You might think in the third year of putting together our Indiana 250 list, we’d have the process down pat. But no. We struggled again.
Maybe it’s because too many of the people involved are journalists driven by deadlines. Or because members of the team who put together the list don’t always agree and need time to research and debate. Or more likely it’s the fact that there are just too many worthy people to cull the list to 250.
Actually, it’s all of those things—with an emphasis on the last point.
The hardest part about creating the Indiana 250 and releasing it publicly is that we know there are incredibly important and impactful people who don’t make it. That’s one of the reasons we make changes every year—not because the people who leave the list are no longer effective leaders but because we strive to continue finding and highlighting people who make Indiana a better place.
The 2024 list is the culmination of nominations from readers, suggestions from other leaders and those who’ve been on the list before, and suggestions from our newsrooms.
The list is divided into 10 categories—and we hope you give us some grace for the way in which we categorized people. A surprising number of leaders would fit in multiple categories. There are attorneys who work for manufacturers. CEOs of companies that manufacture agricultural or tech products. Leaders of not-for-profits that provide health care. And so on.
Therefore, we’ve given you several ways to navigate the book. You’ll find a table of contents that lists the pages for the categories. Then, at the start of each of those categories, you’ll find another table of contents listing the names of the leaders in that section.
At the beginning of the book, you’ll find the complete Indiana 250 list in alphabetical order. And you can go to Indiana250.com and do a search.
Throughout the book, you’ll find a profile for each leader on the list. The profiles are based on our own research and information we collected from the leaders through a questionnaire. We appreciate that so many of the people who responded provided answers to fun questions about their favorite gadgets, pets or walk-up songs as well as serious questions seeking advice for young people and about their concerns for central Indiana.
Some individuals on the list did not submit information. In those cases, the profiles are based on our own team’s research.
And speaking of that team, we have many people to thank for the making this publication a reality. In particular, IBJ Special Publications Editor Samm Quinn, Lead Designer Audrey Pelsor, Production Coordinator Julie Kirkendoll and copy editor Ann Finch contributed many hours to this endeavor. Several other reporters, designers and editors also played key roles in writing profiles or laying out the book. We could not have finished the Indiana 250 publication without all of them.
So with that, enjoy the profiles and let us know whom you think we missed. We promise to add the names to a list for consideration in 2025.
Lesley Weidenbener, editor
Indiana 250
Indianapolis Business Journal