innovation awards - 2012

Innovation Awards • November 2012 • fwbusiness.com • ©KPC Media Group Inc.


E D I TO R ’ S L E T T E R

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©2012 All rights reserved

Stories of innovationOne of the great things about my profession is that I

have a chance to learn something new each day. Thereare countless opportunities for me to take in new

ideas, new concepts, new ways of doing things.Business, at its very core, is about ideas. Come up with a good

idea and you’ll find an audience. Build a better mousetrap andthe world — all except for the mice — will beat a path to your door.

That’s why we at Business Weekly are honored to recognizethe winners of our seventh-annual Innovation Awards competi-tion. We sought out the best ideas from the region, and withinthis publication you’ll see examples of how northeast Indianacontinues to be fertile ground for innovation.

For example, there’s Michael Rusher, who literally dreamed upa device to help people breathe easier. There’s Renee Gabet,who leads visitors to her Annie Oakley Perfumery & Studio inLigonier on “sensory tours.” There’s Ralph Marcuccilli, whosecompany, Allied Payment Network, has developed a smartphoneapp that lets users pay bills with just the simple snap of a picture.

There’s more — but you get the idea.We are indebted to our sponsors, without which the Innovation

Awards wouldn’t be possible. This year’s sponsors are ENSGroup, Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana Inc.,Sweetwater Sound, Lake City Bank and the Northeast IndianaInnovation Center.

Our judges had the difficult job of hearing presentations fromeach of the Innovation Awards category winners, then selectingan overall Innovator of the Year. This year’s judges were: KeithBusse, chairman of Steel Dynamics Inc.; Brian Kyler, presidentand CEO of Be Adaptive Equipment LLC, which was the 2011Innovator of the Year; Mike Landram, president and CEO of theGreater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce; Nick Busche, CEOof Busche; and Robert Clark, entrepreneur-in-residence atElevate Ventures Inc.

I hope you enjoy reading about this year’s winners, and Iencourage you to submit your nominations for the 2013Innovation Awards at FWBusiness.com.

Barry Rochford,Editor, Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly


TA B L E O F C O N T E N TS

Editor’s letter...............................................................................2Innovation Awards judges......................................................4

EMERGING COMPANY

OFabz Swimwear.....................................................................5

HEALTH CARE

Rusher Medical LLC ................................................................72011 Innovator of the Year update.....................................9

MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION

Mudd-Ox Inc. ...........................................................................10

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Lendingahand.net...................................................................13

REAL ESTATE, CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN

The Summit ..............................................................................16

RETAIL

Annie Oakley Perfumery & Studio ....................................18

TECHNOLOGY

Allied Payment Network.......................................................21

Past winners ............................................................................23


I N N OVAT I O N AWA R D S J U D G E S

Judged by their peersJudging for the seventh-annual

Innovation Awards competition wasdivided into two rounds.

In the first round, representatives ofthe Innovation Awards corporate sponsorswent through the applications that hadbeen received. Several applications weresubmitted in more than one of the sevenInnovation Awards categories: emergingcompany; health care; manufacturing anddistribution; professional services; realestate, construction and design; retail;and technology.

First-round judges were:• Tim Savage, ENS Group;• Jim Bentley, Northeast Indiana

Innovation Center;• Carrie Marion, PHP;• Karrie Kitch, Lake City Bank; and• Jeff Osterman, Sweetwater Sound.The first-round judges tried to deter-

mine if the company truly was innovative,and they used a broad definition of inno-vation. It could be an entirely new busi-ness concept. It could be a businessconcept new to this region, but one thatexists elsewhere. It could be a newproduct, service or business processwithin an existing company. It couldcome from a startup venture or a largecorporation, as long as it is located withinnortheast Indiana and northwest Ohio.

Category winners then appearedbefore a second panel of judgescomposed of successful entrepreneursand executives. Each category winnergave a short presentation about the inno-vation, then answered questions from thepanel.

Second-round judges were:• Keith Busse, chairman, Steel

Dynamics Inc.;• Brian Kyler, president and CEO, Be

Adaptive Equipment LLC (2011Innovator of the Year);

• Mike Landram, president and CEO,Greater Fort Wayne Chamber ofCommerce;

• Nick Busche, CEO, Busche; and• Robert Clark, entrepreneur-in-resi-

dence, Elevate Ventures Inc.

Busse Kyler

Landram

Busche Clark

BY DOUG [email protected]

Olivia Fabian had gone from designingand making one-of-a-kind figure-skatingcostumes to swimwear when she struckupon an idea she was convinced wouldappeal to a lot of women.

“Customers came to us with their needsfirst, and we came up with the solutionsecond,” she said. “My mom and I cameup with it in the living room almost byaccident. It was more of a mad-scientistprocess.”

