The IBJ Podcast with Mason King

Gov. Mike Braun has called a special session of the Indiana Legislature, set to begin Monday, Nov. 3, that could make Indiana one of states to redraw its congressional maps before next year’s midterm elections. The Trump administration has lobbied Braun and Republican lawmakers since at least August to reapportion the state’s nine districts in hopes of engineering a GOP sweep next year. Indiana’s congressional delegation already is dominated by Republicans, but two of the state’s nine seats in the U.S. House of Representatives currently are held by Democrats.   Braun called the special session despite a definitive report from Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray’s office that there wasn’t enough support in the Indiana Senate to redraw the maps. But Braun believes the votes will be there. In this edition of the IBJ Podcast, host Mason King is joined by two local journalists with significant experience covering the legislature to dissect the events that led to the special session and explain how it could play out. They also discuss the history of redistricting in Indiana and the decades-long battle to expand political power by changing boundaries on a map. 

Pat East, entrepreneur who co-founded Hanapin Marketing and led Bloomington’s The Mill. He talks about why buying businesses is gaining traction, practical paths to entrepreneurship through acquisition, where to find financing, common red flags to watch for, and how to build a local ETA community in Indiana.

As the federal government shutdown drags on and thousands of federal workers are going without paychecks, we thought it would be a great time to check in with Peter Dunn about what to do if you’re suddenly laid off or facing a loss of income. Peter writes the Pete the Planner column and hosts the Pete the Planner podcast where he talks about money. He’s also the founder and CEO of Your Money Line, which provides workplace financial advice for companies across the country. He talked with IBJ Editor Lesley Weidenbener about the challenges facing federal workers for whom the future remains murky. And they discuss what those and other laid off or furloughed workers can do – and what they shouldn’t do – to address the situation.

Anderson native Benjamin Nagengast comes by his bent for entrepreneurism and artistic design naturally. His mother founded a prominent design and engineering firm in the Anderson area, and his father was involved in several enterprises, including his own ceramic pottery business. When Ben was 10, his mother suggested the family start a pumpkin patch on their 75-acre farm. The lessons learned there helped Ben start an enterprise at the age of 13 that would become White River Paintball. Eleven years later, in 2010, he co-launched the haunted house attraction Indy Scream Park, also in the Anderson area.   Ben and his wife, Mariah Nagengast, went on to create three more family-fun theme parks, all located in Dade City, Florida, a short drive east of the Tampa area. The five parks in Florida and Indiana fall under the umbrella of the entertainment development firm Point Summit. Ben is the CEO, and Mariah is the chief acquisitions and financial officer. They now live in Florida, but they still have their fingers on the pulse of the Anderson attractions and recently invested $300,000 to upgrade elements of Indy Scream Park. They also are looking at creating new attractions on land they own next to the Scream Park and paintball business. Ben and Mariah are our guests this week to explain what it takes to operate a sprawling fear factory. The Scream Park is a serious seasonal business requiring nearly 200 employees on a busy night to create a sense of impending doom—but not danger.

Gov. Mike Braun’s administration last week released an audit the governor ordered last spring of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. — the state’s job creation agency — and related organizations, including the IEDC’s foundation as well as Elevate Ventures, the Applied Research Institute and other groups. From the beginning, the governor and Commerce Secretary David Adams referred to the review as a “forensic audit,” a term generally used when fraud or legal irregularities are expected. But the Governor’s Office said the review uncovered nothing criminal. Still, the auditors included dozens of findings in their report, including situations involving conflicts of interest, poor documentation and a lack of transparency. IBJ Editor Lesley Weidenbener talks with IBJ reporter Susan Orr, who has been following the issue for months, about what the audit found and what the results mean for several organizations. You can read more coverage of the audit at IBJ.com.

