Entrepreneur Lecture Series Lecture Schedule - Indiana University ...

MARK A. TARNER is president of the South
Bend Chocolate Co., and vice president of the
Chicago Chocolate Co. He is a graduate of Clay
High School and Eastern Illinois University,
where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in European history.
He founded South Bend Chocolate in 1991
and the company was incorporated in 1994.
Today, there are 22 company-owned stores
and franchises in Indiana and Michigan.
The factory and chocolate museum on Sample
Street in South Bend occupies 63,000 square
feet and produces 6,000 pounds of chocolate
per day.
Tarner opened the Chocolate Café in 1998 and
expanded the service areas in 2008.
The SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
welcomes you to the 2012 Entrepreneur
Lecture Series, sponsored by Lake City
Bank. This series is a dynamic part of the
entrepreneurship program at IU South Bend,
and each speaker has been carefully selected
to share his or her stories of entrepreneurial
success.
JONATHAN LUTZ is the owner and president
of two successful restaurants - Uptown
Kitchen and The Mark Dine & Tap.
Lutz’s entrepreneurial interests with food
began at the age of 7, when he first began
cooking with his mother. By age 14 he was
working in a restaurant. After graduating
from University of Texas at Austin with a
bachelor of science degree in finance, Lutz
took a position with Lettuce Entertain You
Enterprises, Chicago. His passion for food and
people developed further in Chicago where
he managed several top grossing concepts,
including Shaw’s Crab House and The Pump
Room.
Seeing the opportunity to introduce the
Michiana region to some new concepts, Lutz
and his wife, Jenny, moved their growing
family here in 2002.
Lutz has plans to expand his company to
include more dining experiences for the area
and is currently working on obtaining the site
for their third concept.
CARRIE HILLE is the executive assistant
at The Uptown Kitchen and The Mark,
with responsibilities for accounting, HR,
and management duties. Previously, Hille
owned Entrée Vous, a healthy meal creation
business that provided high-end entrees for
busy families. Hille has more than 20 years
of hospitality management and business
development experience working in Fortune
500 businesses.
Hille holds a bachelor of science degree in
hotel/restaurant management from Purdue
University. She has been a speaker for various
entrepreneurship groups in the area, as well
as serving as an evaluator for the Kem Krest
Entrepreneurship & Business Problem Solving
Competition. Hille is an instructor of hospitality
management at Ivy Tech Community College,
teaching cost control and human resource
management.
Hille is a consultant to a local entrepreneur
that is building a business model for Renovare,
a women’s health and spiritual renewal center.
DENNIS KEBRDLE is a managing partner at
Chikol, a management consulting company
for troubled businesses. Kebrdle brings to
clients his experience as president, CEO,
or owner, of distribution and international
manufacturing companies. His 26 years in
the industry provides clients with an in-depth
analysis focused on working capital review,
administrative effectiveness, business plan
rework, debt restricting support, interpersonal
relationships within management groups and
ownership issues, Kebrdle works with the
client to chart a course to financial success
and specializes in organizations that distribute
through resellers or manufacture from multiple
factories.
Kebrdle serves as advisor to a number of
company boards and to mezzanine and private
equity funds on investment and acquisition
analysis.
LARRY DAVIS has been part of the Daman
Products Company, Inc.’s manufacturing
team for more than 35 years. Daman designs
and manufactures hydraulic valve manifolds
and related products. As president, he led
the company’s transformation from traditional
management systems to a culture driven
by mastery, autonomy, and purpose. This
continuous improvement process is rooted
in a drive to “do the right things for the right
reasons” and “help customers be successful.”
Those tenets guide Daman’s journey toward
understanding what matters from the
customer’s perspective and building a culture
around meeting those needs.
Among its many accolades, Daman received
the Great Lakes Manufacturing Excellence
Award in 2009. In 2005, Davis was honored as
Indiana’s Small Business Person of the Year.
Davis is a graduate of St. Joseph’s High School
and IU South Bend.
TIM ABBOTT is an entrepreneur who has
been involved in several startup businesses
over the past 30 years. He has also helped
others with their startups.
In 2004, Abbott became the founding
president of Irrigation Systems Inc. after
inventing Hydro-Edge, a unique irrigation
system for flowerbeds. He gained experience
in the invention process and eventually
licensed Hydro-Edge to Easy Gardener
Products, leading the product to be distributed
in Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, and to
be featured on QVC.
Since then, he has been awarded six U.S.
patents and continues to follow his passion
for the invention process. After serving on
the Advisory Board of the North Central
Indiana Small Business Development Center
for two years, Abbott joined the organization
as a business advisor. In addition to working
with established businesses and aspiring
entrepreneurs, he heads up an inventors
peer group that addresses the challenges that
inventors face, as well as exploring the many
new technologies that are available to today’s
inventors.
