BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
Natural Progression
John Diekhoff becomes part-owner of Popham Construction
By Maggie Valenti
John Diekhoff started working in construction while attending Reitz Memorial High School. Eighteen years after joining Popham Construction, he now is part-owner alongside founder Pete Popham, a change Diekhoff describes as a “natural progression.”
“This is a time in my life where I could take on more responsibility,” he says, as majority owner Popham plans to scale back his involvement in the residential and commercial construction company he launched in 1987. The eventual goal is for Diekhoff to take full ownership of the company, but there is no set timeframe.
“John is the future of Popham Construction, carrying on the tradition of quality and professionalism,” Pete Popham says.
Diekhoff started with the company as an estimator in 2007 and was named vice president and director of operations six years ago. He manages day-to-day operations, assists in generating new business, and ensures projects are completed safely and on time. With his new partial ownership, Diekhoff looks forward to being more involved with the company, including employees, subcontractors, and vendors.
“I look forward to the ability to continue to do what I enjoy and grow with our community … (to) have more involvement with our staff and impact them personally and professionally,” he says.
NEW HIRES/PROMOTIONS
Steven Bridges has been selected to serve as the fifth president of the University of Southern Indiana. Bridges, a two-time USI graduate and Vice President for Finance and Administration, was named interim president prior to the 2024-25 academic year upon the departure of Ron Rochon. Bridges is the first USI alumnus to serve as the university’s president.
Jason Puckett has been named president of Toyota Indiana, and in the role of group vice president for Manufacturing Region 2, Puckett also will lead Toyota facilities in Missouri and Tennessee. Since joining Toyota in 1997, Puckett has held positions of increasing responsibility in the company, most recently as president of Toyota Alabama, and earlier as vice president of administration and manufacturing at Toyota Indiana. Puckett succeeds Tim Hollander, who has been named of president of Toyota Canada and group vice president for Manufacturing Region 1.
Orr Fellowship has hired Ben Trockman as its first regional director in Evansville. Trockman, formerly an outreach and employment specialist at Old National Bank and a project manager at Change for Balance, is an Evansville native in his second term on the City Council and in January was elected its president.
Andy Lampkins has been named dean of the University of Evansville’s (UE) College of Education and Health Sciences, effective June 1. Lampkins has served as interim dean since September 2023. Kim McDonald, the director of enrollment marketing and operations, was named director of admissions after the departure of Kenton Hargis.
Evansville Police Foundation has announced Ashley McReynolds as its new executive director. She previously served as director of advancement for the Albion Fellows Bacon Center and holds a political science degree from USI and a fundraising management certificate from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Nathan Moon has joined Old National Bank’s 1834 A Division as an associate wealth adviser. Moon has five-plus years of experience in the financial services industry as an Allstate agency owner. He also played professional hockey in the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League.
United Leasing & Finance has appointed John Greaney as chief operating officer and John Kicklighter as chief credit officer. Greaney, who previously was vice president of operations at Ascension St. Vincent Evansville, oversees day-to-day operations and leads initiatives designed to enhance efficiency and improve customer experiences across the organization. Kicklighter was most recently senior vice president of risk at SLR Equipment Finance and brings experience in credit risk management, underwriting, and portfolio strategy.
Welborn Baptist Foundation has hired Tyler Stock as the director of its GROW capacity-building program as well as the officer for its early learning program. Stock, a graduate of USI with a Bachelor of Science in sociology and a Master of Public Administration in nonprofit/public/organizational management, had served as the executive director of Talent EVV for the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership since July 2022. In 2024, Stock was in the inaugural cohort of the Welborn Fellows Program.
Franklin Street Dentistry has welcomed Drew Ashley as a new practitioner. The Reitz Memorial High School alumnus is a 2025 graduate of the Indiana University School of Dentistry in Indianapolis and joins the West Side practice founded by his father, Chad, in 1996.
DEPARTURES
Lane Young, former executive director of the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility, has joined the City of Carmel, Indiana, as its new director of utilities. Young, a former church ministry director, led EWSU from August 2020 until February 2024, when new Mayor Stephanie Terry appointed Vic Kelson, formerly the city of Bloomington, Indiana’s director of municipal utilities, to head EWSU.
Dream Center Evansville announced May 5 that Executive Director Jeremy Evans had departed after leading the youth nonprofit for a decade. Pat Heck will serve as interim executive director while the organization’s board of directors begins a search for its new executive director.
AWARDS/RECOGNITIONS
Vanderburgh County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Hatfield has received this year’s Emerging Voice Award from his alma mater, Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. The award distinguishes Purdue alumni who have excelled in their careers and are engaged in their communities. After serving as a deputy prosecutor and Indiana state representative, Hatfield was elected to circuit court judge in November 2024. His term began Jan. 2, 2025.
UE’s School of Education has received national recognition from the International Literacy Association for outstanding licensure, certificate, and endorsement programs that prepare literacy professionals. UE is the first university in Indiana to receive the designation. The university also presented individual outstanding educator and administrator awards to Norah Ferguson, a third-grade general education teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School; Stephanie Richie, an eighth-grade English/language arts teacher at Thompkins Middle School; Krista Fleming, a honors biology teacher at North High School; and Brittney Brown, principal of Evans Elementary School. Professor Mohammad K. Azarian made history as the first Muslim and Iranian American mathematician to have two prestigious mathematics awards named in his honor by the American Mathematical Society (Mohammad K. Azarian Prize for Mathematical Reviews Reviewers) and the Mathematical Association of America (Mohammad K. Azarian Scholar Award). UE received a $500,000 estate gift from M. Stephen Harkness, an emeritus trustee of the university. The funding will support endowed scholarships, including those previously established by Harkness, whose gifts to UE include $1.2 million for scholarships, capital projects, and operational funding. His latest gift will financially assist students, especially those from his alma mater, Wood Memorial High School in Oakland City, Indiana.
