North Central Indiana SBDC
Counties Served: Cass, Miami, Wabash, Howard, Grant and Tipton
Host Organization: Kokomo/Howard County Development Corp (www.khdc.org)
Location:
700 E. Firmin St.
Kokomo, IN 46902
Phone: 765-454-7922
Fax: 765-854-0438

The center is staffed by three dedicated individuals: Mary Giangiordano, Regional Director; Jennifer Vandeburg, Regional Director Business Counselor; and Susan Dripps, Administrative Support

Mary Giangiordano, Regional Director
Mary Giangiordano is a native of Ohio and lived in California for 15 years before moving with her husband and son to Kokomo, Indiana in 1992. She spent more than 20 years working in the health care industry. After earning a Masters in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University, she managed a wholly owned subsidiary of St. Joseph Hospital in Kokomo. As director, her responsibilities included revenue/profitability, budgeting, marketing, organizational development, payroll, accounts payable/receivable, purchasing, accreditations/certifications, policies and procedures, and day-to-day operations. In addition, Mary has worked as a business consultant in North Central Indiana and Michigan areas. She became the Director of the North Central Indiana Small Business Development Center in January 2004. Mary also holds a Diploma in Nursing from St. Elizabeth Hospital School of Nursing and a B.S. in Nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Her responsibilities during her career have included working as an educator, developing business plans, assisting in the acquisition of capital funding from financial institutions, general business consulting, business management and business planning. She has dealt with market assessment, segmentation, and planning; competitor assessment, target market selection, product development, operational plans, business options for incorporating, legal contract development, and product/service advertising and promotion. Giangiordano’s professional and civic affiliations include Advisory Board for School Of Business for Indiana University (Kokomo), Small Business Council, Women’s Business Council, Rotary International and several health-related organizations, including the American College of Healthcare Executives and Sigma Theta Tau (National Honor Society for Nursing). Mary also participates in the North Central Indiana regional Work Force Investment Board and Economic Development Committees.

Jennifer Vandeburg, Associate Director Jennifer Vandeburg began her career as the Associate Director of the North Central Indiana SBDC in January, 2003. Her previous professional experience includes six years in a research capacity in the Dept. of Agriculture & Biological Engineering and the Dept. of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. She has also held positions as an elevator manager (Demeter, Inc.) and a marketing specialist at the Logansport Grain Terminal. Jennifer

earned a BS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University. She has co-presented papers at the University of Saskatchewan and the American Association of Agricultural Economics. She has also co-authored a number of publications while at Purdue University.

Jennifer and her husband are small business owners in their own right. They raise and direct market grass-raised lamb to consumers and sell sheep as breeding stock. Jennifer shares lessons learned in her own business with clients she counsels. She and her family are active in “A Cause for Paws” and often serve as a foster home for pets in need of a permanent home.

Susan Dripps, Administrative Assistant The newest addition to the NCI SBDC team is Susan Dripps. Susan brings extensive administrative and logistical experience from her time with an auto dealership, a chiropractic office, an excavation firm, and Haynes International, Inc., a major alloy manufacturer. She has an Associate of Science degree in Business Administration from Indiana Institute of Technology, earned while working full time and raising her now 20-year-old son. Susan loves working with the public and is deeply involved in her church, including being a member of the Praise & Worship Team.

Success Story
EES Home Designs, owned by Ron Van Sickle, produces custom designs for home builders and home owners. This business, based in Tipton, was founded in 1996. As the business has grown, serving builders mostly in Howard, Tipton & Hamilton Counties, Ron has more than once reached a point where he felt he needed staff to help with running the business. Each time, he has tried a new employee and then backed off from it, choosing to not replace an office manager or assistant designer when the current employee chose to leave. In order to grow, Ron needed to get over the challenging hump of successfully adding and keeping an employee. This is not an uncommon challenge for businesses working to grow from a one-man operation.

When Ron first came to the SBDC, he desperately needed an office manager. Coaching from the SBDC helped Ron take the step of adding an office manager and then helped him manage this employee and his own activity so that this expansion of his business was effective. Ron had challenges in learning to delegate better and managing time so that the new office manager could help him get things done. Better communication with clients and improved management of his financial activity, including invoicing clients, are just two of the ways adding this office manager has helped EES Home Design.

Ron also participated in the Collegiate Management Program in the Fall of 2004. This student team from an Organizational Development class focused on two areas for their project on EES: human resources issues and billing & project tracking. In human resources, the team made recommendations designed to help Ron select and then manage his employees better, including using job analysis, goal setting and better employee evaluation and feedback methods. They also made recommendations to Ron on tracking his project hours better and methods for managing his billing more effectively.

Ron will admit to growing pains in the last year, but he is very happy with the result. He recently told his SBDC counselor that he is looking for this year’s revenues to be better than his best year. He currently has double the number of projects on the drawing board that he had last year at this time, and is now looking to add more staff. Ron credits the coaching from his SBDC counselor and the results from the CMP team’s recommendations with helping him get past the growth challenge of adding employees.

Special Project - Business Planning Contest
The North Central Indiana SBDC was a leader in starting a business planning contest in Cass County, in conjunction with the Logansport/Cass Co. Chamber of Commerce, the Logansport Economic Development Foundation, the City of Logansport, Cass County, the Business Solutions Group, Ivy Tech, and Workforce Development Strategies, Inc.

This contest was designed to help encourage new business development and growth in existing businesses. There were 7 entries in the inaugural contest, three existing businesses and four start-ups. The prize for each category was $5000, plus $3500 in in-kind goods from local businesses, such as office space for 6 months for the start-up and free newspaper advertising for the existing business. The existing business winner was the C.A. Ross Co., a furniture repair and manufacturing business. The prize is being used to help C.A. Ross Co. move into the custom furniture manufacturing sector. The start-up winner was One Choice Communications, a firm that installs electronic networks and security systems. They are using their prize money to purchase a key piece of system diagnostic equipment that will allow them to meet the specifications stipulated by their larger clients.

Planning is already in place for next year’s contest. The SBDC will continue the relationship with the two winners by meeting with them monthly and offering advice, education, resources, and tools to help them sustain and grow successful businesses. Other contest entrants are also being counseled on an ongoing basis for business plan writing and sustainability and growth of their businesses. Overall, all involved in the contest, sponsors, judges, and contestants, gave great feedback about the experience.