Self-Made Is A Myth - Make A Difference Together

Episode #73: Jemmie Wang - AcretivPartners, LLP

Jemmie Wang was born in Taiwan, grew up in Canada, and has lived in the US since 1989. He earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and M.B.A., both from the University of Michigan. He is also an ASQ certified six sigma black belt.
He is an entrepreneur at heart and ran a computer company for 9 years while getting his degrees and then worked in the corporate world for 15 years with Dell and private equity backed companies.
Since 2014 Jemmie has been a consultant helping companies of all sizes from Fortune 100 to regional family-owned business improve profitability and successfully sell, often investing along with ownership.

Episode #72: Hamish Cohen - Proteus Discovery Group

Hamish was born in Edinburgh Scotland. He moved to Indiana, sight unseen, at the age of seven, and he has been a Hoosier ever since. After spending time travelling and working, he spent fifteen years handing complex commercial, antitrust, and securities litigation at a large, national law firm. During that time, he began working with businesspeople about risk mitigation, governance, and securities compliance – stepping repeatedly into more of an outside general counsel role. In doing so, he developed a deep entrepreneurial spirit.
In 2015 Hamish and his partners started Mattingly Burke Cohen & Biederman – a sophisticated business boutique law firm – and Proteus Discovery Group, an eDiscovery consultant and vendor. As a lawyer, Hamish provides business-related guidance and counsel to numerous businesses, assisting with their entrepreneurial development. Running Proteus, a legal-tech company, Hamish gets to be an entrepreneur, working as a founder and general counsel at an IBJ Fast 25 Indiana company. In both roles, he understands the effort inherent in to developing strategic goal and hitting tactical milestones, all while being true to your and your business’s core values.
Hamish is always happy to talk about a client’s business and legal issues, goals, and needs and, where appropriate, to serve as part of your growing team to provide timely, thoughtful, cost-effective legal and business services. You can reach Hamish at Hamish.cohen@mbcblaw.com.

Episode #71: Mark Dobson - Eight-Four

Mark Dobson has a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors. He is an entrepreneur and a community leader. In January of 2019 Mark and Tina [his wife] launched Eighty-Four, LLC. – a real estate investment and development entity headquartered in Indiana. In the short time Eighty-Four, LLC has been in business, acquisitions have included Dollar Generals and Family Dollar Stores in Indiana, Michigan, and North Dakota. In addition to the investments in Single Tenant Net Lease Retail locations, a sale/leaseback of an Indiana based manufacturer was added to the portfolio.
Prior to the launch of Eighty-Four, LLC, Dobson served as President & CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County. During his tenure, Elkhart County saw unprecedented growth in jobs and investment. His efforts to attract new businesses and support those already in Elkhart County resulted in over $750,000,000 in new investment for the County. Because an adequately trained workforce is one of the keys to success of any Economic Development strategy, he collaborated with Horizon Education Alliance and Local Higher Education institutions to ensure Education and Commerce are collaborating to produce the best trained workforce in the region. Additionally, he served the Elevate Indiana Advisory Committee that is developing an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Northern Indiana. In 2018 the EDC collaborated with the Purdue Manufacturing Assistance Program to launch a workforce leadership series targeted to manufacturing supervisors. This was in response to business roundtables where management identified key challenges faced in the Elkhart County manufacturing environment. In addition to the job creation successes, he oversaw an annual budget of public and private funds. During his time leading the EDC of Elkhart County, annual budgets were consistently exceeded by his team’s fund-raising efforts.
Previous to his engagement with the EDC of Elkhart County, Dobson was the President & CEO of the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce. He focused on ensuring the Kosciusko Chamber was the Public Policy leader for the region. He also oversaw the absorption of Warsaw Community Development into the Chamber. And he was the President of the Northern Indiana Coalition of Chambers. Those experiences – and the execution of the Kosciusko Chamber Strategic Plan – earned Dobson the designation of 2014 Chamber Executive of the Year by the Indiana Chamber Executive Association.
Dobson also served the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County where he established a Community Leader Forum and rebuilt the Public Policy Division. Prior to his service to that Chamber, Dobson served as the President of the St. Joseph County Commissioners. His two terms of service to the citizens of St. Joseph County were distinguished by his fiery advocacy for his constituents and a vision of reducing government influence on the people. His concept of Metro-Gov is still discussed when looking at ways to reduce the cost of delivery of government services.
His time in the private sector included a distinguished career in the Oil Industry and Real Estate. Dobson served B&R Oil Co., Inc. as its Vice President of Operations. B&R Oil was once the highest volume gasoline distributor in the nation for Phillips 66. The company also distributed Mobil Oil and Union 76 fuels in Indiana and Michigan. As Dobson turned to Real Estate, he earned International Diamond Elite status with Coldwell Banker for sales and marketing excellence.
Dobson holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Butler University with concentrations in Marketing and Management. He completed his Institute of Organizational Management training from the US Chamber in 2012. He earned the designation of Accredited Executive from the Indiana Chamber Executive Association in 2014. A believer in life-long learning, he also has been designated as a Master Petroleum Marketer by the Phillips 66 Marketing & Management Institute.
Dobson is an avid golfer and winter sport enthusiast. However, he is most proud of his family. He has been married to Tina for over 38 years. His son, Mitchell, is a Captain in the Air Force. And his daughter, Shelby, is a School Counselor in Whitko Community Schools.

