Welcome to IBJ Media’s fifth annual Indiana 250 list, a milestone we have been frankly unsure quite how to celebrate.
This list is meant to be one that changes annually, just as businesses and organizations evolve and as the priorities of our communities shift. And so, while we applaud those who have been on this list all five years, we are equally excited about the people who are here for the first time.
To emphasize that point, we invited seven leaders who have been on the list every year to grace our cover—then we asked 11 first-timers to pose for the featured photos on our table of contents pages for each section.
Our cover models this year are Ground Game Ventures partner Aman Brar, Gibson Development CEO Gregory Gibson, Eskenazi Health CEO Dr. Lisa Harris, Citizens Energy Group CEO Jeffrey Harrison, Hathaway Strategies President Anne Hathaway, Indiana Corporate Partnership CEO Melina Kennedy and Indiana University Health CEO Dennis Murphy.
We chose these leaders for the impact they’ve had over the past five years in key industry sectors such as health and energy, for the development and preservation projects they’re undertaking in our communities, and for the strategies they are implementing for the betterment of business and industry statewide.
They represent 84 people who have been on the Indiana 250 all five years. We thank them for their work and their impact. And the editors of this publication thank these folks as well for spending a morning with us at the beautiful Laurel Hall event center. We appreciate their time away from very busy schedules to help us with one of our favorite parts of the process!
The 11 first-timers featured on our table of contents pages are Le Monte Booker of Newfields, Brian Burdick of Barnes & Thornburg, Chris Cotterill of Goelzer Investment Management, Lisa Hershman of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget, Kelly Krauskopf of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, Deon Levingston of Urban One, Paul Okeson of Garmong Construction, Tina Peterson of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, Jimmy Rayford of Dealers Wholesale, Mike Roeder of CenterPoint Energy and Dr. Cameual Wright of CareSource.
Work on the list, of course, was nearly done when we got together for the photo shoots. Every year, the Indiana 250 development starts with the difficult task of looking over the previous year’s list and making decisions about who will stay on the list and whom we can let go to make room for new names.
This year’s list includes nearly 60 new names and a handful of people who are returning after a year or more off.
In all, over five years, more than 520 people have been an Indiana 250—and choosing the list gets harder every year. There is tremendous debate among newsroom and IBJ Media leaders because we know there are far more deserving leaders than we have space to feature.
The list is divided into 10 categories—and we hope you give us some grace for the way in which we categorized people. It’s no surprise that a number of leaders could slip into multiple categories, so 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. You can also visit Indiana250.com to search the list.
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 questions about the advice they’d give new employees, what they would do if they could take a sabbatical, what books they’d recommend and much more.
A few 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 making this publication a reality. Among them, IBJ Managing Editor Samm Quinn, Special Publications Editor Holly Hays, 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 2027.
Lesley Weidenbener
Editor, Indiana 250
Indianapolis Business Journal