The innovation allows a sun bather in abikini to quickly join in more athleticactivities such as surfing, tubing, wake-boarding or parasailing without fear of awardrobe malfunction. It is a sheer one-piece swimsuit that can slip over a bikini.

“I call it the Whim Suit because youcan change it on a whim,” Fabian said. “Itprovides women with comfort and confi-dence while they’re having fun in the sun.”

She considered working with a mois-ture-wicking fabric used in competitiveswimwear and jogging apparel for theWhim Suit, but found it more practical towork with a nylon and lycra spandex mesh.

Fabian, 24, considers her vintage-inspired swimsuit collection to be wear-able art for swimming, sunbathing andother fun on the beach, poolside or in thewater.

She works with a variety of screenprinting in which the prints are incorpo-rated into the fabric rather than slickedonto it to make them more durable.

“I made a swimsuit of the fabric formyself, and a friend saw it and wantedone. Her friends loved it and wanted one,too,” she said.

“We started making the swimwearbased on what people told us they wantedand found we could make it in a way thatwas more standardized, for a much biggermarket,” Fabian said.

For each new product, “we do thedesign work and contract with sewers in


E M E R G I N G C O M PA N Y

Quick-change artist

PHOTO CREDIT

Olivia Fabian founded OFabz Swimwear in 2010. It quickly went on to win theLaunch: New Venture Competition held by Ivy Tech Community College-Northeastand Northeast Indiana Innovation Center.n See OFABZ on PAGE 6


E M E R G I N G C O M PA N Y

the Fort Wayne area,” she said. When aproduct tests well, a contract manufacturerin New Jersey handles its production.

Fabian founded OFabz Swimwear inJuly 2010 and the next year she enteredand won the Launch: New VentureCompetition held by Ivy Tech CommunityCollege-Northeast and Northeast IndianaInnovation Center.

She entered the contest to compete forclose to $30,000 in startup funding and tofine tune a business plan for OFabz. Herwinnings included a $2,500 NIIC cashgrant, a $3,200 internship there and an in-kind grant of office space for one year inits Student Venture Lab, valued at $6,000.

While working out of the NIIC officethis year she has greatly improved hercompany’s website and social-mediamarketing, which set the stage for moreambitious and effective online retailingthis summer.

OFabz also started selling in popupstores in June, which provided it with“several test markets in surrounding statesto see what was going to work best,”Fabian said.

“What worked best for us was an envi-ronment where a lot of women knew eachother previously,” she said. “Our mostsuccessful ones were in a yoga studio andan art gallery because they already had abond of community.”

Next spring, OFabz will start doingtrunk sales with sororities, and nextsummer it plans to start participating intrade shows.

Fabian said she hopes to participate insome boutique retailing and eventually seeher line of swimwear sold by some largerretailers such as Urban Outfitters, and bysome e-commerce names in women’sfashion such as ASOS and Shopbop.

Because of the seasonal nature of herbusiness she said she plans to talk to someretailers in warmer climates, particularlyin resort areas.

Continued from PAGE 5

n OFABZ: Next year, the company will promote suits at trade shows

■■ Company: OFabz Swimwear■■ Founder: Olivia Fabian■■ Website: www.ofabz.com

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

One of Olivia Fabian’s most recent creations is the Whim Suit, which can be wornover a two-piece swimsuit for more athletic activities.

BY RICK [email protected]

The road to a beautiful mind is oftenpaved with gravel, not gold. MichaelRusher knows this firsthand.

For all of the challenges the FortWayne respiratory therapist said he’sfaced in his life — the childhood abuse,the two bouts with cancer, the divorce —he now finds himself on the cusp of intro-ducing to the world a simple little devicecalled the Rusher Valve that he believeswill significantly help people withbreathing problems.

“I know this would benefit people allover the world,” said Rusher, 42. “I knowthis would be a great device to have out

there.To understand how Rusher arrived at

his invention — and how the inventionworks — one must wade through thevicissitudes of his mind. He neither thinksnor talks in a linear fashion.

It is a characteristic he readilyacknowledges: “My mind just goes soquick. I do get carried away with mythinking.”

He said a professor of his at Ivy TechCommunity College-Northeast oncedescribed his thinking patterns as finding


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2012 Business Weekly Innovation Awards.

H E A LT H CA R E

A breath of fresh air

RICK FARRANT

Michael Rusher developed the RusherValve, which can be used as a portablebreathing aid.n See RISHER on PAGE 8

■■ Company: Rusher Medical LLC■■ Founder: Michael Rusher

different ways of coming up withanswers. Often good answers.

But there was a time in his early child-hood, he said, when those around himthought he had both coordination prob-lems and a learning disability.

“When (my parents) took me fortesting, I couldn’t function, couldn’tlisten, always had a stomachache andfailed all my subjects,” he said.

He said he felt inferior to his class-mates because people called him stupid,“and my life was just over.”

