One Southern Indiana (1si) announced the winners of the 2020 ONCE  Awards at a dinner held at Caesars Southern Indiana on Thursday, November 12, 2020.  Approximately 120 live participants and 125 virtual attendees celebrated the success of these local and regional businesses and professionals.

The ONCE Awards is a combined event celebrating the ONE Awards, postponed from the spring and celebrating outstanding businesses and the ACE Awards, held in the fall honoring extraordinary business leaders.  Ten awards were given away in all.

Congratulations to the 2020 winners:
Indiana Members Credit Union Rising Star ONE Award – presented to an outstanding company less than five year in existence

Winner:  Taylor’s Cajun Meat Company

Taylor’s Cajun Meat Company is a specialty meat market offering authentic Cajun cuisine dishes and top-notch, fresh, cut-to-order meats. Founded in August of 2018, Ellis Taylor, supported by his business partners Jody Arceneaux and Jason Habbit moved to Southern Indiana from his home in Southern Louisiana to open the New Albany shop.

Since that time, Taylor’s has enjoyed a 40 percent increase in sales year over year. In addition, they have become quite the local celebrities with more than 5,400 Facebook followers. The company is the first in the local market with deboned stuffed chickens and offers cut-to-order steaks and homemade fresh and smoked sausage. Other unique specialty meat and side items include boiled crawfish, king cakes, turduckens, deboned turkeys and a daily plate lunch.

Taylor’s not only brought the food of the bayou to Southern Indiana but also the culture.  The company launched a new event that allows local and regional citizens to “Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler” (Let the good times roll). In 2020, the company hosted its first annual Mardi Gras event, and it hopes to partner with regional nonprofits to grow the celebration.

Nu-Yale Nonprofit Program of the Year ONE Award – presented to a nonprofit 1si member with an innovative and successful program, initiative or activity.

Winner: Hosparus Health Southern Indiana & Grief Counseling Center Heart Connection Program

Hosparus Health recognized the need to support patients living with advanced heart disease. The Heart Connection Program, piloted in Louisville in 2018 and rolled out in Indiana in 2019, provides a customized plan of care based on the patient’s needs, with support provided by an interdisciplinary team. Hosparus Health offers access to 24-hour clinical support for questions or symptom-management needs. The 2018 pilot of this program showed patients enrolled in the program lived twice as long as patients not enrolled and had a less than 3 percent hospital readmission rate.

In 2019, the organization enrolled 24 Indiana residents in the program. The average length of stay for heart patients enrolled in the program was only 5.8 days, compared to the average length of stay for other patients was 40 days.

Patients experience better health and a better quality of life through their participation in this program, including reduced hospitalizations and improvement in symptoms. Only a high touch program which allows for calls after hours results in cost savings from decreased emergency room and urgent-care visits and decreased hospitalization. The positive community impact includes less stress for families and a better use of overall healthcare dollars, as well as better health for the patient.

Centra Credit Union WorkHub Innovation in Culture ONE Award – presented to a company for an encompassing program working in diversity, workplace health and company culture.

Winner: Kentuckiana Wood Products, Inc.

Kentuckiana Wood Products, a 40-year-old pallet manufacturing company, has developed an
incentive program called an “Evaluation Log.” This program evaluates the worker’s ability to meet a multitude of related production objectives, including but not limited to attendance, cut yield (the amount of waste produced), quality of work and quantity of work.

The program addresses worker apathy, providing monetary incentives to those who need to be motivated to give a full effort without the need to be constantly supervised. The intention is to recruit and retain a motivated work force in a typically unattractive industry. Company representatives have found this approach has been embraced by their workers who now strive to live up to and exceed the expectations laid out for them with pride.

While the incentive is mainly monetary, with production employees making an additional average of $2,300 per year, Kentuckiana Wood Products also has found employees take pride in seeing their performances reflected in weekly evaluations by supervisors. In addition, the company feels it now develops worker loyalty and comradery and helps facilitate communication in employee-to-employee relationships as well as employee-to-managerial relationships.