Episode #70: Aaron Pierce - Pierce Aerospace

Mr. Pierce was the Entrepreneur in Residence for the first Techstars Air Force Accelerator program and has a background in public safety - including as a volunteer EMT & UH-1H Huey helicopter crewmember. He is a FAA certified Part 107 pilot with significant UAS operations and policy experience. He has mentored US Army Futures Command & SOCOM C-UAS hackathons & guest lectured at the Eisenhower School for National Security. He’s been twice nominated as Indiana’s Entrepreneur of the year and is a Mitch Daniels Leadership Fellow. He holds a BA in English and is forecasted to graduate with an MS in GIS and Remote Sensing from Indiana University in Summer 2023.
Pierce Aerospace, a Techstars-backed company, is a Remote ID service provider focused on practical and robust integration of Remote ID services into the UAS ecosystem. Pierce Aerospace serves on the Drone Safety Team, ASTM F38 Committee on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and the FAA’s Remote ID Cohort as an industry leader. Funds from the US Air Force and the State of Indiana support Pierce Aerospace’s Remote ID technology - previously nominated as Indiana’s Innovation of the Year by Techpoint and awarded first place in Remote ID technology at AUVSI’s Xcellence Awards. Pierce Aerospace is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, The Racing Capital of the World. Visit www.pierceaerospace.net.

Episode #69: Jonas Olson - Turf Badger

Born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Started a mowing company in 2010 and grew it to 3 million and sales. Sold that business in 2021 and started over in fertilization weed control company/pest control company and in the last 18 months grew the new company from 0 to 3.5 million. Opening branch #4 and # 5 March 1st with projections to double revenues in 2023.
I’ve trained 100’s of sales reps in the service industry inside and outside of my company. Have a passion to help others scale their companies or increase their income as a sales rep.
Turfbadger.com

Episode #68: Zac Elsts - HandledNow

Zac Elsts was raised in the Indianapolis area and is a graduate of Pike High School. He’s spent most of his professional career in the logistics sector working with trucking companies and truck drivers to promote job growth opportunities and solutions for personnel fulfillment. He has built a passion for helping people connect their “why” with the “how” in a world where it’s easy to lose sight of humanity as companies have traditionally been focused on bottom lines profits almost exclusively.
As a co-founder of HandledNow, LLC, he has continued that passion for the industry working as president of the business by advocating for truck drivers as they navigate the industry. His goal is to transform the industry through the way that his company treats the people with whom they come in contact whether employees, clients, and affiliates in the industry. HandledNow is a staffing and recruiting firm that has grown organically starting in 2015 to now having operations in more than fourteen states and growing in the US. Helping people understand their potential without having to instill the traditional crippling fear of the corporate arm, allows people the opportunity to grow personally and professionally and create gains that are positive for both the business and the individual. He has a podcast called Drive that is geared to highlight truck drivers and the issues that surround them as they navigate the industry.
HandledNow offers businesses a comprehensive approach to their staffing solutions instead of a traditional broad-based approach that paints everyone with the same brush. Zac would love to discuss your career goals or personnel issues and can be reached at most major social media platforms or by direct contact at zelsts@handlednow.com.
 