His lack of childhood self-esteem andhis learning difficulties, he believes, weretied to abuse at the hands of baby-sitters.But uncoordinated he was not. His parentsgave him drum lessons at 5 years old andhe’s been playing drums ever since. Healso began excelling in school, and in2002 was named the top graduate at IvyTech.

What drives Rusher, an employee ofParkview Health, is discovering the intri-cacies of how things work. The father oftwo has been flying radio-controlled heli-copters since 1989, and he is an accom-plished scuba diver who is fascinated bythe physics of breathing underwater.

His spring-activated Rusher Valve —something he describes in the most tech-nical terms — came to him in a dream inMarch 2011. The first concept was a pres-sure-control safety device for people onventilators. Then he showed his drawingsfor the device to longtime friend KayMcKenney and she had another sugges-tion.

McKenney, a retired medical techni-cian who has severe chronic obstructivepulmonary disease, wondered if the littleplastic device could be turned into aportable breathing aid that could be usedwithout a forced-air line or a medicine-supplying nebulizer. Something she coulduse at home.

Rusher went right to work on it.“He brought me one to use, to test it

out,” said McKenney, 74. “I think it’sgood. Mike knows I’ll be honest with himand tell him the truth. If it makes otherpeople feel better, then I’ll be happy.”

Essentially, Rusher said, his valve hasa higher pressure range than otherportable devices on the market anddoesn’t constrict flow when people use itto breathe in to open airways and breatheout to expel carbon dioxide. If need be, itcan also be easily attached to an air sourceand nebulizer.

In addition to assisting people withconditions like COPD and asthma,Rusher said the device could become partof a post-operative protocol for patientswho’ve had certain types of surgeries.Using it, he said, would lessen thechances that those patients would comedown with pneumonia.

A utility patent is pending for theRusher Valve. The next step, he said, islining up investors to support the manu-facturing of the device and sales to health-

care providers. He estimates it will cost$450,000 to take the product to market.

Rusher admits there are moments,driven by remnants of his past andlingering twinges of self-doubt, when hewonders if that will ever happen.

“Sometimes I feel really confident andother days it’s real hard,” he said. “It’s justup and down. I’m always asking myself ifwhat I’m doing is really that good. Ialways question.”

But the son of a physician and a nursehas his fair share of supporters.

His now ex-wife Pam was among thefirst. She told him once: “You can doanything you want.”

And McKenney said: “I’ve alwaysbeen supportive of Mike. I always thoughtMike had more potential than he usedwhen he was in high school.”


H E A LT H CA R E

n RUSHER: Device can be attached to an air source or nebulizerContinued from PAGE 7

RICK FARRANT

Michael Rusher said the idea for his valve came to him in a dream.


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2 0 1 1 I N N OVATO R O F T H E Y E A R2 0 1 1 H E A LT H CA R E W I N N E R

FILE PHOTO

Brian Kyler, left, founded Be AdaptiveEquipment LLC and Eric Dirig helpedhim develop his assistive technologyfor disabled outdoorsmen.

Aiming higherSince winning the Innovator of the Year

award in 2011, Columbia City-based BeAdaptive Equipment LLC has continueddeveloping and testing new products thathelp individuals with disabilities lead moreactive lifestyles.

“We didn’t really start out to build abusiness out of it,” President and CEOBrian Kyler said of the company, whichrolled out its first product in 2001.

“We’ve gotten to touch more lives andsituations that I ever would have dreamed Iwould be able to in my lifetime,” he said.

Since 2001, Be Adaptive Equipment hasdeveloped a line of hunting equipmentspecially designed for those who havelimited use of their arms or hands, or areparaplegic or quadriplegic. The variousmounts and trigger systems allow individ-uals to use their own rifles, pistols and

bows without having to alter them.Kyler was inspired to start developing

the assistive equipment by Eric Dirig, whobecame a quadriplegic in 1998 at the age of21 after being involved in a dirt-bike acci-dent. Dirig, a hunter, and Kyler workedtogether to create assistive equipmentincluding activity trays and shooting restsfor rifles, shotguns, pistols, crossbows andcompound bows, and hand controls andlifts for all-terrain vehicles.

Kyler said the company is developingand testing assistive fishing equipment, aswell as developing equipment suited forother outdoor recreational activities. It’salso looking at designing assistive tech-nologies for everyday activities.

“We will probably start venturingoutside the adaptive recreation equipmentinto more day-to-day products,” he said.


M A N U FACT U R I N G & D I ST R I B U T I O N

FILE PHOTO

Mudd-Ox founder Matt Oxender stands in front of his company’s eight-wheel and six-wheel amphibious ATVs.

Strong as an ‘Ox’BY RICK [email protected]

Matt Oxender lives by the adage thatit’s better to walk before running.

He’s about ready to start running.Oxender is the 38-year-old founder

of LaGrange County’s Mudd-Ox Inc., astartup manufacturer of customamphibious all-terrain vehicles. Whatbegan as a single sale in 2008 has blos-somed into an enterprise that isexpected to top the 1,000-unit mark atyear’s end.