MCM CPAs & Advisors Business of the Year – 50 or Fewer Employees ONE Award – presented to a noteworthy company with less than 50 employees and that demonstrates business growth, exceptional company culture, innovation and community involvement.

Winner: Extol Magazine
Angie Fenton and Jason Applegate, co-founders/owners of Extol came up with the idea of a business on a napkin at a local restaurant. The result was Extol, a magazine on a mission to celebrate Southern Indiana — and beyond — by highlighting the people, businesses, organizations, nonprofits and places of our community through print and digital publication, video production and social media.

Additionally, the company offers public relations and marketing services, social media management, a full video production and photography department, assistance with advertising and marketing in other media outlets, execution of events and speakers/emcees for civic, commercial and charity events.

Extol has grown revenue nearly 400 percent over the first five years. In 2019, the company formed Extol Charities, a fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, as a way to further give back to the community and allow the staff as a whole to determine where any fundraising efforts will go and which nonprofits will benefit.

German American Bank Business of the Year – 51 or More Employees ONE Award – presented to a noteworthy company with more than 50 employees and that demonstrates business growth, exceptional company culture, innovation and community involvement.

Winner: The New Washington State Bank
The New Washington State Bank (NWSB) is a full-service financial institution with nine locations serving Clark, Scott and Floyd counties. The company offers a variety of products from checking, savings and certificates of deposits to various loan products, for both consumer and business customers. NWSB staff are driven to create personal relationships with their customers and the community. The bank offers online banking and a mobile app for convenience yet is always happy to serve customers face-to-face.

The original NWSB opened on Main Street in New Washington, Ind., on March 6, 1908. Since its inception, NWSB has added eight additional locations including Henryville, Charlestown, Borden, Jeffersonville, Sellersburg, Scottsburg, River Ridge and the most recent location in New Albany in October 2019. The bank has grown from $148 million in assets in early 2001 to $343 million in December
2019. Currently, NWSB has 95 employees throughout the Southern Indiana area.

Today, there are very few community banks left. NWSB maintains a local management team and staff which provide local decision-making and a desire to give back to its community creatively. Although monetary donations are important, company leaders feel time, resources and experiences are just as important. For example, a group of employees spend time throughout the year in our local school systems presenting Dollars and Sense, a Junior Achievement program, to provide financial literacy to
elementary, middle and high school students. As another form of outreach, employees utilize the company “Fun Truck” to support local fundraisers and build customer relationships in the market.

The AML Construction Economic Development Partner of the Year ONE Awards – presented to a strategic partner or business who has greatly assisted One Southern Indiana in its economic development efforts

Winner: Prosser Career Education Center

The Prosser Career Education Center provides high-quality career training programs to junior and senior high school students in Career and Technical Education District 45. District 45 includes all public, private, parochial, and charter high schools in the counties of Clark, Crawford, Floyd, Harrison, Scott and Washington. Prosser offers students 24 career training programs, all of which are in demand by local and regional employers.

Prosser also serves the regional adult population by working with local employers and offering technical training classes designed to skill-up the incumbent workforce. These classes are also utilized by individuals seeking to learn new skills that will lead to career change or initial employment.

Consistently maintaining a student enrollment between 1,350 and 1,400 students, Prosser is the largest stand-alone career center in Indiana.  The career center was designated by the Indiana Department of Education as a STEM-certified school, and of the 1,880 public schools in Indiana, only 78 have received this designation.

With a 97-percent placement rate, Prosser graduates are highly successful whether they choose to enroll, employ or enlist immediately after high school. Graduates from the 2018-2019 school year reported 47 percent employed, 45 percent enrolled in college and 5 percent enlisted in the military.

The positive impact that Prosser has on the educational and business communities throughout all of Southern Indiana and metro Louisville is undeniable. By all accountability measures and key metrics, the Prosser Career Education Center is one of the most successful career training centers in Indiana.

