Meeker 77th on Forbes list

Portland native Mary Meeker has been listed in the 77th spot on Forbes magazine’s guide to the 100 most powerful women.
A partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Meeker gained notoriety as an analyst for Morgan Stanley, where she was among the first to identify the value of the Internet.
Her annual Internet Trends Report is closely followed by tech investors. Meeker is considered by some to be “technology’s leading prophet.” She joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers in 2011. She serves on the boardes of Square, Lending Club, and DocuSign.
A graduate of Jay County High School and DePauw University, she earned an M.B.A. from Cornell University and received an honorary doctor of letters degree from DePauw.
She is the daughter of the late Gordon and Catherine Meeker of Portland.
Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, was No. 1 on the Forbes list, followed by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hillary Clinton was listed as No. 6, GM chief executive officer Mary Barra was listed as No. 7, and First Lady Michelle Obama was listed as No. 8. The listing appears in the latest issue of Forbes.

Network Wednesday
Beth Neu of Ball State University’s Building Better Communities program will be the featured speaker at the Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11 at the Dunkirk Elks Lodge.
To make a reservation, contact the chamber at (260) 726-4481 by noon on Monday. The cost of breakfast is $5.

Barnett promoted
Lisa Barnett has been promoted to human resources operations director at Tyson Foods’ corporate headquarters in Springdale, Ark.
The Portland native began her career with Tyson in 1995 at the Tyson Mexican Original plant in Portland. She served that plant in a number of different roles, including 13 years as the human resources manager.
In 2012, she moved to Tyson headquarters, where she has served as an affirmative action specialist prior to her recent promotion. A graduate of Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, she currently lives in Farmington, Ark., with her husband, Mark, and daughter, Amanda. Mark is a former Portland Police Department officer and former Jay County Coroner.

New hire
Tom Overleese has been hired as a commercial relationship manager with Old National Bank, serving clients in Jay and Randolph counties.
Overleese has 10 years of experience in financial services and holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Purdue University.

To speak
Four executives from POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels will be among the speakers at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop set for June 9-12 in Indianapolis.
POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels is considered an industry leader in the development of cellulosic biofuels.
Among those speaking will be James Moe, who is president of POET Design and Construction; Steve Hartig, general manager for technology licensing for POET-DSM; Adam Wirt, biomass logistics director; and Kevin Potas, director of business development.
POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels LLC is a 50-50 joint venture between Royal DSM and POET LLC, the parent company of POET Biorefining Portland.

Offering notes
Ardagh Group, the Luxembourg-based company that has acquired the Dunkirk glass container plant as part of its acquisition of Verallia North America, has announced that it intends to raise $1 billion in debt financing through an offering by Ardagh Finance Holdings of senior payment-in-kind notes due in 2019.
The notes have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 or any state security laws. As a result they are being offered and sold in the U.S. only to qualified institutional buyers.
Citigroup is leading the new note issue, according to The Irish Independent. The ratings agency Moody’s this week reaffirmed Ardagh’s corporate family rating of BC. The new notes have been rated as Caa2.
“Moody’s said that the acquisition of Verallia North America should position Ardagh as the leading glass container maker in the U.S.,” The Irish Independent reported.
Ardagh was recently recognized for world-class marketing by the World Packaging Organization for its Absolut Unique vodka bottle.

Old National growing
Evansville-based Old National Bank has reached an agreement to acquire LSB Financial through a stock and cash merger. LSB’s subsidiary, Lafayette Savings Bank, is the largest bank headquartered in Lafayette, with five banking centers in Tippecanoe County and $366 million in assets.
Founded in 1834, Old National has assets of $9.5 billion and 166 branches, as of March 31, including a branch in Portland.

New programs
Seven new programs have been approved within Ivy Tech’s School of Computing and Informatics. They’ll being in August and will be available at select Ivy Tech campuses around the state.
The new programs include cyber security-information assurance, database management and administration, server administration, software development, informatics, information technology support, and network infrastructure.

ENT center
Mercer Health and Grand Lake Health System have announced the opening of a new ear, nose, and throat (ENT) and sinus treatment and surgery center.
The center, located in Celina, will serve patients in both Mercer and Auglaize counties.

Using landfill
The General Motors plant near Fort Wayne is now using a small power plant that burns methane produced by a nearby landfill, The Journal Gazette reported this week.
A similar plant at the Jay County Landfill generates electricity for the Jay County REMC.
GM says that the Fort Wayne facility is the first automotive plant in North America to use methane-powered electricity.

Stock falls
Share prices for Vera Bradley Inc., the Fort Wayne producer of handbags and accessories, fell this week after the company’s first-quarter revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates.
Revenue for the period ending May 3 declined 8 percent to $113.5 million, down from $123 million a year ago.[[In-content Ad]]