; Emil Ekiyor, CEO of the diversity-focused not-for-profit InnoPower, and Alice Watson, CEO of Indiana Black Expo, are among those on the list.
“We are excited to have so many new names on the list this year and to have representation from all types of industries and areas of the state,” Weidenbener said. “There are many ways to have an impact on your community and your state, and our goal is to represent leadership in all of those ways.”
Elected officials were not eligible for the list.
IBJ Media published profiles of the honorees in a magazine that will be distributed with the July 21 issue of IBJ. The magazine is available for purchase for $50 at Indiana250.com. Indiana Lawyer subscribers will receive a discount on the book. All subscribers of IBJ, Inside INdiana Business and Indiana Lawyer can access the profiles and additional information online at Indiana250.com.
The intersection of human health and agbioscience is one rarely discussed, but it is one that is delivering innovation that may save lives. Today’s guest is long-time human health leader who is turning to agbioscience to develop a solution that could transform the way doctors care for patients with chronic, traumatic or surgical wounds. Andy Eibling, President and CEO of GeniPhys, joins us to talk about his journey from Eli Lilly to the leading the startup that inspires him to continue learning. He also talks about GeniPhys solving a problem that the human body cannot: producing collagen to aid the remodeling process that comes from injury, surgical wounds and more.
Andy gets into the opportunity for GeniPhys to cross into multiple verticals, how the agbiosciences help the company to source their collagen and working alongside Indiana’s 5th nationally ranked pork production industry to make this a statewide success story. He also gets into GeniPhys’ fundraising to date and their plans for refining the manufacturing process, adding talent to their team and what’s ahead as they grow and scale.
Listen here:
Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) has acquired Smart Apply, Inc., a precision spraying equipment company based in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The company developed the Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System™, an upgrade kit that can improve the precision and performance of virtually any air-blast sprayer used in orchard, vineyard, and tree nursery spraying applications. Smart Apply helps growers reduce chemical use, airborne drift, and run off, while optimizing high-value crop yields and meeting sustainability objectives.
John Deere has worked with Smart Apply since 2020.
“This is a natural progression of the two companies’ working relationship,” said Mike Bailey, Director, Small Tractor & HVC Production System at John Deere. “It’s a continuation of our commitment to high-value crop customers and dealers, further expanding a portfolio of solutions to help growers address their biggest challenges around labor, input costs, and regulatory requirements, and achieve environmental goals.”
Smart Apply’s precision spraying helps achieve up to 93% less chemical runoff and up to 87% reduction in airborne drift, while reducing chemical use an average of 50%. With less chemical use, growers also average a 50% reduction in water use.
Sophisticated LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology senses the presence of individual trees and vines and automatically adjusts spray volume based on foliage density to optimize protection. The system stops spraying between trees and rows, adjusting without human intervention. Smart Apply’s proprietary, GPS-enabled software captures a broad spectrum of data while it sprays. The system documents date and time of spraying, overall spray volumes, chemical savings, tree counts, canopy volume, health of individual trees or vines, and acres/hectares sprayed. The precision data leads to a deeper understanding of an orchard’s or vineyard’s productivity, profitability, health, and sustainability.
Growers can choose to share their Smart Apply data with John Deere Operations Center™ farm management software, unlocking another level of insights and expert support.
“Both John Deere and Smart Apply recognize the importance of high-value crops and are committed to investing in innovation and technology that best serves producers who raise high-value crops and helps solve their problems,” said Jerry Johnson, President and CEO at Smart Apply.
Smart Apply was founded in 2014 and has approximately 20 full-time employees. Smart Apply is primarily sold through John Deere dealers in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and England. In the future, Deere plans to offer Smart Apply throughout much of its dealer network in North America and Australia and will be exploring additional opportunities in new markets.
Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana’s core mission of providing food relief has become a lot more complicated over the past few years, thanks to the pandemic, and the organization is looking to technology to help it navigate its “new normal.”
About 63% of Gleaners’ food is distributed through partner agencies. But for food the organization distributes to people directly (not including mobile pantries), it is now serving four times the number of households that it was in January 2020—about 5,000 a week instead of 1,200. And the organization now offers that food through a combination of drive-through, pickup and home-delivery options rather than its previous model, where people visited Gleaners’ Waldemere Avenue pantry to select what they wanted.
Now, faced with the reality that these post-pandemic shifts are likely here to say, Gleaners sees technology as its path forward.
“One of the things that is a lot more in the front of our minds now than it was pre-pandemic is, we have to do some things differently to get food to people,” said Gleaners Chief Operating Officer Joe Slater. “So we need a new technology engine to power those programs, which are designed to get the food to people versus just rely on the fact that the people can get to the food.”
Gleaners is analyzing its options and hopes to settle on a new technology platform by Oct. 1, Slater said. Including time for beta testing, the goal is to have the technology up and running about a year from now.
Gleaners isn’t the only organization thinking this way.
Compared with a few years ago, “food banks are more aware that technology could help them do more,” said Geoff Zentz, senior director of innovation at Indianapolis-based AgriNovus Indiana, which promotes the state’s agbioscience sector.
Analyzing the performance of publicly traded companies provides unique insight into what’s happening in the global market and a view into what could be ahead for both public and private companies. That’s certainly true in agbioscience with public companies including John Deere, Case, Corteva, Elanco and many more reporting quarterly results. Joining us today is an expert in analyzing public company performance. Kristen Owen is Executive Director, Equity Research at Oppenheimer – a full-service brokerage and investment bank.
Kristen gets into what an equity researcher does, her focus on agbioscience (hint: it’s expansive) and big trends that are emerging in our current economic cycle. She also talks about allocating capital where it can make a difference, informing investment decisions and the application of technologies in other spaces to drive agbioscience innovation forward. In a time where inflation is high, supply chains are flimsy and challenges loom, agbioscience is finding the opportunity for new technologies and innovation in the space.
