Marty Pollio, the new president of Ivy Tech Community College, hosted a community listening session Aug. 26 at the Columbus campus.
As part of his 100-day plan, Pollio has visited all 19 campuses and conducted a handful of community listening sessions. K-12, college, economic development and other area officials attended and answered three questions: What’s great about Ivy Tech? What does Ivy Tech need to improve? What advice would you give Pollio in his new role?
Zach Spicer with JCIDC attended and shared a couple of great things about Ivy Tech in Jackson County. One is how college staff came to Seymour and Brownstown Central high schools last year to lead workshops on interviewing and résumé writing to help seniors prepare for mock interviews. The other is how Crothersville High School has offered an early college program for several years that allows students to receive an associate degree in general studies from Ivy Tech before they graduate from high school.
Pollio plans to take the feedback from the campus visits and community listening sessions and apply that as he moves forward in his new role.
Pollio said he is an Indiana University graduate. While there, he was a student manager for men’s basketball coach Bobby Knight for four years. Since then, his career has been in education, from being a high school assistant principal and a high school principal to superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky, that state’s largest public school district. He started with Ivy Tech on July 1.
Jackson County high school students: What’s your business idea?
The 2026 Maverick Challenge Jackson County kicked off Aug. 25 at Seymour High School with Arann Banks with Brownstown Ewing Main Street, Darren Cain with Seymour Main Street and Zach Spicer with JCIDC visiting a couple of Dawn Jones’ classes to explain the program.
Maverick Challenge is a high school business planning competition that began in 2008 in Bartholomew County, and Jackson County joined the program in 2011. Two years ago, Bartholomew County ended the program, but Jackson County leaders kept it going in the county with a partnership between four sponsors — Brownstown Ewing Main Street, Seymour Main Street, Jackson County Chamber and JCIDC — and a funding partner — JCBank.
Students can work individually, with a partner or with more than one partner and pitch their business idea to local business professionals. They are paired with a mentor to help them work through the process, and in February, the top 10 finalists give oral presentations in front of a panel of judges. There, they have an opportunity to earn money and be named the 2026 Maverick Challenge Jackson County winner.
The program is open to high school students from around Jackson County. On Aug. 26, students from Brownstown Central and Crothersville high schools will learn about the program, and on Aug. 27, students from Medora High School will receive information about it.
For the second year in a row, the winner will be one of the finalists in the SPARK Tank competition, giving them a chance to win more money.
They also can enter the state’s Innovate WithIN competition, where again, more money is up for grabs.
Did you know Guardian Bikes in Seymour manufactures around 2,000 bicycles per day?
At Christmastime, that will increase to around 3,000.
That fact was shared Aug. 21 during tours of the bicycle company as part of its Supply Chain Independence Day celebration.
Guests toured three of Guardian’s eight facilities in the Freeman Field Industrial Park, seeing laser cutting, press and welding in one building, powder coating, decal, progressive press and frame subassembly in another and hub filling, wheel lacing and sub- and mainline assembly in another. The celebration coincided with the company continuing to shift production of its bicycle brand to the United States from China.
Guardian was formed after friends Brian Riley and Kyle Jansen appeared on the TV show “Shark Tank” in 2017 and businessman Mark Cuban became an investor and mentor. The headquarters moved from Texas to Seymour in 2022.
Cuban toured the facilities Aug. 21 before heading over to Jackson Live & Event Center to be a speaker. He sat down for a chat with Riley, and then they were joined by two others for a panel on American manufacturing.
Jackson County native Sam Markel, vice president of manufacturing and operations, also spoke, and Jackson County Chamber Director Dan Robison was the emcee.
The Jackson County native was a member of the staff from 1998 to 2001 as Workforce Partnership coordinator. In June of this year, she rejoined the staff in a part-time role to support the activities of JCIDC and the Workforce Partnership.
Dee graduated from Brownstown Central High School in 1980 and earned a degree in organizational management with an emphasis on human resources from Indiana University in 1984. She was employed with Osram Sylvania in Seymour and held various manufacturing management positions. In early 1998, she was hired by RR Donnelley in Seymour and worked in human resources in recruitment of hourly and salaried employees.
Dee and her husband, David, live in Brownstown. They are the parents of two children, Lindsey and Reid, and they have three grandsons.
JCIDC recently has been awarded funding from various sources.
The most recent was approved by The Andersons Inc. community contributions committee, valued at $500.
Through its corporate contributions, The Andersons is committed to enhancing the quality of life in communities where it has business operations by contributing to a number of organizations for their events and programs.
Founded in 1947 in Maumee, Ohio, The Andersons Inc. is a diversified company rooted in agriculture that conducts business in the commodity trading, ethanol, plant nutrient and rail sectors. The company has a facility in Seymour.
JCIDC also was one of five economic development organizations in south central Indiana selected by Duke Energy for inclusion in its 2025 Partnership Program, which funds marketing and strategic efforts to attract new jobs and investment to Indiana.
“This program gives our local economic development partners the tools they need to showcase the strengths of their communities, both at home and on the national stage,” said Erin Schneider, managing director of economic development at Duke Energy. “It’s just one of the many ways we’re helping influence growth in the state to build competitive, thriving communities.”
JCIDC received $5,000 from Duke’s Partnership Program grant fund, and that will be used to support a wide array of marketing initiatives, including trade show attendance, and presentations or tours to introduce prospective companies and site selectors to a community.
To qualify for program consideration, each applicant submitted a plan that would have a direct impact on their community’s economic growth. Grant amounts varied depending on the size and scope of the project.
Duke Energy Indiana, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, provides about 6,300 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 910,000 customers in a 23,000-square-mile service area, making it Indiana’s largest electric supplier. The company has an office in Seymour.
