Swoveland takes post at Arts Place

Julie E. Swoveland, who has been business manager of the Graphic Printing Co. for 15 years, is joining the staff at Arts Place as director of administration and student registrar.
She succeeds Heidi Bouse, who has joined TLS by Design of Portland.
Swoveland holds an associate’s degree in business administration from Ivy Tech and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Indiana Wesleyan University.
A resident of rural Pennville, she serves on the national board of trustees of Delta Theta Tau sorority and is a member of the Jay Community Band.
Her successor at Graphic Printing, publishers of The Commercial Review, The News and Sun, The Circulator and The Home Guide, has not yet been named.

Incentives received
Ardagh Group, the international corporation that now owns glass container plants in both Dunkirk and Winchester, has received a tax abatement and other incentives in connection with a planned capital investment of nearly $71 million in the Winchester plant over the next three years.
The Winchester plant was once part of Anchor Glass, while the Dunkirk plant was most recently part of Saint-Gobain’s Verallia North America. Ardagh Group, based in Luxembourg, acquired both Anchor and Verallia over the past few years and operates the plants as Ardagh Group Glass-North America.
The incentives include a tax abatement of about $6.1 million over 10 years from the city and a grant of $300,000 for equipment and training from the Randolph Economic Development Corporation and the county.
In addition the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is offering up to $1 million in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based upon the company’s performance.
“This project represents the value of strong partnerships, collaboration and the commitment to excellence which are essential to the prosperity of rural communities,” said Bruce Hosier, executive director of Randolph Economic Development Corporation. Hosier is a former mayor of Portland.
The Winchester plant was originally constructed in 1937 and employs about 400. It is the second-largest employer in Randolph County.
Globally, Ardagh Group has 89 manufacturing facilities in 21 countries, employing almost 19,000. Its global annual sales are about $6 billion.

New manager
Tanner McClain, a Portland native, has been named to manage the Portland office of Citizens State Bank.
A business graduate from Ivy Tech, she earned an associate’s degree in business management.
Citizens State Bank is a fourth-generation family-owned bank with 13 offices in six counties in central Indiana. Its Portland branch is located at 1221 N. Meridian St.

Annual meeting
The annual membership meeting of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce will be from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29, at Jay Community Center, Portland.
Finalists for the new Jay County community awards will be announced and business anniversaries will be recognized.

Take-over near
Shareholders of Family Dollar voted this week to approve a take-over bid by Dollar Tree. Approval came despite the fact that Dollar General had made a higher offer.
The merger still needs to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission.

Seeking office
Craig Coshow, former president of Meshberger Brothers Stone Corporation, has filed as a Republican candidate for Decatur City Council.
A graduate of Indiana University, he holds a master’s of business administration degree from Indiana University.
He was president of Meshberger from 2008 until the time the business was sold to U.S. Aggregates in 2012.
U.S. Aggregates continues to operate a quarry west of Portland.

Accredited
Former State Rep. Bill Davis has received his designation as an accredited auctioneer for real estate from the National Auctioneers Association’s Education Institute.
Davis, who now resides in Fort Wayne, is an auctioneer with Bill Davis Auctioneering.

Loss reported
Verizon Communications Inc. reported a fourth-quarter loss this week of $2.23 billion. Revenues rose 7 percent, but the company was hit with pension and severance costs.

ATI results
Allegheny Technologies Inc., parent company of Portland Forge, reported fourth quarter sales of $1.05 billion and income from continuing operations of $19.9 million or 18 cents per share.
For the full year of 2014, the company reported a loss of $2 million on $4.22 billion in sales.
The full-year results were the result of start-up costs related to a hot-rolling and processing facility, which were a one-time occurrence.