Kent Kramer registered an inkling of his calling early in high school when he started working for a supermarket in his native Muncie. He loved helping customers, getting to know them better, examining what they were buying and seeing how they stretched their food dollars. After college he jumped onto the store management track with Sam’s Club, deep in the heart of American consumer culture. This ultimately led him to his dream job with the global nonprofit Goodwill Industries, best known for the thrift stores that help power a wide variety of programs that help people become economically self-sufficient.   Kramer became president and CEO of Goodwill of Central Indiana in 2015 and has captained aggressive expansion of its programs and footprint. Now known, at least for the time being, as Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, the organization serves 40 Hoosier counties and 21 counties in central Illinois, while it establishes its model in Puerto Rico. Kramer has overseen impressive expansion of his organization’s employment, education and health services. That includes growing its maternal and natal care program to all 92 Indiana counties and scaling up its Excel Center program for adult education on a national level. Over the summer, IBJ Media recognized Kramer as the first recipient of its nonprofit executive of the year award, and he is our guest for this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast discussing his early love for retail, how central Indiana’s Goodwill extended its influence to a U.S. territory and how the organization has handled the challenges of several mergers with like-minded nonprofits.

Two months ago, one of America’s most prominent rugby players—both on the professional and international level—announced he was retiring at the age of 30. As a news event, this wasn’t on the level of an NBA All-Star retiring. But if you were a rugby fan or an alumnus of Indiana University, you probably knew the name Bryce Campbell, who had the distinction of being named the nation’s top collegiate rugby player while competing for IU’s team. Campbell’s new goal is to significantly raise the profile of Indianapolis in the rugby world and turn the city into a hub for the sport at the amateur, professional and national levels.   Campbell is a partner in Riverside Sports Properties, which recently signed a 20-year lease with Indy Parks and Recreation to manage and operate Kuntz Stadium on West 16th Street. It’s in the midst of millions of dollars in improvements to upgrade the field and stadium proper, prior to construction of a training facility, garage and plaza. In this week’s edition of the podcast, Indianapolis-native Campbell recounts his years as a Cathedral High School and IU phenom as well as his distinguished career as a pro and a member of the U.S. national team. He is using those experiences and connections to advance his goal of making Indianapolis the center of the rugby world, including landing a Major League Rugby franchise and carving out a role for the city in the 2031 and 2033 World Cups. And don’t be surprised to see toddlers learning the basics at Kuntz Stadium. 

The gap between women and men attending college in Indiana continues to grow in favor of women. In raw numbers, 72,419 more girls than boys who graduated from Indiana high schools from 2009 to 2023 went on to higher education. Another head-jerking trend: The overall percentage of high school grads in Indiana who enroll in higher education stumbled from 61% in 2018 to 52% just five years later in 2023. Richard Fry, senior researcher at Pew Research Center, joins IBJ to discuss the widening gender gap in U.S. college enrollment. Fry analyzes federal data from 2011 to 2022, highlighting a sharp drop in college attendance among young men, shifting public views on the value of a degree, and rising wages for workers without one. He also examines racial and ethnic differences, workforce participation trends, and challenges in tracking training programs.

Each year, IBJ publishes an A&E Fall Preview guide. And for the past two years, reporter Dave Lindquist has packed that guide full of can’t-miss events for the fall, winter and even into the spring. Dave pours over the schedules of dozens of organizations and event spaces in town to make his picks, which include big-time performances as well as the kinds of events that might otherwise fly under the radar. For this week’s episode of the IBJ Podcast, IBJ Editor Lesley Weidenbener talked with Dave about how he decides what makes the list and which events he’s most excited about. You can see the A&E Fall Preview here.

Home ownership is viewed in many circles as a standard rite of passage for young adults. It indicates a certain financial wherewithal and the understanding that buying a home is an early key to building wealth. It’s supposed to be one of your most important investments. It’s the prime ingredient in what we consider the American Dream. And to be frank, if you are in your 30s or 40s and you don’t own a home, you’re very likely to get frequent reminders that you’re burning money on rent without building any equity.    But is home ownership always a smart move? Are the millennials and members of Generation Z who are struggling to afford homes due to debts and the rising cost of living in dangerous economic territory? In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, personal finance expert Peter Dunn—aka Pete the Planner—breaks down the orthodoxy of home ownership and discusses when it makes the most sense. He says that while owning a home does solve a couple of major financial problems, it can create many more. It’s not at all necessary to get started right away, and there’s a navigable path for renters in the 40s to end up in a very comfortable situation by retirement.   Start your dollar a week trial now at ⁠⁠IBJ.com/trialoffer⁠⁠ Check out our event lineup and register now at ⁠IBJ.com/RSVP⁠ Discover which programs are accepting nominations now at ⁠⁠IBJ.com/Nominate⁠