Indiana has a strong array of annual business recognition programs. At the Indiana Chamber and BizVoice, we’re pleased to be deeply involved in two of the best.

The 2012 Best Places to Work in Indiana companies will be recognized at the May 3 awards dinner. The list of 70 companies, honored for their strong workplace cultures, was released this week by the Chamber. The final rankings will be announced at the May celebration.

Starting its 2012 journey is the fifth annual Indiana Companies to Watch program. This initiative is led by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation through its Small Business Development Centers. The honorees are high-performing, second-stage, Indiana-based companies that are making a difference. 

Nominations are open through March 30, with applications accepted until April 16. This awards celebration will take place in late August. Full details are available online, with the 2011 BizVoice coverage providing a look at last year’s winners. 

The March-April BizVoice magazine will be packed with stories, features and analysis on education and workforce development. One of those articles will be interviews with Tom Snyder and Jamie Merisotis on their recent trip to the White House to discuss higher education affordability and productivity.

Here’s a sneak preview in the form of Merisotis’ answer to my question on who is responsible for escalating higher ed prices. As always, his take is informative and insightful.

"The responsibility for rising prices rests primarily with three things. First, the seeming inability of colleges and universities to significantly bring down their costs. Rather than beat up on colleges and universities, we’ve got to create the right kinds of opportunities and incentives to help them actually bring down their costs.

"The second is public policy/government as there has been a systematic disinvestment in higher education at the state level that is pretty pronounced. We’ve seen a declining share of resources for public higher education in virtually every state in the country.

"The third might be one that would surprise you … us collectively as Americans. We have been willing to pay the rising price for higher education because we intuitively get the benefits you get from a college degree. The question has been posed a lot in recent years — is college still worth it? From my perspective, the answer is a resounding yes.

"It’s unequivocal; college is definitely worth it, but the public’s willingness to continue to pay prices that have exceeded the rates of inflation for nearly three decades and the capacity of the public to take on increasing debts for students is part of the problem as well.

"We’ve got to find ways for the public to also be more judicious about how they select a college or university, how they’re willing to pay for it — how much should really be debt-based as opposed to saving more and doing more to prepare. Any efforts are going to have to get at all three of these root causes."

See, I told you it would be good. You might have to read it again to take it all in. And be sure to check out BizVoice (new edition online on February 28) for much more.

Bridget Scott of FirstPerson Benefit Advisors talks with Tom Schuman of BizVoice magazine about health care reform and communicating with employees about ways to help control benefit costs.

Also, keep your eye out for a new publication, Health Care Reform for Indiana Employers, authored by Ice Miller, to be released this spring by the Indiana Chamber.

Our March-April BizVoice magazine includes a quick-hitting, one-page look at Taylor University in Upland. Less than five minutes into a 15-minute conversation with Taylor President Eugene Habecker and I knew I was going to have more good material to use than space in the magazine.

A couple of items to share that didn’t make the print edition:

• Habecker earned his bachelor degree from Taylor in 1968 but admits, "I did not know a whole lot about colleges when I was looking for schools in the 1960s." A recommendation from friends of the family who had sent their son to Taylor was enough. "I came sight unseen and I loved it." Habecker met his wife, Marylou, at the school and embarked on a career of servant leadership that brought him back to the university as president in 2005. One other interesting note: the original trip to Taylor from his hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania took place on all secondary roads (no interstates in place at the time).
• The return to Taylor 37 years after graduating was not something Habecker envisioned. He had been president and CEO of the American Bible Society in New York City for a number of years and planned to retire from that post. Marylou was serving on the Taylor board when president David Gyerston announced his pending departure. After thoughtful consideration and prayer, the Habeckers returned full-time to their undergraduate home and have cherished the opportunity.
• In the article, Habecker lists some of his favorite places on campus. In addition to the three in the magazine, he adds the Euler Science Center and its academic offerings, the Musselman House (his family’s home on campus) and the Memorial Prayer Chapel. Regarding the family residence: "We average having 2,000 to 3,000 students a year in our home." Thirty-five were on hand for a Super Bowl party and 60 were scheduled for a dinner the following evening. Habecker simply says that part of he and his wife’s mission is "a privilege."

Check out the March-April issue (available online at the end of February) to learn more about Taylor and its leader.

Phil Mercier was included in the September/October 2011 BizVoice® article, "Free Agents," about older employees seeking to re-enter the workforce (part of our Workforce Wise series). After reading the article, Jeff Maki, owner of Models Plus in Kingsford Heights (LaPorte County), reached out to Mercier and ultimately hired him.

"Without that article, Phil and I would have never connected," Maki says. "Phil and I share some common vision on business. He has tremendous background. We are leveraging his expertise and experience to grow our business."

Mercier is about to complete his first month at Models Plus, which provides models, prototypes, custom displays, packaging and engineering for dental and orthopaedic implant manufacturers, as well as patient education tools for health care providers.

"My skills and experience have been put to good use helping (Maki) expand his business in the orthopaedic industry," Mercier explains. "(Maki) started in the dental business over 20 years ago and began applying his capabilities to companies in Warsaw over the past three years. I will be helping him with the company’s rapid expansion into orthopaedics."

What a BizVoice success story! If you’d like to join our over 12,000 readers, just visit the web site.

In the last two issues of BizVoice magazine, we’ve touched on the fact that there are no nuclear power facilities operating in the state of Indiana. And that fact is true.

While we’ve stated that a nuclear plant in Michigan (the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant just north of Bridgman, Michigan or 25 miles north of the Hoosier border) supplies Northwest Indiana with a small portion of nuclear power, we didn’t tell the whole story. The Indiana Michigan Power facility actually sends 80% of its 2,200 megawatts to Indiana.