He has expanded his rural pole-barnproduction facility at 8525 W. 750

North from 3,000 to 9,000 square feet;increased the testing grounds from 25 to45 acres; and upgraded the company’smachine shop with new equipment.

He also has been developing a globalnetwork of sales channels that includesdistributorships in the United Kingdomand Canada, and dealerships in Alaska,Australia, Germany, Iowa, Minnesota,Russia, Scotland, South America and

South Africa.“With the expansions,” he said, “we

are positioning ourselves to become theleader in the amphibious ATV world.”

Mudd-Ox manufactures two types ofeight-wheel ATVs: a 40-horsepower gasmodel that sells for $21,900; and a 45-horsepower turbo diesel that retails for$26,900. In 2013, he expects to debut asix-wheel model and an eight-wheelhandicapped-accessible ATV.

Oxender, who formerly worked foran Elkhart County supplier of wireharnesses and dash panels for the recre-

■■ Company: Mudd-Ox Inc.■■ Founder: Matt Oxender■■ Website: http://muddox.net

n See MUDD-OX on PAGE 12


M A N U FACT U R I N G & D I ST R I B U T I O N

ational-vehicle industry, had longthought he could build a better ATVthan anyone on the market.

He was drawn to that challengethrough a love for all-terrain vehiclesthat began as a youth during rides on asix-wheeler with his grandfather inWhite Pigeon, Mich.

He also knew that makers ofamphibious ATVs had all but witheredaway, even though there were numeroususes for the utilitarian vehicles: amongthem, fishing, hunting, farming, search-and-rescue missions, surveying andfighting brush fires.

Oxender said his vehicles havespanned those uses and then some.Neighborhood associations have usedthe ATVs for retrieving and servicingwater-fountain pumps and filters, and

oil-field crews in Canada use the vehi-cles to reclaim the land.

He said there are a host of attributesthat set his steel-frame, impact-resistantpolyethylene vehicles apart from therest of the market, including unparal-leled ground clearance and center ofbalance. He said his vehicles also havetrue six- and eight-wheel drives, cancounter-rotate and possess instantforward-to-reverse capability.

Mudd-Ox, he said, is the only manu-facturer that also offers turbo diesel forboth the recreational and industrialmarket.

Oxender, who began the six-employee business with money he hadcarefully saved, said it’s been a longhaul growing the enterprise to this point.He routinely puts in 60 hours a week.

“That,” he said, “is what it takes tobe successful in business — to start a

business. You have to be all-in. Youcan’t give up. You can’t stop. To startyour own company is not a 9-to-5 job.”

Adding to the rigors of developing abusiness is that he and his productionteam are constantly working onimproving Mudd-Ox products.

“No matter how much testing we dohere,” he said, “a customer can alwaysfind an improvement that needs to bemade. We have made sure we have agood quality, reliable machine andthat’s because we have continuouslymade improvements. We don’t waituntil the next model year to make animprovement.”

And that’s just fine with Oxender.The workloads and the gradual growthare precisely what he had envisioned.

Said Oxender: “I would say the busi-ness is right on pace with what Iexpected.”


n MUDD-OX: Adaptability helps set vehicles apart within industry

FILE PHOTO

Mudd-Ox workers assemble an eight-wheel amphibious ATV in the company’s pole barn near the Michigan border inLaGrange County.


Congratulationsmudd ox

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P R O F E S S I O N A L S E R V I C E S

A desire to give backBY LINDA [email protected]

When Julia Fiechter foundedLendingahand.net, she wasn’t justlooking for a way to direct contributionsto deserving local nonprofits.

She wanted to do it in a way that alsorewarded the businesses that werebehind those contributions.

“In the economic crunch, it wasbecoming hard for business to give backthe way they used to,” Fiechter said.“And then I thought, ‘Did I give back tothose businesses?’”

A real-estate agent who also had beeninvolved as a volunteer fundraiser for 20years, Fiechter developed the nonprofitLendingahand.net in 2011 as a way toaccomplish both goals. Consumersobtain Lendingahand.net key-chain tagsor use a smartphone app when theycomplete their purchases at participatingbusinesses that have agreed to the dona-tion program.

The donation — which may be apercentage of the sale, a flat contributionor a gift in kind — is automaticallyrecorded and funds are collected fromparticipating businesses each month.The donation doesn’t add to theconsumer’s cost; it comes from the busi-ness.

In return, businesses will benefit fromthe marketing exposure and goodwillgenerated by Lendingahand, andperhaps build their base of loyalcustomers.

There are no fees for either busi-nesses or consumers to participate.

Fiechter selected 10 charities to beginwith, and has expanded to 12.Businesses can choose how much theywant to donate per purchase and to whatorganizations, and keep those choices aslong as they participate or change themas often as every month.

