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Governor Daniels' Weekly Wrap-up: 4/15/08

Weekly Wrap-up

A look at news and events in the Daniels Administration

Volume 2, Issue 77

April 7-13, 2008

 

Children's orthopedics developer to grow its Warsaw operations

 

April 8, 2008- Governor Mitch Daniels joined executives from children's orthopedics developer OrthoPediatrics this week to announce the company's plans to grow its development, manufacturing and distribution center in Warsaw, creating 100 new jobs.

 

The two-year old developer of orthopedic implants for children and small stature patients will invest more than $4.5 million to more than double its development and manufacturing operations in the North Central Indiana town known as the Orthopedics Capital of the World.

 

"Even in a weak national economy, new growth is continuing in Indiana. Our state's orthopedics industry, the best in the world, is a good example of a recession-resistant business cluster that wins globally even in times of economic slowdown," said Daniels.

 

Founded in 2006 to address the unmet needs for anatomically appropriate implantable devices for children, OrthoPediatrics employs 26 professionals in Warsaw and plans to begin hiring engineers, managers, marketers, IT specialists and warehouse associates later this year.

 

Sleep Center Developer, Manager to Expand Its Corporate Headquarters in Indiana

 

April 8, 2008- Dormir LLC, the parent of sleep center development and management company MD Sleep and durable medical equipment provider CardioSom, has announced it will expand its corporate headquarters in Carmel, creating more than 160 new jobs.

 

The privately held company, which currently develops and manages physician and hospital-owned sleep disorder centers and durable medical equipment retail locations in 14 states, will invest more than $2.5 million to expand its Central Indiana headquarters and upgrade its computer hardware and software.

 

"Dormir joins a growing list of companies like Arcadia Healthcare, Really Cool Foods and Berry Plastics that have decided to grow their global headquarters in Indiana. Headquarters locations bring high-paying jobs and community commitment, and are good news for our economy," Governor Mitch Daniels said.

 

The three-year-old company currently operates facilities in Greenwood, Indianapolis, Noblesville, Kokomo and Ft. Wayne and is in the process of opening centers in Anderson, Marion, and South Bend.  The company, which currently employs 47 professionals at its Carmel headquarters and more than 150 employees nationwide, will begin hiring professional managers, information technology specialists, billing technicians, sales and marketing representatives, human resources professionals and accountants yet this quarter.  

 

Governor Daniels selects new State Fire Marshal

 

April 7, 2008- Governor Mitch Daniels this week announced the appointment of James L. Greeson as the Indiana State Fire Marshal. Greeson, of Indianapolis, will lead the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) Division of Fire and Building Safety.

 

Greeson's firefighting career has been with the Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD), where he has served as IFD chief since 2004 before resigning from the post. Previously, he spent several years in the suppression division and earned several merit ranks.

 

Greeson will replace Roger Johnson, who left the administration effective March 24. Johnson assisted in the governor's efforts to create the first statewide fire training system in the state's history and increase the funding for materials and instruction programs.

 

"It would be hard to find a state employee who has worked harder than Roger Johnson the last three years," said Governor Mitch Daniels. "The fire academy and standardized training firefighters sought for so long is largely his doing."

 

Greeson joined the IFD in 1970, advancing during his career to the merit positions of lieutenant, captain and battalion chief. Other key positions he has served in include deputy chief, deputy chief of operations and deputy chief of administration.

 

In addition to IFD, he has served on organizational committees and boards with the 2004 World Swimming Championships, IFD Promotion Process Committee, 2001 World Police and Fire Games, Indiana Public Safety Training Institute, Greater Indianapolis Firefighters Credit Union and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Professional Firefighters Union Local 416.

 

Governor's schedule for April 14-15

 

Monday, April 14

Governor Mitch Daniels will join Healthy Families Indiana- and Prevent Child Abuse America to make brief remarks, receive an award and present awards at the Healthy Family Indiana Multi-Site Accreditation Ceremony.  Healthy Families Indiana is a voluntary home visitation program designed to promote healthy families and healthy children.