 

Episode #67: Tom Haithcoat - Ceptor Consulting

Tom Haithcoat is the President of Ceptor Consulting, LLC, a PAC Physician Practice consulting firm focused on Growth, M&A, and Value Model selection & strategy. Tom has over 25 years of senior living experience in both Nursing Home management and Post Acute Care physician practice management.
In addition, Mr. Haithcoat is the President of Physician Services for Careline Health Group. Careline is a Michigan headquartered Hospice and Physician Services practice servicing 4,500 patients in 250 AL/SNF/LTC facilities throughout Michigan with expansion offices in Indiana and Ohio. Our hospice practice has an average census of ~450.
Tom sits on the Board of Directors for AMDA-The Society for Post Acute and Long Term Care Medicine where he also Chairs the Practice Management Section, leads the Chief Medical Officer Leadership Meetings and Co-Chairs the Membership Committee.

Episode #66: Kelly Hipskind - Sun FundED

Kelly Hipskind was born in Wabash, Indiana. As the son of a basketball coach, he spent time in a handful of different cities growing up (Indianapolis, DC/Maryland, Portage, Hobart and Greensburg). He has 22+ years experience creating, investing in, building and scaling teams and services from scratch to a regional or national footprint. These businesses have been in the education technology, renewable energy, sports entertainment, and art industries. He also has experience in executive and managerial roles responsible for $30M - $500M per annum.
Mr. Hipskind has been married for 13 years to his loving wife Carla, whom he credits as his number one investor in all of his endeavors and also his better half. They are blessed with four wonderful children. He attends Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, in Carmel Indiana, and credits Jesus Christ as the main reason for all of his peace, joy and favor personally and professionally.
Currently: - Mr. Hipskind is an Entrepreneur in Residence @ Sun FundED, a company he Co-Founded in 2018 that serves exclusively schools with exclusively solar power. www.sunfunded.com - Mr. Hipskind is also open to engaging with others in an advisory or board capacity looking to strategically grow an idea or business.

Episode #65: Rajesh Perianayagam - Karyosoft Inc

Rajesh Perianayagam was born, raised and completed all his education till Ph.D. in plant biotechnology in India. He first came to the US in 1999 as a visiting research scholar during his Ph.D. to Washington State University, Pullman, WA. After obtaining doctorate degree at National Chemical Laboratory and University of Pune, India, he continued working at WSU and University of Missouri- Columbia as a postdoctoral research fellow. He moved to Indianapolis to work at large corporates such as Dow AgroSciences where he gained experience in managing multi-million-dollar agrigenomics programs and later at Roche Diagnostics where he worked with multi-billion-dollar clients. His extensive learnings and experiences in discovery and commercialization of products working in academia and industries led him to founding Karyosoft.
Currently he is the Founder/CEO of the startup Karyosoft Inc. headquartered in Carmel, Indiana. Karyosoft focuses on building in-house genomics software solutions for scientists to improve R&D efficiency and accelerate innovations in agrigenomics and life sciences enterprises. Karyosoft has received 20+ regional, national and international recognitions such as 2022 Best of Carmel Award in the Software Company category and “30 startups to watch” list by World Agri-Tech community.
During his more than 2 decades of experience in both at industries and academia as a molecular geneticist and a business development professional, Rajesh Perianayagam published 3 patents, won highest Seeds R&D recognition award for 4 consecutive years, worked on 6 different crops, recognized as an innovator for consecutively 7 years, captured 10+ intellectual property (IP), published 25+ peer reviewed publications and given 50+ presentations at both national and international conferences/meetings.
He is a passion-driven entrepreneur transforming his 25+ years of ‘R&D to Revenue’ experience into solving problems in agrigenomics and life sciences. He fondly calls his approximate 10,600 miles career journey as “India to Indiana”.

Episode #64: Jason Bork - Pintail Solutions

Jason Bork is the founder of Pintail Solutions, a niche management advisory firm serving the life sciences community. Pintail Solutions specializes in delivering complex projects to help improve global health in areas such as clinical trials, healthcare informatics and facilities and capital planning. For more than 2 decades, Jason has been a stalwart in the life sciences sector leading and executing upon strategic initiatives enabling the future success of organizations during times of transformative change.
Jason founded Pintail Solutions in 2015 out of his passion to make a difference in global health. Jason’s personal mission statement is to “Change the world through others”. He fulfills this mission through his family, mentoring, and the meaningful client work done at Pintail Solutions.
Jason is raising money for research through Riley Children’s Hospital and the nonprofit Reason to Dance, Reason for Hope. It’s a wonderful organization, that is getting him out of my comfort zone. He is competing in a local ‘Dancing With The Stars’ event on Mar 17 at the Indiana Rooftop Ballroom. You can learn more here https://reasontodance.org/celebrities...