Fiechter launched the program inAllen County, targeting locally owned

LINDA LIPP

Julia FiechterfoundedLendingahand.net,which raisesmoney fornonprofits whilealso promotingarea businesses.

n See GIVE BACK on PAGE 14


P R O F E S S I O N A L S E R V I C E S

businesses. She started with businessesshe knew or friends knew, and grew fromthere.

“It’s not a competitive program. Wehave restaurants, car dealers, yogurtshops, banks, florists,” she said.

About 100 businesses now partici-pate, and Fiechter has begun to expandthe program to neighboring counties,beginning with Kosciusko and thenmoving on to DeKalb, Huntington,Steuben, Wells and Whitley.

As of the end of September,Lendingahand had raised about $24,000for its list of charities.

Participating businesses identifythemselves with Lendingahand signs. Asthe program grows across northeastIndiana, money donated by businesses ineach county will be used in that county,she promised.

A number of charities have contactedFiechter about the program, and eventu-ally Fiechter would like to have as manyas 30 benefiting from it. But she won’tadd to the charity list again until thereare enough businesses participating tosupport that.

“We don’t want to dilute the impact,”she said.

Fiechter also used to donate 10percent of her real-estate commissions tocharity, but she’s since given up her real-estate job to focus on Lendingahand.

“This grew so quickly, something hadto give,” she said.

Lendingahand has offices in the PNCBuilding. The design of the office suite,decorated in a striking combination ofred and deep brown, was contributed byDesign Collaborative, and its operatingand administrative expenses also havecome from donations. Fiechter plans toseek additional financial support as theprogram expands, but won’t compete forgrants or funds from the same founda-tions that support the local charities.

“The point is to help them, not hurtthem, so we’re looking for differentmonies,” she said “It takes a lot of dona-tions to keep an organization going andgrowing.”

The organization is also getting somehelp from college interns, who, amongother things, will begin taking onincreasing responsibility for themarketing and selling of the concept topotential business partners.

“What’s been really exciting isseeking the college students taking partin our program,” she said.

Lendingahand is also expanding toevents: an Oct. 6 rape-awareness andself-defense program offered in partner-ship with the Fort Wayne PoliceDepartment, for example, raised fundsfor the Fallen Hero Fund.

Participating charities are: CarriageHouse; the Rescue Mission; Erin’s

House for Grieving Children; the FallenHero Fund; Project Linus; MadAnthonys Children’s Hope House;SCAN; Community Harvest ofNortheast Indiana; Turnstone; SpecialOlympics Indiana Allen County; CancerServices; and Lifeline Youth and FamilyServices.

Lendingahand key tags are availablethrough participating retailers and atspecial events, or can be obtained byfilling out a form at the website,Lendingahand.net. The phone app alsocan be downloaded at the website.Consumers are not required to providedetailed information about themselvesthat can be used for marketing, justbasics like name, mailing address, phonenumbers and email address.

“We’ve got thousands of (key tags),”Fiechter said. “It’s just a matter ofgetting them out there.”


n GIVE BACK: About 100 businesses take part in the program

LINDA LIPP

Julia Fiechter is expanding the Lendingahand.net program to Kosciusko, DeKalb,Huntington, Steuben, Wells and Whitley counties.

■■ Organization: Lendingahand.net■■ Founder: Julia Fiechter■■ Website: www.lendingahand.net


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R E A L E STAT E , C O N ST R U CT I O N& D E S I G N

BARRY ROCHFORD

The goal of The Summit and of its executive director, Larry Rottmeyer, is to foster personal and professional growth thoughits activities and tenants.

A place for growthBY BARRY [email protected]

Just as the former Fort Wayne campus ofTaylor University is being transformed,backers of The Summit, which is the newname for the campus, hope it will be used soindividuals can transform themselves.

“This facility provides us a lot of flexi-bility. It really is a gift that we have — a giftwe want to share with the community,” saidLarry Rottmeyer, who serves as executivedirector of The Summit for AmbassadorEnterprises LLC.

Ambassador Enterprises acquired the 22-acre former university campus at 1025 W.Rudisill Blvd. in 2011. Two years earlier,

Taylor had ceased operations in Fort Wayneand hired Ambassador to assist with findinga buyer.

Ambassador liked the campus so much, itdecided to buy the campus itself.

Ambassador was formed in 2008following the sale of Auburn-basedAmbassador Steel Corp. to Nucor Corp. for$185 million. Since then, the self-describedfor-profit, philanthropic equity firm hasmade investments in companies including

Wagner-Meinert in Fort Wayne and, mostrecently, Franklin, Tenn., conveyor-systemsmanufacturer Designed Systems.

But one of Ambassador’s core missions isto promote the personal and professionaldevelopment of individuals — particularlyteachers and educators.