DMLO Economic Development Impact Project of the Year ONE Award – given to the expansion or attraction project having the greatest impact on our community in the past year

Winner: PharmaCord, LLC:

In June 2019, PharmaCord announced the construction of a new 80,000-square-foot $40 million facility on Trey Street in the River Ridge Commerce Center, its third location within the state-of-the-art business park. PharmaCord is a key connector between pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers, doctors and insurers, making certain patients receive specialty medications prescribed to them.

Established in 2017, PharmaCord has experienced exponential growth. The company employed fewer than 20 individuals at the start of 2017, and company officials estimate the current employee count has surpassed 200.  The wages for the 850 new positions that ultimately were created by the company’s growth are estimated to be 10 percent above the Clark County average.  The company’s total investment for the two-phase project is estimated to be $56,460,880.

The new facility will, in part, be an ultra-modern operations and call center providing support services to patients and physicians on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. Company officials anticipate the completion of the building in 2021.

Nitin Sahney, Founder and CEO of PharmaCord said, “It was important to us to find an expansion site that would not only afford us the space to grow and fulfill our potential as a company, but also to expand our presence in the Louisville metro area.  The River Ridge Commerce Center and America Place provided us with a world-class facility, while still being convenient and close to our existing offices in Louisville. I believe this new location will give us the space and ability to support future pharmaceutical client programs while creating more jobs in healthcare for the metro area.  We are very excited about this decision and its implications for the continued growth of PharmaCord.”

Axiom Financial Strategies Group James W. Robinson Young Professional of the Year ACE Award
Winner: Dr. Joshua Kornberg, Ivy Tech Community College
Dr. Josh Kornberg is a certified fundraising executive who serves as the executive director of development at Ivy Tech Community College – Sellersburg.  Additionally, he serves as an administrator of his family’s business, Discovery Time II Child Care Center in New Albany.  Josh has been honored as one of “20 Under 40” by Southern Indiana Business Source, a “News and Tribune” Southern Indiana Difference Maker, the Southern Indiana 2018 Young Professional of the Year by Leadership Southern Indiana, 2019 Alumni of the Year by Spalding University and a Champion for Children by Communities in Schools of Clark County.
Certified as a fundraising executive in 2019, Josh is involved in a host of educational work including being the chair-elect of the Indiana University (IU) International Alumni Board of Managers; the immediate past president of the IU Southeast Alumni Board of Directors; chair of the Spalding University School of Business Advisory Board; and vice president of the Communities in Schools of Clark County Board of Directors.  Josh also spends time working with a number of nonprofit organizations such as Beautiful As You Are (BAYA), the Jeffersonville Township Public Library Foundation Board of Directors and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana Advisory Council.

Josh is proud of his work in United: Diversity in Education.  Using his role at Ivy Tech, Josh reallocated some resources to launch the Akoma Scholarship, Ivy Tech’s first scholarship for students of color. Additionally, in an effort to raise funds for the scholarship, he partnered with IU Southeast and the Greater Clark County School Educational Foundation to host “United: Diversity in Education,” the first joint event of its size focusing on diversity, equity and belonging between the three entities.

Kightlinger & Gray, LLP Sam Day Professional of the Year ACE Award
Winner: Dr. Eric Yazel, Clark County Health Department, University of Louisville, Clark Memorial Hospital
Dr. Eric Yazel serves as the Clark County, Ind., health officer, as well as an emergency medical physician with the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine and Clark Memorial Hospital.  He became the Clark County health officer in 2017, during the peak of the opioid epidemic and, with the help of numerous community partners, developed and implemented the Clark County comprehensive overdose response plan. Through these efforts, Clark County decreased the overdose deaths and ER visits for overdoses by more than 40 percent.
In 2018, Dr. Yazel raised funds to launch a program called Pulse Point, a smart phone app that alerts citizen responders to the location of a fellow community member in cardiac arrest, guides them to the nearest AED, or automated external defibrillator, and allows them to initiate care. Since that time, the program has signed up more than 1,500 citizens, developed a registry of approximately 100 AEDs across Clark County and saved numerous lives. CPR certifications in Clark County have increased over 200 percent since the program’s inception.

