Business

By: Mike Rhodes, Sheena Peters, Kyle Evans and the Innovation Connector— Muncie, IN—The Innovation Connector’s 5th Annual Excellence in Innovation Awards were held on November 13, 2019 at a celebration event at the Horizon Convention Center in downtown Muncie. The evening’s events lead up to the introduction of the 5 finalists from the Innovation Connector’s Big Idea Pitch Competition. Each of the 5 finalists pitched live, in front of over 350 people in the audience. Ms. Kirsten Smith, Associate Director at the Center…

By: Becky Tumidolsky— Company Hosts Evening Event to Honor Its Co-founders, Reflect on Its Journey, and Announce New Muncie Community Fund Muncie, IN– Ontario Systems, a leading provider of enterprise software that automates complex workflows and accelerates revenue recovery for clients in the healthcare, accounts receivable management (ARM), and government markets, hosted a community event at its Muncie headquarters Thursday evening to celebrate the company’s nearly 40-year history and announce a new community fund to help improve quality of life…

By: Mike Rhodes— Muncie, IN—Entrepreneurs and small business owners seem to have a million things to juggle every day: Sales. Marketing. Business Development. Customer service. Getting the actual work or product of the business completed and out the door. Of course there’s one other fun little task that is extremely important to a business:  Bookkeeping. For many entrepreneurs, that skill is frequently at the bottom of the “Things to get done this month” list. Sometimes, the financial aspects of running a…

By: Symone Skrzycki— Indianapolis, IN —Today, Muncie’s Casey Stanley was honored by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce with a 2019 Samuel C. Schlosser Volunteer of the Year award. “Casey is a valued board and committee member at the Indiana Chamber, willing to speak out to represent both his company, the broader business community and his Muncie home,” says Indiana Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar. “I would like to thank him and all the volunteers who share their time and talents with…

By: First Merchants Corporation— Muncie, IN—First Merchants Corporation, a $12.3 billion financial holding company, has elected H. Douglas Chaffin to the Boards of Directors of First Merchants Corporation and First Merchants Bank. Chaffin, who recently announced plans to transition from his day-to-day leadership role, served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Monroe Bank & Trust and MBT Financial Corporation beginning in 2004. First Merchants and MBT Financial finalized a merger of the two companies in September. “The First Merchants Board…

By: Brian Watson— Muncie, IN—At an intimate gathering on Muncie’s northeast side last Thursday afternoon, Vickie Copley named award winners from the Soup Crawl event held earlier last month and presented a fundraising check to C.S. Hendershot, Sunni Matters, and Dianne Hovermale of Second Harvest Food Bank. The Soup Crawl on October 3th in downtown Muncie raised $23,192.77 for Second Harvest’s school food pantry program. The People’s Choice Award, was presented to Elm Street Brewing Co for their Smoked Gouda…

WARREN, PA and MUNCIE, IN— Northwest Bancshares, Inc., (“Northwest”), (NASDAQ: NWBI) and MutualFirst Financial, Inc., (“MutualFirst”) (NASDAQ: MFSF) jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Northwest will acquire MutualFirst, the Muncie, Indiana-based holding company and parent of MutualBank, in an all-stock transaction valued at $39.89 per share (based on Northwest’s 15-day volume weighted average closing stock price ending on October 23, 2019), or approximately $346 million in the aggregate. The transaction is immediately accretive to…

By: Mike Rhodes— Muncie, IN—The 86th Annual Fall Conference of the Indiana Criminal Justice Association (ICJA) was held at the Horizon Convention Center October 9-11, 2019 in downtown Muncie. Over 160 association members from across the state attended the conference. The Indiana Criminal Justice Association (ICJA), formerly the Indiana Correctional Association, is a statewide professional member association with the mission of enhancing the continuum of criminal justice in Indiana by focusing on the enrichment of the criminal justice professional and…

By: First Merchants Corporation— Muncie, IN—First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ – FRME) has reported third quarter 2019 net income of $36.8 million compared to $41.1 million during the same period in 2018. Earnings per share for the period totaled $.71 per share compared to third quarter 2018 results of $.83 per share. Included in the third quarter results are $11.2 million, or $.17 per share, of one-time charges related to the closing of our acquisition of Monroe Bank & Trust on…