With The Summit, Ambassador isstriving to create an environment thataccomplishes just that, while at the sametime serving as a model that can be dupli-cated in other communities.

For the past year, Ambassador has beensteadily renovating the campus andpreparing it for its new use as a place that

■■ Organization: The Summit■■ Founder: Ambassador EnterprisesLLC■■ Website: www.thesummitfw.com

n See SUMMIT on PAGE 17

fosters collaboration and new ideas.“Our first year was to prepare for the next

10,” said Rottmeyer, a former TaylorUniversity marketing professor and chair ofthe school’s MBA program.

In just a short time, the campus hasattracted several institutions and organiza-tions that share Ambassador’s goal ofpersonal and professional development. TheHenry and Frances Weber School at GraceCollege & Seminary and Crossroads BibleCollege offer classes there, and PathfinderServices Inc. and WBCL-FM have officesthere. In addition, Upland-based TaylorUniversity maintains its Fort Wayne Alumni& Friends Resource Center there.

The Summit encompasses 14 buildingswith a total of 267,000 square feet. Whilethey once contained Taylor Universitystudents, the campus’ buildings now are usedfor meetings and events, training andretreats, among other activities.

In October, The Summit announced itsnewest — and biggest — tenant. BigBrothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indianawill move into 20,000 square feet of leasedspace by Jan. 1 and will sell its FairfieldAvenue facility.

Ambassador renovated the campus’Witmer Hall to accommodate Big BrothersBig Sisters. In addition to efficiencies theorganization will achieve with the new loca-tion, “I think they’re going to benefit withalso having the room and space for program-ming,” Rottmeyer said.

One thing that has been somewhatsurprising is the demand for use of the GerigActivities Center. Youth basketball leaguesand other sports groups have been lining upto hold tournaments and events at the center,which has attracted even more people to thecampus.

“Because of all the activity and interestwe’ve seen (at the Gerig Activities Center),we’ve become more interested in aligning

The Summit with partners in health, well-ness and fitness,” Rottmeyer said.

But first and foremost, The Summit is aplace for education. It offers a teacher devel-opment program and higher-educationsymposium, and nestled within the campus’Calvin English Library is a state-of-the-artlearning lab where technology and learningcome together.

“The most efficient education is notalways the most effective education,”Rottmeyer said. The lab, which among itsgadgets has tables that function as white-boards, offers a glimpse of what educationcould look like in the future.

Even as The Summit is just beginning,Rottmeyer said Ambassador hopes themodel can be taken to other areas wheresimilar campuses can be created.

But the goal will remain the same.Rottmeyer said: “Our goal is to attract

partners who take up residence and worktogether to build this learning community.”


R E A L E STAT E , C O N ST R U CT I O N& D E S I G N


n SUMMIT: Big Brothers Big Sisters to lease 20,000 square feet

VALERIE GOUGH

The Summit features a state-of-the-art learning lab. The tables and windows function as whiteboards.


R E TA I L

LINDA LIPP

Renee Gabet, founder and president of Annie Oakley Perfumery & Studio, opened her studio in 2011. At the studio, she takesvisitors on “sensory tours.”

The scent of successBY LINDA [email protected]

Renee Gabet is an artist, and fragranceis her canvas.

The founder and president of AnnieOakley Perfumery & Studio in Ligonierhas been fascinated by perfumes since shewas a young girl visiting the old Wolf &Dessauer department store in Fort Wayne.She gravitated toward the enticing scents,sparkling counters and beautiful perfumebottles every time she entered the store

with her mother and grandmother, whowarned her sternly not to touch.

But the saleswoman at the counter sawher enthusiasm, “and she let me toucheverything,” Gabet recalled.

Fast forward to 1973. Gabet was then asingle mother who desperately needed to

support herself and her child. “There wereno jobs, and a friend of mine encouragedme to make jewelry. I took my only $25and went to a bead shop and boughtsupplies.”

Gabet quickly found a market for thejewelry she made in her home, first at afew boutiques, then arts-and-crafts fairs,and then more boutiques. She knew shewas on her way when she sold $10,000worth of items at an eight-foot table at

■■ Business: Annie Oakley Perfumery& Studio■■ Founder: Renee Gabet■■ Website: www.annieoakley.com

n See ANNIE on PAGE 20

Glenbrook Square Mall during a six-weekholiday shopping period.

Sales at malls in Indianapolis followed,and Gabet moved to Noblesville to becloser to the business. Eventually, herjewelry was carried in hundreds of PaulHarris stores.

Noblesville is also where she livedwhen she met and married Chuck Gabet,who had a full-time job with a railroad butpitched in to help with the jewelry makingin his off hours.

“I did hire people to help me whenneeded, but Chuck and I put together thou-sands of pieces,” she said.

Eventually, Gabet worked her way intothe western-wear market with a signatureboot bracelet, signing up retailers afterdisplaying her wares at a major westerntrade show. She’d never lost her interest inperfumes, so she also hit upon the idea ofmaking scents with a western flair thatwould appeal to those same retailers.

