Business

By Ben Polk— MUNCIE, IN—PrimeTrust Federal Union, serving Delaware County, Indiana, is proud to announce Tim Pierce as its new president and chief executive officer, effective January 17, 2023. Pierce’s career includes Indirect Lending Manager at TCU, Vice President of Operations at Afena, Regional Sales Rep with CUDL, Vice President of Operations and Lending at Ball State Credit Union, and most recently Assistant Vice President of Compliance and Education at the Indiana Credit Union League. At the League, Pierce’s primary goal was working to develop and grow credit unions throughout the state. Pierce’s appointment to the PrimeTrust helm follows a…

By Northwest— MUNCIE, IN— Northwest Bank, a full-service financial institution offering a complete line of business and personal banking products, aims to help customers achieve their financial goals and prepare for what’s next through their online Financial Wellness Center, particularly in the month of January in honor of National Financial Wellness Month. Northwest Bank’s Financial Wellness Center supports consumers on their journey to financial wellness and provides educational articles on a variety of key financial wellness topics such as credit and debt, money management, workplace finances, home ownership, paying for college, retirement planning, family finances and small business. “I love telling…

By Joe Loughmiller— American Water Charitable Foundation grant will support new interactive water exhibit. MUNCIE, IN— Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, and the American Water Charitable Foundation (AWCF) today announced it has awarded the Muncie Children’s Museum a State Strategic Grant of $20,000 to help build a new water exhibit at the museum. The project includes incorporating interactive educational activities that explore the White River and local water resources and their significance in East Central Indiana. “We’re thankful for partners like Indiana American Water and the American Water Charitable Foundation who help support our efforts to educate…

By Ted A. Baker, CEO/Executive Director, Muncie Innovation Connector— MUNCIE, IN—After a successful initiative last year, Celebrating Entrepreneurs in 2022, the Innovation Connector has chosen a new theme for 2023: Empowering Entrepreneurs in 2023. While we will continue celebrating entrepreneurs, we believe the next step is to provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and business owners to be empowered – to learn, collaborate, and share their knowledge with others.  As I have expressed in prior articles, one key trait of a successful entrepreneur involves being a lifelong learner.  Because of rapidly changing technology, consumer market changes, continual demographic shifts, and current workforce…

By Joseph Loughmiller— Grants Available to Community Projects in Company’s Service Areas. GREENWOOD, IN – Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company, is now accepting applications for its 2023 Environmental Grant Program. “Indiana American Water is committed to providing our customers with clean, safe, reliable water service and protecting our environment and our water sources,” said Indiana American Water President Matt Prine. “Everyone plays a role in protecting our nation’s water supplies, and this program encourages municipalities, schools, environmental organizations and civic groups to apply for a grant that will…

By Joe Wrin— MUNCIE, IN—On Thursday, January 19th, Home Instead of Muncie and Anderson hosted a thank you luncheon for a very special group of senior care professionals. In an industry already plagued with high employee turnover rates prior to the pandemic, and massive employee losses during the pandemic, Home Instead celebrated seven local care professionals from Madison and Delaware counties who have provided more than 64,000 hours of one-on-one senior care to local seniors. With an astonishing combined total of 80 years of service at Home Instead, this special group of care professionals boasts an average age of 73-years-old….

Station looking for local radio hosts and program suggestions. By Mike Rhodes, Editor-in-Chief— MUNCIE, IN— A new radio station in Muncie and Delaware County aims to highlight what residents are talking about. And need to know. Radio station WMUN, broadcasting on 92.5FM and 1340AM has slowly been launching new, original talk programming. The station, once known as WXFN, now broadcasts FOX branded sports and news programming as well as local news and talk. The station can primarily be heard on 92.5FM and 1340AM around the Delaware County area. The station can also be heard via streaming and on Alexa devices….

By Michele Owen— MUNCIE, IN—Any small business owner can vouch for the difficulty of launching a new venture, but Hoosier entrepreneurs may have an advantage. According to a recent article by Forbes, Indiana is the number one state for starting a new business in 2023. The article gathered data and evaluated 18 different criteria, including cost of living, start up and operating expenses, amount of funding available, growth and survival rate of small businesses since 2020, natural disasters, unemployment rate, percentage of degree-level workers, and more. Indiana ranked #1, narrowly beating Colorado with lower business costs and more available funding…

By Victoria Meldrum, Ball State CBER— MUNCIE, IN — Registration ends Friday, Jan. 6 at 5 PM to attend the 27th annual Indiana Economic Outlook luncheon, which will be held Tuesday, Jan. 17 in downtown Muncie. Attendees will enjoy a keynote presentation on inflation concerns by David Altig, executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, in addition to viewing the year’s regional and national economic forecasts as projected by Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University. Full details and registration are online at https://bsu.edu/cber/outlook, and all attendees must register…