JCIDC also received a $1,000 Spark Good local grant from theWalmart store in Seymour.
This grant will help with the girls robotics workshop that will be conducted in the fall for middle and high school girls involved in the VEX Robotics program at their school. The first Girl Powered Workshop in Jackson County was held in 2024 in Seymour and attended by 31 girls from eight county schools along with female engineers and others from local companies.
Walmart believes investing in local communities strengthens its business and communities served. Local grants are designed to support local organizations that meet the unique needs of the communities where the company operates, build pride among associates and deepen relationships with customers. Each year, Walmart U.S. stores, Sam’s Clubs and Distribution Centers award local cash grants ranging from $250 to $5000.
JCIDC’s Workforce Partnership recently gained a new contributor, too.
CFA Staffing is based in Batesville and also has offices in Seymour and Plainfield. According to cfastaffing.com, Teresa Wade started the company in 1999, providing sub-assembly work for an automotive parts supplier. CFA offers a range of tailored staffing solutions designed to meet business needs.
AISIN Group has conducted its North American Quality Circle Convention Festival for 18 years.
Quality Circle is a yearlong development tool that includes supervisors and team members working together in teams to pick a project that will help the company improve its key performance indicators.
AISIN USA Mfg. Inc. in Seymour has always participated in the annual competition.
After general managers in eight areas of the facility choose their top team, the company’s officers listen to presentations to select the top three. Each top-three team receives a prize, and the winner advances to the North American competition.
There, they are among 18 AISIN companies in North America vying to finish in the top three to move on and present at the global competition in Japan.
This year, for the first time, a team from AISIN USA won the North American competition, which was June 18 and 19 at Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth.
The presenting team consists of J.D. Fields, a supervisor; Dusti Rosas, a team lead; and Joe Brooks, a packaging specialist. The support team consists of Courtnie Ray, a general manager; Latasha Klakamp, a manager; and Kyla Sanders, a group leader. The QCC trainer is Jeremy Waskom, a supervisor.
Teams from 12 AISIN companies from North America, South America, Europe and Asia will compete in Japan.
“It’s really awesome to know that we made AUM history because we had never won before,” said Klakamp, a 15-year AISIN USA employee. “We’re hoping to be able to go over to Japan and see if we can continue to bring it home all the way. We want everybody to understand how much a little thing can do for so many people. That’s what they want.”
This year, 70 teams from AISIN USA worked on projects for several months, said Dustin Kiser, general manager of plant control.
Fields, Rosas and Klakamp work in the systems department, while Brooks works in packaging.
Fields, a supervisor, and Rosas, a team leader, came up with a way to change the direction boxes arrive to line operators so they don’t have to turn them around as they place parts inside to ship to customers.
“It came together because of the burden from the operators having an issue on the floor and they would have to turn a box,” Klakamp said. “We wanted to make it easier for them. They are in here all day long. We wanted to make their work as easy and simple and eliminate any burdens they have.”
Klakamp said they received team members’ feedback on their idea.
“There are tight spaces on the lines. We don’t want anybody to make it more difficult on them,” she said. “We listened to their burdens, we took their feedback and we wanted to make it better for them. The members understood they were heard.”
The team’s project also benefits logistics.
“When they put (boxes) onto the rack for them to bring to our line, they are going to use those arrows,” Klakamp said. “That way, they are already in the right direction, (and) they load them onto the wagon and bring them lineside. They then pick them up, (and) they are in the correct direction. It eliminates a lot of double-handling by a lot of team members.”
Rosas, who has worked at AISIN USA for five years, said all logistics has to do is look at the side of the boxes.
“It has the arrows on it, and they don’t have to look at the top of the box or unstack the boxes to tell which way to fit them in,” she said.
Brooks said he received approval of the change from all of the Toyota plants that are customers of AISIN USA.
“If you start labeling boxes, you’ve got to make sure they’re good with it,” he said.
Once everyone was on board, Brooks, a 29-year AISIN USA employee, said he appreciated the company’s officers for looking at a small change that would make a big impact.
Kiser said the project boosts team members’ morale.
“It’s always good to see that the simple ideas can make a big impact,” he said. “Honestly, we don’t think about that. We’re always wanting to spend money. We’re always wanting to put in some automation or something to fix a problem. Something as small as adding stickers to boxes could turn into a huge operational availability boost as well as a team member morale boost, and I think the knowledge learned along the way is very important to develop those future leaders.”
Klakamp said other AISIN USA departments and other companies could implement their idea.
“They are able to use our information we provided with them and take it back to their company and utilize it there for those members because we all share a lot of common parts, different models, so they have the same boxes at the other facilities,” she said.
Brooks liked seeing teams include people from different departments, including engineering, human resources and quality.
“They really mix it up, get different people involved to contribute, so I appreciated being a part of it,” he said.
Besides the team having a good idea, it helped that they included an entertaining element.
Part of the presentation showed support team members dancing the wrong direction. Later on, after the project team members explained how their idea would improve directional flow, they danced the right direction.
The project name, “One Direction,” and dance were an ode to the British pop boy band with the same name.
“There was some music and some dancing, and let’s face it, people like to laugh a little bit,” Brooks said.
AISIN USA had a sendoff for the team going to North American QCC and celebrated the win with ice cream. Next year, they hope to have more celebrating to do when they arrive home from Japan.
Meanwhile, Kiser said classes will start this month to teach the Quality Circle process to team members for the 2026 competition season. In August, teams will be decided, and they will pick a theme and get tested on their knowledge.
Next May, the top eight teams will present to management.
“It’s a development tool,” Kiser said. “If you want to learn, if you want to be challenged, if you want to move up within the company, this is a good tool to gain that knowledge and move up the TPS process, Toyota Production System, and how it works.”