When Gabet discovered that the rightsto the name “Annie Oakley,” which hadbeen owned previously by old-time moviecowboy Gene Autry, were available, shesnapped them up.

Her first scent, made in 1980 withnatural oils and other ingredients, wascalled “Annie.” She crafted the fragranceon her own, made it at her kitchen tableand bottled it on her front porch. Ratherthan work through distributors, she sold itdirectly to the network of western-wearretailers she had already developed.

Through a series of job transfers byChuck’s employer, the Gabet family,which now included five children, hadended up back in Ligonier. The townbecame her laboratory as she worked todevelop new scents and new productsmade with those scents — always usingnatural ingredients.

“I’d take it to football games and pass itaround the bleachers for the kids and theirparents and their grandparents to try. Thetown of Ligonier was really my focusgroup,” she said.

In the late 1980s, the business was bigenough that she moved it to rented space ata building just a few blocks from her house.By 2009, the business had sold more than 2

million bottles of perfume products.Interest in old-fashioned, all-natural

perfumes has grown rapidly in the UnitedStates in the last few decades, and naturalperfumeries of various sizes now operateall over the country. What may set AnnieOakley apart is that everything — researchand development, production, packagingand distribution — is done under one roof.

The line now carries a variety of bodyproducts, as well as perfumes, for bothmen and women; and custom scents alsocan be created in the perfumery lab. AnnieOakley even makes a calming lavenderscent that can be used by both horse andrider to help ease tension and improvetraining.

Gabet decided in 2010 to add yetanother component to the operation: astudio that would cater to both locals andtourists. The business had purchased thebuilding at 300 Johnson St., and Gabetadded another 1,700 feet that includesproduct displays and other tourist-inspiredelements, as well as a gallery highlightingthe story of the real Annie Oakley.

The gleaming counters and colorful

perfume collections would do Wolf &Dessauer proud.

The studio, which opened in 2011,offers “sensory tours” several days a weekand by appointment. One of the thingsGabet likes to do for her guests is designperfumes inspired by group members’interests.

On a recent tour by some senior “redhat” women, she elicited information onwhat each member enjoyed doing. Onequilted, one baked cream pies and so on.Then she moved into her lab area andblended scents such as cotton and creamthat represented each woman’s interest tocreate a scent just for them. “I weave ittogether. I knit it together,” she said.

Like other artists, Gabet sometimes hastrouble explaining her creative processbecause it’s as natural and intimate to heras breathing. Some of her skills werelearned over years of studying and experi-menting, but a lot of it comes down topersonal preference.

“It’s like anything else,” she said. “Doyou like Boone’s Farm or Mondavi? It’s amatter of taste.”


R E TA I L


n ANNIE: Research, production, distribution done under one roof

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Renee Gabet created her first scent, “Annie,” in 1980. By 2009, the business hadsold more than 2 million bottles of perfume products.


T E C H N O LO GY

Just aim, shoot and pay

DOUG LEDUC

Ralph Marcuccilli launched Allied Payment Network in 2010. The company’snewest financial-services product is Picture Pay, which allows users to pay billswith their smartphones.

BY DOUG [email protected]

A Fort Wayne entrepreneur withdecades of information-technology expe-rience in the banking industry is set tomake bill paying a little easier for smart-phone users.

His name is Ralph Marcuccilli. He’s aStar Financial Bank veteran who struckout on his own to start Allied PaymentNetwork in 2010. The developer ofonline payment systems for the financeindustry has its headquarters at theNortheast Indiana Innovation Center inFort Wayne.

Its latest product is called Picture Pay.The software automatically pulls all ofthe information needed to pay a bill froma picture taken of it with a smartphone,and then processes the payment with theuser’s authorization via touch command.

“You go into the app and say, ‘Make apayment,’ and it will come up with acamera,” Marcuccilli said. “We’re usingthe camera as an input device … like akeyboard. They snap a picture, and oursystem uses the picture to automate (thepayment process).

“We say it makes payments drop-deadsimple … You just aim, shoot and pay.”

The app includes options that allowusers to specify an amount and a date forpayment of a photographed bill. For billsthat are paid in the same amount on thesame date each month, there is an optionthat can use information from the phototo set up an automatic monthly payment.

And the app can be used to make adeposit into an account by shooting apicture of a check.

The app has been beta tested success-fully, Marcuccilli said. “It really doesmake payments much easier and muchfaster. We’ve had customers tell us theycan pay all their bills for the wholemonth in less than five minutes.”

The Picture Pay app integrates wellinto the mobile-banking software

n See ALLIED on PAGE 22

customers use to check their balance,transfer funds from one account toanother, and complete a variety of trans-actions online.