ROB BARTELS is president and CEO of
Martin’s Super Markets, Inc. The first store
opened in 1947 on Portage Avenue in South
Bend. Today, there are 21 stores in Indiana
and Michigan with 3,400 employees.
He began as a bagger in 1981 and during
his college years, he worked in the meat
department, in produce, and as a member of
the night crew. He graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in marketing from Indiana University.
Following graduation, he worked at Macy’s in
Newark, N.J.
Bartels returned to the area in 1989 and
worked for six years in various management
positions with Martin’s. In 1997, he
was promoted to director of corporate
development. In 1998, he was director
of marketing. He became executive vice
president in 1999, president and chief
operating officer in 2001, and in 2005, he was
named CEO.
During this time, management has added
services to many of the stores including
pharmacies, pet supplies, deli-cafés, and gas
stations.
PERRY WATSON III is president of Lexus
of Mishawaka. Before the Lexus dealership
opened in 2001, Watson had a Dodge
dealership that he operated in Minnesota
for nine years. He was part of the Chrysler
Minority Dealer Training Program from 1990 to
1993.
Watson is originally from Muskegon Heights,
Michigan. He received his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees from Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo.
Watson is a member of the St. Joseph County
and Elkhart chambers of commerce, Indiana
Auto Dealers Association, and the National
Association of Minority Dealers board. Locally,
he is a mentor with the Urban League, Boys
and Girls Club, and Jack and Jill of America.
He is a member of Memorial Hospital’s
Entrepreneurial Advisory Committee.
AMISH SHAH has been president of Kem
Krest in Elkhart since 1999. Under his
leadership, the firm has grown to nearly $100
million in revenues. He has more than 10
years of experience in executive management
and business development both domestically
and internationally.
Shah is also a co-founder and director of
Educational Software for Guiding Instruction
(ESGI), a technology start-up company
focused on early literacy by developing tools to
improve education.
Shah holds a bachelor’s degree from
Indiana University in finance, a certificate
in international business from the American
College in London, England, and a certificate
in executive management and an M.B.A. from
the University of Notre Dame.
RICH CARLTON is president and COO of Data
Realty, and is responsible for sales and data
center operations teams.
Carlton was previously the executive VP for
GramTel, Inc., a South Bend based datacenter
services organization. At GramTel, he
led sales efforts that resulted in more than
300 percent growth and a fivefold increase in
managed data center space in three states.
After GramTel’s acquisition by Cincinnati Bell,
Carlton’s responsibilities increased to include
overseeing the overall operational team, as
well as the sales team efforts in Indiana,
Illinois, and Michigan.
Carlton has a long history of building service
and solution-driven teams that provide
great value to the clients of the organization
while building value for shareholders. He is
a member of the St. Joseph County (Ind.)
Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a
member of the board of Fellowship of Christian
Athletes, and chairman of the St. Joseph
Regional Medical Center’s People, Vision, and
Mission committee. Carlton earned a bachelor
of science degree in business from the IU
Kelley School of Business.
TERRY BUSH is a director at the Michianaarea
CPA firm of Kruggel, Lawton & Company,
LLC. He is responsible for the firm’s human
resources (HR) functions, with an emphasis
on recruiting, developing, and retaining talent.
In addition, he works primarily with privatelyowned
companies to address a variety of
HR challenges and opportunities, including
compensation and rewards, and recruiting
for professional, management and executive
positions.
He also plays a lead role in the firm’s business
development activities. Bush has an M.B.A .in
HR management and a B.S. in Management &
organizations, both from IU Bloomington. He
is a senior professional in Human Resources.
Bush is a member of the Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM), the Indiana
CPA Society, the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants, and he is also 2012-2013
president of the Rotary Club of South Bend.
MICHAEL L. KUBACKI is chairman and CEO
of Lake City Bank and its holding company,
Lakeland Financial Corporation. Lake City
Bank is a $2.9 billion bank headquartered in
Warsaw, with locations throughout northern
and central Indiana. In 2011, Mr. Kubacki
was named Community Banker of the Year
by American Banker. In addition, Kubacki
was cited by the Greater Fort Wayne Business
Weekly as its Best Value CEO for 2008.
Kubacki joined the company in 1998 after 25
years with Northern Trust Corporation, serving
in its offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. He
grew up in Pierceton, Ind. Kubacki earned
his B.S. degree in business from IU, and an
M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He
is currently involved on the boards of the
Indiana Chamber of Commerce (where he
was past Chairman), Regional Chamber of
Northeast Indiana, Elkhart County Community
Foundation, IUSB School of Business
Advisory, LaCasa Business Advisory Council,
Centerfield Capital Partners Advisory, the
Indiana chapter of The Nature Conservancy,
and the Indiana Society of Chicago.