Hardwick earns CFO honor

Dunkirk native and First Merchants Corp. executive Mark K. Hardwick was recently named top honoree among chief financial officers in the category for public companies by the Indianapolis Business Journal.
First Merchants Corp. is central Indiana’s largest financial services holding company, extending its operations into 24 Indiana counties, including Jay and Delaware, and two in Ohio.
Hardwick has contributed greatly to keeping the bank successful in hard times, according to an IBJ article about his achievements.
Since Hardwick joined the bank in 1997 as corporate controller, First Merchants assets have grown from roughly $1 billion to more than $4.2 billion and its number of locations and employees has more than tripled.
Hardwick grew up in Dunkirk. His parents are Dunkirk residents Rod and Linda Hardwick. He and his wife Cathy have a daughter, Halie, 14, and a son, Bryce, 9.
Hardwick attended Westlawn Elementary School and West Jay Junior High School and later graduated from Jay County High School.
He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA from Ball State University.
He is a CPA and graduated from Stonier Graduate School of Banking in 2001.
Hardwick is president of Delaware County Country Club and is a member of the Union Chapel United Methodist Church finance committee.
He is also a supporter of United Way, First Choice for Women, The Community Foundation, the Youth Opportunity Center and Ball State University athletics.

Garbacz leaves
The CR
The Commercial Review county reporter Steve Garbacz has left the staff to pursue a position with The Daily Journal, Franklin.
Garbacz, whose last day was Friday, started with The CR in May 2008 covering the county government beat. He also wrote a weekly column, The Garbacz Dump, since May 2011.
In his time with The Commercial Review, he won 10 state journalism awards, including two first-place honors in 2011 from the Hoosier State Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
The Daily Journal, a 17,000-circulation newspaper owned by Home News Enterprises, serves Johnson County, located on the south side of Indianapolis. Garbacz will join The Daily Journal staff as a general news reporter.
Garbacz is originally from St. John and graduated from Purdue University in 2008.
He and his wife Ashley have been married since August 2011 and will reside in Greenwood.

Hospital accredited
Adams Memorial Hospital, 1100 Mercer Avenue, Decatur, recently announced it has had its accreditation from the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program renewed for another three years.
HFAP, an organization recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, performed an extensive and objective review of quality and safety standards at the hospital, as well as at the offices of Decatur Family Medicine, Monroe Family Medicine, Adams County Orthopedics, the Behavioral Health outpatient locations in Decatur and Berne, and the AMH Convenience Clinic in Berne at Swiss Village.
“We’re proud to achieve this award,” said JoEllen Eidam, AMH chief operating officer. “In fact, quality is consistently the priority focus in our strategic plans and goals.”
HFAP is a non-profit, nationally recognized accreditation organization with more than 60 years of experience in health care.

Energize-ECI annual meeting
Energize-ECI, which provides economic development support services to Jay, Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Madison, Randolph, and Rush counties, will be having its annual meeting on Jan. 15 at the Ball State university Alumni Center, Assembly Hall, 2800 W. Bethel Ave., Muncie.
The program’s topic will be “Growth is in the Air,” and Dan Haler, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, will discuss how Indiana became one of the nation’s best states for business growth and how businesses in East Central Indiana can capitalize on this foundation.
The event begins with a sign-in at 11:30 a.m. with lunch, the annual business meeting, the program and a question and answer session to follow.
For more information, call (765) 254-1420.

POET develops
POET LLC is working to develop a fiber product to be sold for use in cereal, baked goods and nutritional bars.
Jeff Lautt, chief executive, said the company will be working with a food-ingredient company to develop the fiber product. Lautt said the product will compete with oat and wheat fiber.
The fiber used to be sold as an animal-feed ingredient, but POET developed a way to purify it, which is expected to be more profitable for the company.
POET operates a plant at 1542 S. 200 West, Portland.

Going out of business
Hapner Furniture, 1600 N. Meridian St., Portland, is going out of business.
The furniture store has lost its lease on its building and must vacate its current premises. It will be holding a going-out-of-business sale to liquidate its assets.
The sale started Friday and will continue through Tuesday.
Stop by the store for more information.[[In-content Ad]]