How does Kristen see this cycle of innovation driving forward? Kristen sees opportunity for mature technologies, finding scale and moving from single-opportunity innovation to being multi-faceted solutions. She also talks plant science, sustainability and continuing to do more with less. Lastly, she talks about other industries shaping the future of agbioscience and vice versa, acquistions and what’s ahead for our industry.
Listen here:
Crafco, an Arizona-based supplier of packaged, pavement preservation solutions, will add PoreShieldTM to its portfolio of products. PoreShield is a revolutionary concrete protectant that extends the service life of concrete. The soy-based product was created through a research collaboration between the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA), Purdue University and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), funded by soybean checkoff dollars.
PoreShield extends the service life of concrete by five-to-nine times longer than competing products. In a single application, PoreShield delivers more than 10 years of proven protection against water, salt and freeze/thaw damage.
Not only is PoreShield a high-performance solution, it is also safe, environmentally friendly and easy to apply. PoreShield requires no additional personal protective equipment. PoreShield’s key ingredient is soy methyl ester-polystyrene (SME-PS), which is derived from U.S. soybeans.
“This is exciting news for soybean growers everywhere, but especially for those of us from Indiana who invested checkoff dollars into the research and development of this product,” said ISA Board Chair Mike Koehne, a farmer from Greensburg, Ind. “Soybeans have always been a versatile crop that can provide many, inexpensive products that help the world, and PoreShield is another product realizing its potential. Not only that, it also creates new markets for soybeans.”
On average, 200 bushels of soybeans are used for every two-lane mile of concrete highway joint treated with Poreshield.
Crafco, Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of pavement preservation products and equipment, along with supplying specialized preservation products to the roofing, waterproofing and athletic surfacing industries. Established in 1976, Crafco helped pioneer the pavement preservation industry and continues to invest in cutting-edge research to extend the service life of infrastructure around the globe.
“Crafco is a great partner to take PoreShield to the next level, and I can’t wait to see all they are able to accomplish,” said ISA CEO Courtney Kingery, who added that farmers and staff of the state’s soybean checkoff program worked hard to create this opportunity. “So many people had a hand in getting PoreShield to this point. Everyone should be proud of their work.”
Under terms of the agreement Indiana soybean farmers will continue to benefit from PoreShield. For a period of time, Crafco will pay a royalty fee to ISA based on sales revenue.
PoreShield’s unique solution to enhancing concrete should make it a popular choice for contractors and consumers.
The growth of PoreShield was aided by soybean farmers from across the country. The United Soybean Board (USB) invested in the product and helped showcase it to potential vendors from around the country. Kingery said checkoff groups working in tandem produce the best results.
“PoreShield is not a coating but is instead absorbed deep below the concrete surface to protect concrete from within,” said Paul Imbrock, the creator and technical lead for PoreShield. “This cutting-edge, renewable and sustainable technology has proven, powerful performance protecting and preserving new and existing concrete infrastructure including PCCP joints, highways, bridges, buildings, pipes and walkways throughout the nation.”
Imbrock is joining the Crafco team as PoreShield Product Manager to continue developing and promoting PoreShield.
University and Department of Transportation research studies demonstrate that PoreShield extends the life of concrete by reducing calcium oxychloride formation by 90 percent. At greater than 93 percent bio-content, PoreShield is a safe and cost-competitive choice for concrete protection that provides numerous environmental and public health benefits.
PoreShield is non-toxic and is safe to use over waterways, and it does not pose any hazards, such as respiration, organ, eye or skin damage. By replacing traditional toxic products, PoreShield reduces volatile organic compounds by 83-93 percent, further reducing carbon dioxide emission impacts.
For these reasons and more, PoreShield became an attractive product to Crafco.
“We immediately recognized that PoreShield represents the next generation of pavement preservation products: safer, easier to use and more effective,” said Lisa Zentner, Vice President of Specialty Products for Crafco. “Innovation has long been a core value at Crafco, so we appreciate the extensive research and development invested in PoreShield. We are pleased to welcome this exciting product into our lineup because we believe it will become the new standard in concrete preservation.”
About 17% of global food production goes to waste according to the World Economic Forum. It’s a massive challenge, and one Indiana startup is bringing new technology to preserve food, reduce waste … and even improve taste. It’s an incredible story of science and innovation. Today we are joined by True Essence Foods’ Head of IP & Licensing Simran Trana. She gets into her experience in private and public sectors, working with entrepreneurs and her passion for coming for the work being done at True Essence Foods.
How do you create truly tasty food and do it sustainably? Simran talks about True Essence Foods’ focus on preserving texture, flavor and consistency of foods through their technology and removing “off-flavors” to eliminate sharp bites that can be unpleasant to eat. In a world where food insecurity is a macro challenge, she also examines the role of technology to connect food supply with food demand. Simran looks ahead to how food companies can leverage innovation to do what they already do, better, and what’s ahead for True Essence Foods.
Join Purdue experts for the Digital Ag Showcase on Friday, July 14, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET at the Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette. The free event includes demonstrations featuring both leading-edge research and practical applications related to data-driven agriculture.
The program will feature an energetic presentation by full-time farmer and part-time software engineer/architect Aaron Ault of Rochester, Ind. With motivating examples from his crop and livestock farm, Ault will demonstrate how simple digital platforms can enable improved logistics and decision making.
Farmers, industry professionals, educators, students and anyone with an interest in digital agriculture are encouraged to attend. Preregistration is requested at purdue.ag/digitalagshowcase by July 6 as lunch will be provided.