3 p.m.

Marriott Hotel

350 West Maryland Street

Indianapolis

 

Tuesday, April 15

-Governor Mitch Daniels will join executives from TRW Automotive for an economic development announcement.

1:45 p.m.

TRW Automotive

800 Heath Street

Lafayette

 

-The governor will present the Vigo County Parks Department with a check on behalf of the Indiana Heritage Trust and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish and Wildlife to assist with the purchase of the 1,250 acre Wabash River National Road Wetland Reservation.

3:30 p.m.

West Vigo Elementary School

501 West Oliver Street

West Terre Haute

 

IN THE NEWS:

 

Ind. governor touts his state's prosperity

 

The Detroit Free Press

By: Dawson Bell

April 11, 2008

 

LANSING -- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he didn't come to Michigan on Thursday to gloat or give advice. He just wanted to "tell the Indiana story."

It's probably not his fault the Indiana story -- of relatively low unemployment, robust manufacturing and rising exports -- just sounds like gloating to the economically distressed ears of his northern neighbor right now.

 

Indiana is beating Michigan and other Midwestern states on a variety of economic indicators, a circumstance Daniels attributes to factors including low taxes, good fortune and a state government focused on job creation.

 

Speaking at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the first-term Republican said he came to promote his state "in the spirit of friendly competition" and because he wants to "tell the Indiana story wherever we can."

 

A spokeswoman for Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said her office wasn't notified about Daniels' visit, but said it sounded unremarkable. Michigan's economy has suffered disproportionately because the state is so reliant on manufacturing, Liz Boyd said.

 

Daniels may have been responding to aggressive business recruiting from Michigan, Boyd said. "We are routinely beating out other states for major company expansions and relocations," she said.

 

But the Indiana story hasn't gone untold in Michigan, either. Indiana's economic development agency has been putting up "Come on Over" billboards near the border and has been running a radio ad campaign for months touting the state's lower business taxes and favorable business climate. The radio ads even helped support a Lansing-based talk show hosted by Granholm's husband, Dan Mulhern.

 

Chamber Vice President Rich Studley said the chamber agreed to host Daniels' visit as a courtesy to the head of a state where some of its members also do business. And also because "we believe in the marketplace; we believe in competition."

 

Indiana's billboards, and reports about its relative prosperity, "are a painful reminder that we are in a fierce competition with other states and we have to wake up every morning trying to get better."


Local Firm Announces Expansion, 100 Jobs

Warsaw Times-Union
By: Jen Gibson

April 09, 2008

 

"It's always a good day when the governor comes to Warsaw," said Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins at a press conference outside OrthoPediatrics Corp. Tuesday afternoon.

Governor Mitch Daniels and Wiggins were present at the
Warsaw business as OrthoPediatrics co-founder Nick Deeter officially announced the expansion of the company and the addition of about 100 new jobs in the next four to five years.

Also, the company plans to build a $5 million facility in
Warsaw within the next few years.

"We want to keep that
Warsaw address," said Deeter, who added that Warsaw is well-known in the worldwide orthopedic industry. "Everyone in orthopedics knows where Warsaw is."

The company, which currently employs about 26 workers, designs orthopedic implants and devices for children and small adults. Although the idea for the company came about around 15 years ago, the company has been in business for about a year and a half. Its first product was approved by the FDA in January, and a second has received FDA approval as well.


"All great businesses start like this," said Daniels Tuesday afternoon outside OrthoPediatrics,
210 N. Buffalo St. "I am delighted to help launch this great company. ... This is a business that is destined to grow and grow."

OrthoPediatrics is responsible for the design of all the products they make. The company then outsources the actual production of the devices to local manufacturers such as Micropulse and Precimed in
Columbia City, Symmetry Medical in Warsaw, and Mack Tools in South Bend. The company does not foresee building its own manufacturing facilities at this time.

"We are blessed with the industry we have here (in
Warsaw)," said Wiggins. "I think you hit a home run here, and we want to be at the plate with you when you do that $5 million expansion. We want to be part of it."

