Profiles Archive - Page 63 of 75

Albert Chen

Albert Chen launched Telamon Corp. as a telecommunications services supplier in 1985 after he spent more than a decade with GTE. The company designs, builds and installs telecommunication networks in 15 domestic and three international locations. By 2021, Telamon had grown into a $765 million company with more than 2,000 employees. Chen retired as CEO and board chair in 2015. In 2017, he established Telamon Enterprise Ventures, which provides renewable-energy development and smart-manufacturing solutions.

Admires most: “I admire Warren Buffett the most because he gave billions of dollars to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for charitable purposes in lieu of setting up his own foundation.”

Toughest challenge: “My toughest challenge to date was in early 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst. I had to overcome a revenue loss exceeding 65%.”

Listening to: “I listen to Sirius XM‘s Symphony Hall on a daily basis to relax.”

Justin Christian

Justin Christian is co-founder, president and CEO of BCforward, a global information technology consulting and workforce management organization founded in 1998. Christian, the sole shareholder, has built the organization from startup to one with projected annual revenue of $600 million. The company has nearly 5,000 employees and serves more than 300 customers in North America, Europe and Asia. Christian serves on the boards of Lumina Foundation, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, First Internet Bancorp and DePauw University, where after a $1 million donation, the Justin and Darrianne Christian Center for Diversity and Inclusion was named for him and his wife.

Hobbies: traveling and motorcycles

Reading: “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander

Walk-up song: “Don‘t Sweat the Technique,” by Eric B. & Rakim

Scott Dorsey

Scott Dorsey is managing partner of High Alpha, an Indianapolis-based venture studio he co-founded with three partners in 2015. High Alpha launches, scales and invests in enterprise cloud companies. Before High Alpha, Dorsey co-founded ExactTarget, leading the company from startup to global marketing software leader. Salesforce acquired ExactTarget in 2013 for $2.5 billion, an Indiana record at that time. Dorsey is also chairman and founder of Nextech, a not-for-profit that helps Indiana‘s K-12 students learn about computer science. Dorsey previously served as chair of Indiana Sports Corp. for seven years.

Hobbies: “Love playing paddle tennis outside in the winter.”

Admires most: “My wife, Erin.”

Lessons learned: “Leadership isn‘t about you—it‘s about serving others and helping them reach their full potential.”

Regina Emberton

Regina Emberton is CEO of ChoiceLight Inc., a public-private partnership promoting technology-based economic development by providing a state-of-the-art dark fiber-optic network infrastructure looping around St. Joseph and Marshall counties. Before joining ChoiceLight, she was CEO of the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership, where she helped secure a $42 million Regional Cities grant to improve quality-of-life amenities in the region. She used that experience and momentum to lead a larger initiative—developing the region‘s proposal for a $50 million READI grant from the state.

Listening to: “My podcasts are varied—including ‘South Bend on Purpose,‘ ‘Force Multiplier,‘ ‘Rest Eat Move,‘ ‘Stay Human,‘ ‘Signals & Bits‘ and of course, ‘Business & Beyond with Gerry Dick.‘”

Indiana love: “I love that the South Bend-Elkhart region is small enough for anyone to get involved, and big enough for it to make a difference.”

Reading: “Lift as You Climb,” by Viv Groskop

Ting Gootee

Ting Gootee joined TechPoint, a not-for-profit that promotes and supports the state‘s technology industry and is associated with the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, in May after more than a decade at Elevate Ventures, a venture development organization she was with since its inception. Most recently, she was chief investment officer and focused on investment strategies, due diligence, portfolio oversight and back-office operational support. She also previously served as deputy director of the 21 Fund and entrepreneurship at the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

Favorite part of being a leader: “The privilege to shape future trajectories, drive change and impact lives.”

Hobbies: “I love dogs. We currently have three—a yellow lab, a pug and a corgi. I picked up gardening a few years ago, and most recently, started to develop a keen interest in shelling.”

Toughest challenge: “Coming to a brand-new country 21 years ago and building a new life/career from the ground up. Indiana has been incredibly good to me, for which I am very grateful.”