After realizing Indiana had one of the highest rates of infant deaths in the U.S. and Clark County had one of the top five mortality rates within the state, Dr. Yazel, along with numerous community partners, developed a community action team to address the problem.  He helped spearhead an aggressive social media campaign, safe sleep and safe sitter classes and infant CPR classes.

In addition, he was a founding member of the Clark County Infant Mortality Review Board, which reviews any death under the age of 18 and provides valuable insight into what education and initiatives are needed for Clark County. Since the onset of this program, Clark County has seen a reduction in infant mortality rates from one of the highest to one of the lowest in Indiana.

Dr. Yazel currently serves on the boards of directors for Clark County Cares, the Code EMS Peer Support Group, Fireproof and Strengthening Indiana Families.

Duke Energy Kevin Hammersmith Community Leader of the Year
Winner: Jerry Finn, Caesars Foundation of Floyd County
Jerry Finn is in his 19th and final year as executive director of the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County. During that time, he helped guide the foundation through $55 million in community investments. Some of those investments include $860,000 for the restoration of the Underground Railroad Town Clock Church, initiating tours to the Town Clock Church and providing education about the Underground Railroad in Floyd County to thousands of school children each year. Priceless pieces of art were also acquired to commemorate the struggles of escaped slaves and the scourge of slavery.
In addition, Jerry helped establish Youth Philanthropy Councils and endowments in Clark, Floyd, Scott, Harrison, Washington, and Crawford counties, led the creation of the Scribner Gardens next to the Scribner House in New Albany, worked with others to create public art in New Albany, organized the Southern Indiana Mentoring Initiative for Clark and Floyd Counties and helped found Keep New Albany Clean and Green while organizing multiple beautification efforts in the city.
Jerry is also nationally a recognized trainer, author and consultant and a regular columnist for Top Music Countdown of Cornerstone Media, Inc.  Published works include Building Youth Ministry in the Parish by St. Mary’s Press, Morality and Decisions Leaders Guide by Silver Burdett Ginn, and he is a contributing author to The Asset Builders Guide for Youth Leadership by the Search Institute and Youth As Philanthropists by CPY, Inc., along with articles in various national publications.
When submitting his application, Jerry wrote, “First of all, I do not think I should receive this award. There are plenty of other awesome people in our communities who are very deserving of such recognition. I have received plenty of recognition over the course of my wonderful career. With that being said, I am submitting this because the last time I turned down an opportunity to submit info, I caught all sorts of grief!”

2020 ONCE Award Sponsors

Platinum
AML Construction
Axiom Financial Strategies Group
Centra Credit Union
DMLO
Duke Energy
German American Bank
Indiana Members Credit Union
Kightlinger & Gray
MCM CPAs
Nu-Yale

Gold
Louisville Business First
Extol Magazine
Fuzzy Zoeller’s Covered Bridge & Champions Pointe Golf Clubs
Lloyd’s Florist, Inc.
Louisville Business First
MCM CPA’s & Advisors
Mister “P” Express, Inc.
Sounds Unlimited Productions

Silver
1Source HCMS
Clark memorial Hospital
iHeart Media
L & D Mail Masters, Inc.
Mightily
PNC
The Refinery

About One Southern Indiana:
One Southern Indiana (1si) was formed in July of 2006 as the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development organization serving Clark and Floyd Counties. 1si’s mission is to provide the connections, resources and services that help businesses innovate and thrive in the Southern Indiana/Louisville metro area.

Since its inception, the organization has evolved to include a three-prong approach to serve its members and investors.  Business Resources, as the chamber side of the organization, encompasses membership, signature events and programs which support and encourage business growth; Economic Development works to grow the regional economy through the attraction of new commerce and assists with retention and expansion of existing businesses; Advocacy supports businesses at the government level by engaging in initiatives to preserve, protect and promote a business friendly environment free of obstacles to growth and development of commerce.