The jobs that will be added to company include technical and managerial positions, engineering, professional management and scientists. According to Deeter, the jobs will be in the $75,000 to $150,000 pay range.


"We have to be competitive with highly paid talent in this field," Deeter said.


Deeter also said the company has grown "a lot faster than expected." The company has exceeded both sales and hiring projections in the past year.


While the company is privately owned and does not release sales projections, Deeter said that by the time the 100 employees are hired, he believes the company will have more than $100 million in sales.


"Even in a weak national economy, new growth is continuing in
Indiana," Daniels said. "Our state's orthopedic industry, the best in the world, is a good example of a recession-resistant business cluster that wins globally even in times of economic slowdown."

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered the company $75,000 in training grants and $1.7 million in performance-based tax credits because of the company's job creation plans.


Wiggins said the city also would consider tax abatements for the company in the future.


"We know that more than $500 million of orthopedics products go into children here in the
United States, many of which are the wrong product and originally designed for adults," Deeter said. "Research indicates the total global market is in the billions. Many of the innovations we have in development will change the way children with orthopedic conditions ar treated, with the goal of helping children get back to the business of being kids.

"The rich talent and manufacturing environment of
Warsaw, and the generous support of the governor and his team at the IDEC greatly helps us achieve our mission."

"You guys have done it again here in
Warsaw," Daniels said. "This company cannot lose."

 

Two Indiana companies, OrthoPediatrics and Dormir, plan to create life-sciences jobs

The Indianapolis Star
By: John Russell and Melanie Hayes

April 8, 2008

 

An orthopedics company in Warsaw and a sleep-center developer in Carmel will unveil plans today to add at least 100 high-paying jobs each in coming years, giving more heft to Indiana's growing life-sciences sector.

 

Both companies will make formal announcements at their offices, along with Gov. Mitch Daniels and other state officials.

 

The companies are OrthoPediatrics Corp. of Warsaw, which designs medical devices for children with broken bones and orthopedic deformities, and Dormir of Carmel, which manages sleep centers for physicians and makes medical equipment.

 

"Any time we have the opportunity to see life-science companies adding professional jobs in Indiana, it's a wonderful thing," said J. Mike Brooks, president and chief executive of the Indiana Health Industry Forum, a nonprofit group that works to build the industry here. "These are exactly the kind of jobs you want to see created."

 

OrthoPediatrics plans to add 100 jobs over five years, a move that would swell its current work force of 26. All the jobs will be in the Warsaw area, said Greg Odle, executive vice president. The jobs will be engineering, research, development and managerial positions, and will pay $75,000 and higher.

 

In January the company, which was founded in 2006, launched its first device, an implant to treat fractures. It plans to launch a second product, a device to correct orthopedic deformities, in coming months. Future products will include joint replacements for children with rheumatoid arthritis.

 

OrthoPediatrics contracts with outside manufacturers to make the devices, which include implants, instrumentation and biologics for children and "small stature patients."

 

The company's founder, Nick A. Deeter, formerly worked at other orthopedics makers in Indiana, including DePuy Orthopaedics and Zimmer.

 

The other company, Dormir, plans to more than triple its work force in the next 10 years to 160, from about 45 now, according to documents from the Carmel City Council, which recently approved a 10-year tax abatement for the Dormir site, 615 W. Carmel Drive. Those jobs would pay more than $58,000 a year on average, according to the documents.

 

Jeff Burt, president of the Hamilton County Alliance, said Dormir's growth will add to Carmel and Hamilton County's life-sciences industry.

 

"Every company you get that you can see grow and expand their operation, it's just one more (step) in the ladder in establishing the location as a legitimate contender and valid place to grow life-science companies," Burt said. "Carmel has done very well taking care of existing companies and helping them grow."


OrthoPediatrics in Warsaw set to grow
Company adding 100 jobs; governor on hand for announcement.