That 80% of the 2,200 MW (about a third of the company’s total generation in Indiana) "assists with our coal, hydro and wind facilities in providing power to our roughly 500,000 customers in Northeast Indiana, East Central Indiana and the South Bend/Mishawaka areas in addition to selling to wholesale customers throughout the state."

Thus, the nuclear facts are now in order. And, who knows, nuclear may one day become a bigger part of the energy mix in Indiana and beyond.

In a future edition of BizVoice, we’ll take a look at historic preservation efforts around the state. But for now, one web site that is gaining popularity is Historic Indianapolis, the brainchild of downtown Indy resident and Los Angeles transplant Tiffany Benedict Berkson. I recently interviewed Tiffany about her site:

Chamber: How long has Historic Indianapolis been up? Why did you launch it?
 
Tiffany: Historic Indianapolis started as a periodic blog in July 2009. I started it as a way to share all of the offbeat finds I discovered as I was doing research on my home. If someone had told me 10 years ago I’d be doing this, I would have laughed. Now, I have trouble imagining doing anything else. The goal is to get people to see that no matter where you are, there are fascinating discoveries to be made that will make you feel a deeper connection to said place. The echoes in history can seem almost magical, but you have to be open to listening and capable of connecting the dots. 
  
What is it about history that appeals to you? Why do you think it doesn’t resonate with some people in younger age brackets? How have you tried to make your site appealing to those people? 
 
I love how history is just one giant game of "Six Degrees of Separation." Everyone is looking for their connection to the story and it’s just a bit more laborious, layered or labor intensive to discover the connections from many decades past — but the connections are there somewhere, awaiting discovery. I think that’s why it doesn’t necessarily resonate immediately with the younger set. If the timeframe/ person being examined is farther removed than someone they have personally known — like a grandparent — they don’t have a first-hand connection, and therefore, it’s too taxing to use imagination to flesh out. There are so many other things vying for their attention, that this one is easy to flush. I try to make the past relevant by presenting the information in a quick, accessible way, for the most part. There are always visuals; the stories aren’t too long, typically; the site can be irreverent — just look at WTH Wednesdays. People have tortured old buildings and done things that even most untrained eyes can discern — this makes for an interesting hook, akin to hiding a kid’s medicine in something they love.  
 
What is your goal with the site? Are you looking to expand it further?
 
The most immediate goal is finding sponsors to help underwrite the cost of running the site. This is a very time intensive endeavor, and there are thousands of visitors each month. Yes, I have a lengthy list of other features I plan to add once more resources are secured. There are tons of ways to get people inspired about community, history, heritage, family and I look forward to making a growing contribution in all those arenas. 
 
You now have over 4,000 Facebook fans? How are you promoting the site to generate that much interest?
 
Recently, I did a small promotion and museum ticket giveaway, but for the most part, I just ask the existing audience if they know anyone else who loves history and heritage or who has pride in Indianapolis and ask them to suggest it to friends. Plus the Facebook page is very active. New photos, questions or posts are added at least once, but oftentimes more frequently, each day.
 
Operating a site like this must expose you to a great deal of information – perhaps some that has been buried, so to speak, for a long time. In your research, what are some of the most surprising facts you’ve uncovered about the city or state?
 
Well, it’s no longer surprising — but at first, I was in absolute shock at what an opulent place this was and what stunning big city, old architecture we had — and that most of it is gone. Indianapolis has earned a nickname relating to wrecking balls. Thankfully, when I get out of the city, there are lots of lovely town squares that remain mostly intact. That’s always refreshing. 
 
Are there people in any other major cities in the U.S. with sites like yours that you’ve seen? Any others in Indiana?
 
I’ve not found anything exactly like HistoricIndianapolis.com; I’ve seen preservation sites, vintage real estate sites, sites for a specific museum, neighborhood, etc., but not one that pushes out seven days a week of content and is not comprised solely of long dissertations, as you would expect from the world of academia, for example. The unabridged version of the story should be out there — and there are plenty of academic journals or publications to accommodate that, but the medium of a website (also accessible by smartphone) almost dictates a quicker breakdown of material, if that makes sense.
  
What have been your greatest challenges in creating the site and keeping it going? 
 
The biggest challenge has been finding the time to pursue sponsorships. Though a number of people have suggested making this into a not-for-profit, I’m not yet convinced that is the way to go. It makes sense from the perspective of going after a big grant versus smaller amounts of money from sponsors and underwriters, but I’m still experimenting. Other than my three weekly contributors and other occasional ones, I do all the content, research, photos, scanning, etc. This is all incredibly time consuming, so adding to that: meeting people and pursuing potential sponsors, following up, and the like… it quickly becomes exhausting. I work at least 12 hours a day, at least 6 days a week. And I love it, but time management is a constant struggle.
  
The site is supported by sponsors. Who are some current sponsors, and what benefits do sponsors of your site receive?
 
The sponsors of static placement have one of a limited number of spaces that appear on all pages of the web site with an embedded link to their home web site or wherever they’d like. The sponsor’s visibility is high because of the very limited space for those. The other opportunity is underwriting the cost of research/ time/ photos for an article or series. For example, a vintage clothing store called Minx, (which is located in an historic building) is going to sponsor Ladies Lounge for a series of weeks. The shop logo and link will be embedded at the top within the body of the article for this weekly feature that regularly explores vintage fashion or other topics more of interest to our female audience. This is a great way for the business to also have something to Tweet out, link to on Facebook, or to list as something they are part of that will be relevant to their audience.
 
For more information, or to inquire about sponsoring, contact Tiffany at feedback@historicindianapolis.com and follow HI on Twitter (@historicindiana).