And Allied Payment Network isworking on deals with a couple of mobilebanking software developers to sellPicture Pay to their financial-servicecustomers.

“It’s a service we offer to financialinstitutions. It is something banks andcredit unions could license from us,”Marcuccilli said. “A bank would licensemobile-banking software from a vendor,and our product would be part of thatsoftware they would license.

Allied Payment Network is applyingfor some patents on Picture Pay, andMarcuccilli, its president, said the

product could provide an opportunity forthe financial-services industry becausethere is nothing in the United States thathas made bill paying this simple for itscustomers.

“Banks don’t really have high adop-tion rates for customers to use bill payand … this really simplifies it a lot. Youcan make a payment in about 20seconds,” he said.

Only 25 percent of bank and credit-union customers use their online bill paycapabilities compared with 80 percentwho avail themselves of the onlinebanking services they offer, he said.

Allied Payment Network has other

investors, but Marcuccilli is its primaryshareholder. He said the company plansto stay in Fort Wayne as it grows, partlybecause it received an economic-devel-opment incentive package worth$290,000 last year to keep it in the city.

The Fort Wayne-Allen CountyEconomic Development Alliancereleased information on the incentives ina May 2011 announcement on a $1.5-million investment in the company’s soft-ware development projects — work itsaid would grow Allied PaymentNetwork from seven to 29 full-timeemployees within four years.

Picture Pay could contribute to thatgrowth, and Marcuccilli said more infor-mation about the product could be gettingout to banking customers soon.

“We’ve got the first bank that’s goingto be rolling the product out to itscustomers,” he said. “The institutions thatwe’ve got agreements signed with, theyhave marketing plans in place and themoment this goes live they’re going to hitthe airwaves with it, saying, ‘Look atthis! Look at how simple we can makepaying bills!’”


T E C H N O LO GY

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winner of 2012 Business Weekly’s Innovation Awards, Retail Category

Congratulations toAnnie Oakley Perfumery


n ALLIED: Bank set to roll out Picture Pay service to customers■■ Business: Allied Payment Network■■ Founder: Ralph Marcuccilli■■ Website: www.alliedpayment.com

BARRY ROCHFORD

Once a user snaps a picture of a bill,the Picture Pay app collects all of thepayment information from the photoand automatically sets up a payment.

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PAST W I N N E R S

The innovators2006Emerging company — SensoryCritters.comFinancial services — BeniComp Group Inc.; Bank of GenevaHealth care — Schwartz BiomedicalManufacturing and distribution — Rubber Innovators LLCNonprofit — Foundation for Art and Music in ElementaryEducation; Science CentralProfessional services — Digital AVReal estate, construction and design — RealtyFlexCorporate LLCRetail — Stop & ShredTechnology — Zoom Information SystemsInnovator of the Year — Rubber Innovators LLC

2007Emerging company — Sorbashock LLCFinancial services — HomeFree Systems LLC; Wells FargoHealth care — LacPro Industries LLCManufacturing and distribution — SuperiorManufacturing, a division of Magnatech Corp.Professional services — DeSoto Translation & Marketing Inc.Real estate, construction and design — NAI Harding DahmRetail — Crazy PinzTechnology — Effect Web MediaInnovator of the Year — LacPro Industries LLC

2008Emerging company — NewsMogul LLCHealth care — Solstice Medical LLCManufacturing and distribution — Tippmann IndustrialProducts Inc.Professional services — Star Financial BankReal estate, construction and design — Basic ElementsDesign LLCRetail — Fort Wayne Outfitters and Bike DepotTechnology — Intrasect TechnologiesInnovator of the Year — Solstice Medical LLC

2009Emerging company — DigitalHydraulic LLCHealth care — StrokeCareNow NetworkManufacturing and distribution — USCombatGearProfessional services — Financial Education SolutionsReal estate, construction and design — MSKTD &Associates Inc.Retail — Build A ComputerTechnology — TrustBearer LabsInnovator of the Year — DigitalHydraulic LLC

2010Emerging company — Honor Education LLCHealth care — OrthoPediatricsManufacturing and distribution — Whitley SteelProducts & FabricationProfessional services — Summer’s Sky LLCReal estate, construction and design — PathfinderServices Inc.Retail — The Green ABC’sTechnology — Indiana Metropolitan Area Network Inc.Innovator of the Year — Honor Education LLC

2011Emerging company — PYPline LLCHealth care — Be Adaptive Equipment LLCManufacturing and distribution — Tippmann EngineeringProfessional services — Cirrus ABSReal estate, construction and design — CommercialFilter Service Inc.Retail — Average Joe Artisan Bread LLCTechnology — Group DekkoInnovator of the Year — Be Adaptive Equipment LLC

To nominate your company or organization for the2013 Innovation Awards, visit www.fwbusiness.com.

2012 marks the seventh year that the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly has recognized companies and organizations from across the region for their innovative ideas, products and services. Past winners are:

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