South Bend Tribune

By: YaVonda Smalls

April 9, 2008

Greg Odle has noticed that there's been little innovation in the pediatric orthopedics market.


"The market for pediatric orthopedics has been neglected for a long time," said the executive vice president of Warsaw-based children's orthopedics developer OrthoPediatrics.


Not on Tuesday.


Gov. Mitch Daniels joined executives from children's orthopedics developer OrthoPediatrics to announce the company's plans to grow its development, manufacturing and distribution center, creating 100 new jobs.The two-year-old developer of orthopedic implants for children and small stature patients will invest more than $4.5 million to more than double its development and manufacturing operations in the north-central Indiana town known as the Orthopedics Capital of the World, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp.


It might not be a Honda or
Toyota plant, but it's a sector of the life sciences that is pertinent to our state, Odle said.

And it's not the number of jobs that are important, but the quality of the jobs, he said. People in the 100 new jobs will make between $75,000 and $150,000 a year, he said.


"As our revenue continues to build year after year," he said, "it certainly will demand that we have many jobs and require more resources."


Daniels hailed OrthoPediatrics' announcement, which demonstrates how new growth is continuing in
Indiana amid a weak national economy."Our state's orthopedics industry, the best in the world, is a good example of a recession-resistant business cluster that wins globally even in times of economic slowdown," Daniels said in a release.

The general orthopedics market is a $29 billion market worldwide, Odle noted.


Founded in 2006 to address the unmet needs for anatomically appropriate implantable devices for children, OrthoPediatrics currently employs 26 professionals in
Warsaw. It plans to begin hiring engineers, managers, marketers, IT specialists and warehouse associates later this year, according to the IEDC.

Under the premise that children are not just small adults, Nick Deeter, OrthoPediatrics' chief executive, president and founder, and his team are developing a product line of devices aimed at speeding and improving the recovery from childhood ailments ranging from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis to scoliosis, according to the IEDC.


Their offerings are aimed at stemming the cycle of surgeons using altered adult orthopedic products or canine devices to treat pediatric patients, a use that Deeter said overlooks the fundamental physiological elements that differentiate pediatric anatomy from that of an adult, the IEDC said."We're out to give kids a much better chance to fix their problems and help them be kids again," Odle added.


The company's first product, released in January, is a cannulated screw designed primarily for fracture treatment, he said. By the end of April, the company expects to roll out equipment that will address lower limb deformities.


The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered OrthoPediatrics up to $1.7 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $75,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The city will consider property tax abatement.


Warsaw is home to the headquarters of three of the world's five largest makers of artificial joints and related surgical tools. Orthopedics is an $8 billion industry in Indiana.

 

Mad Anthonys to add to Daniels' wardrobe

 

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

April 12, 2008

 

For the first time in five years, the Mad Anthonys will have a sole recipient of the Red Coat for the 2008 Mad Anthonys Charity Classic for Children.

 

Gov. Mitch Daniels will be honored at the Red Coat Dinner on June 8 at Grand Wayne Center.

 

"The Mad Anthonys is a great organization with a long history of service to children's charities in northeast Indiana," Daniels said in a written statement.

"I'm humbled to have been selected for an honor that has been previously bestowed on Hoosiers like John Wooden and the late Tony Hulman who have given so much to make a better Indiana."

 

Mad Anthonys President Mike Thomas praised Daniels' service to the state in "business, government and non-profit sectors."

 

Before becoming Indiana's 49th governor in 2005, Daniels, 59, director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bush. He previously was a senior adviser to President Reagan and chief of staff for Sen. Richard Lugar.

Daniels, who is running for re-election, will join athletes, coaches, politicians, entertainers and other public figures honored as Red Coat recipients at the annual golf tournament, to be played June 9 at Fort Wayne Country Club.

 

Ten people have been awarded Red Coats over the past four years. The last sole recipient was actress Shelley Long in 2003.

 

The Mad Anthonys, founded in 1957, is an organization of local business leaders and professionals that has contributed more than $3.75 million to local charities.

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