Jim Hallett

Jim Hallett joined KAR predecessor ADESA Canada in 1993 as president. He became CEO of ADESA in 1996 and led the company‘s initial public offering in 2004. Then, in 2007, Hallett led the leveraged buyout of ADESA and the merger with salvage auction provider Insurance Auto Auctions Inc. Hallett took the combined company public in 2009 as KAR Auction Services Inc. Under Hallett, KAR completed the acquisition of more than 50 wholesale auctions and other businesses, expanding the company across North America and Europe. Hallett stepped down as CEO in 2021.

Something surprising: “I didn‘t start out as a ‘car guy.‘ … My childhood home didn‘t have a garage, and our family never owned a car.”

Advice for young people: “Outwork everyone else. This doesn‘t always mean putting in more hours or sacrificing everything else in life for your career. But it does mean always working to improve yourself and to do whatever you can to help your customers succeed.”

Scott Jones

Scott Jones is founder, chair and president of Eleven Fifty Academy, a software development and cybersecurity coding academy that‘s trained more than 1,000 coders in Indiana since its start in 2014. Before Eleven Fifty, Jones was a founding partner in Boston Technology, the world‘s largest voicemail provider. He also founded music and database company Gracenote, now a division of Nielsen, and invented the internet search engine ChaCha, which answered 2.25 billion questions before shutting down in 2016. He‘s raised over $200 million for his companies.

Favorite part of being a leader: “Helping people grow to become great leaders and contributors.”

Something surprising: “I helped dig ‘Bucky‘ the T-rex at [The] Children‘s Museum [of Indianapolis] out of the ground to start the most successful exhibit in the history of the museum.”

Hobbies: “Constant reader and absorber of new information. Western and Eastern medicine. My primary hobby is changing the world.”

Tony Katz

Tony Katz is a radio host. His shows include “Tony Katz and the Morning News” on WIBC-FM 93.1 and “Tony Katz Today,” a midday program played on stations across Indiana and in Atlanta; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and St. Louis. He also has a cigar-and-bourbon radio program—“Eat! Drink! Smoke!”—that‘s played on stations nationwide and is the largest program of its kind in the U.S. He‘s regularly featured on cable news, including Fox News and NewsNation, discussing politics and culture.

Hobbies: “Every hobby I‘ve ever had I‘ve turned into a vocation. Politics, culture, bourbon, cigars. If I took up golf, I know I‘d end up designing courses in about an hour.”

Civic causes: “I was happy to help raise funds to rebuild the L.S. Ayres clock and to host a fundraiser on my morning show to benefit the Kurt Vonnegut Museum.”

Walk-up song: “I‘m one of the few people I know who has their own theme song, so I would use that. It was written for me by Gary Steven Eaton.”

Peter Kelly

Peter Kelly was named CEO of KAR Global in 2021. Before assuming that role, he was president, a position he was named to in 2019. As president, he oversaw all KAR business units and brands, including ADESA, AFC, BacklotCars and TradeRev, and was responsible for the company‘s digital platforms and solutions. He joined KAR in 2011 when it acquired the online auction platform OpenLane, of which he was president and CEO. Under Kelly‘s leadership, the company announced in February it had agreed to sell its physical auction unit ADESA to Carvana Co.

Reading: “The Future is History,” by Masha Gessen, and “A Pale View of Hills,” by Kazuo Ishiguro

Advice for young people: “Find challenging work that you enjoy and give it your best. If possible, find a mentor.”

Sabbatical topic: “I‘d travel with my family to a part of the world I‘ve not been to before and spend six months learning about their culture, history and their natural world.”

Pat McAfee

Pat McAfee was drafted as a punter by the Indianapolis Colts in 2009 and played in two Pro Bowls during his eight-year career in the NFL before retiring in 2016. After, McAfee built a huge following at Barstool Sports and launched “The Pat McAfee Show,” which he hosts weekdays on Sirius XM satellite radio with simulcasts on YouTube. He launched his own company, Pat McAfee Inc., in 2018 from Indianapolis. He also operates, with his dad, The Pat McAfee Foundation, which provides scholarships to the children of U.S. military members. In 2021, McAfee announced he would move his company and his foundation to a vacant church in Lawrence.