Deaconess Health System awarded $17,500 to Youth First, Inc., a donation aimed at strengthening mental health and wellbeing at YF partner schools. The donation will help provide school-based student assistance programs and family and community prevention programs.
Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana held its Women of Distinction event on April 11 and honored its Woman of Distinction, Christina Ryan, and Advancing Company of the Year, University of Southern Indiana.
Newsweek has named Atlas World Group to its list of America’s Most Trusted Companies for the third consecutive year. The transportation and logistics company was noted for its transparency, reliability, and consumer trust.
First Federal Savings Bank has awarded $27,500 in grant funds each to United Caring Services and Habitat for Humanity of Evansville through its Community Multiplier Member Match Program. USC helps transition individuals out of homelessness and into permanent supportive housing. The money donated to Habitat will support educational assistance programs for current and prospective homeowners.
Heidorn Construction has been named the Remodeler of the Year for 2024 by the Indiana Builders Association. Hoosier builders send nominations to the IBA, which reviews each nominee’s projects to select that year’s recipient. D. G. Asay assumed ownership of the now-51-year-old business in 2018.
The D-Patrick family of auto dealerships has announced recent donations to community organizations. D-Patrick Honda donated $1,500 to the Albion Fellows Bacon Center and $1,500 to Little Lambs of Evansville as part of its Honda Helping Kids initiative. D-Patrick Boonville Ford presented a check of $1,000 to Young Life Boonville and Newburgh Young Life. D-Patrick Ford/Lincoln presented a check of $2,500 to the Ascension St. Vincent Evansville Foundation at the Heritage Open golf scramble April 15. D-Patrick Volkswagen donated $1,000 to PAAWS No-Kill Animal Rescue. D-Patrick Ford/Lincoln and D-Patrick Honda co-presented a check of $2,500 to Keep Evansville Beautiful.
Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group named Indiana Members Credit Union to its list of America’s Best Regional Banks and Credit Unions for the second year. Banks and credit unions are recognized via a large-scale study based on the analysis of more than 9,000 institutions and 70,000 customer surveys, plus millions of reviews on social media. The Indianapolis-based credit union has locations on Evansville’s East and West sides.
Southwest Indiana Small Business Development Center earned several awards at the 2025 Indiana Small Business Development Center State Conference. Southwest Indiana SBDC won awards for Center of the Year, Highest Performing Center, Educator of the Year, and Stellar Service. Team members who were honored individually include office manager Catherine King, named the Rising Star; business advisor Julie Folz, who was awarded most clients counseled (part-time) and most business starts (part-time); and business adviser Grant Glackman, who joined the $1 million club.
Eleven students from USI’s American Marketing Association chapter earned awards for outstanding achievements competing against more than 1,600 students from 330-plus academic institutions in the U.S. and Canada at the 2025 AMA International Collegiate Conference held April 3-5 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Senior public relations and advertising major Alyssa McClain Wood received Honorable Mention in the Perfect Pitch Competition after making it to the final round out of 550 participants. USI’s AMA chapter — which consisted of Woods, Kayla Dahmer, Ricky Doan, Aeva Frimming, Tomas Gonzalez, Lily Hubbard, Cameron Madison, Gracie Madison, Lily Meyer, Alex Perry, and Connor Wilson — collectively earned an outstanding classification for its planning efforts. USI joined AMA in 2021.
This year’s Easterseals Rehabilitation Center Telethon on April 11 raised $907,797 for the organization, which provides inclusive early education and essential therapy services for Tri-State children and adults with disabilities.
The City of Evansville plans to spend $7.8 million to pave and improve city roads in 2025 and another $2.5 million to make those roads safer. The improvements will be funded through a mix of city budget dollars and Community Crossing grants from the state of Indiana, while a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation will support safety projects.
E-REP Talent Program Manager Kaylie Pruiett has been named to Conexus Indiana’s Rising 30 Class of 2025. Conexus’ annual list is presented by Purdue University and recognized young professionals making significant strides for Indiana’s advanced manufacturing and logistics sectors. Pruitt, who was nominated by former Talent EVV Executive Director Tyler Stock, is a 2023 USI graduate and joined E-REP as a program coordinator in September 2023.
The UE Aces Esports Overwatch team earned first place May 9 at the National Esports Collegiate Conference National Championship. The Aces qualified for nationals for the first time in the program’s history after successfully dispatching collegiate programs from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana; the University of Illinois in Springfield, Illinois; University of Akron in Akron, Ohio; the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi; and Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. At nationals, the Aces’ victory came against the esports team from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.
GROWTH/DEVELOPMENT
UNIFI Autism Care, an Indiana-based service provider focused on pediatrics and behavior analysis for autistic children and their families, opened its first office April 15 at 1004 W. Illinois St. The company plans to open offices in Broad Ripple, Bloomington, and South Bend/Mishawaka later this year.
Old National Bancorp officially closed its merger with St. Paul, Minnesota-based Bremer Financial Corp. on May 1. The merger brings Old National to $70 billion in assets and $37 billion in assets under management, raising it to the top 25 banking companies headquartered in the U.S.
Deaconess Health System broke ground April 9 on a first-of-its-kind dual emergency and urgent care facility at North Green River and Lynch roads. Construction of the 60,000-square-foot Deaconess ER & Urgent Care will cost an estimated $40 million and cover three floors with medical offices, imaging, and an outpatient laboratory. Officials with Deaconess say the dual approach to care will reduce out-of-pocket costs and wait times.
Bally’s Corporation, which owns Bally’s Evansville casino and hotel, in February completed a merger with Standard General L.P. and its affiliates, including The Queen Casino & Entertainment Inc., a regional casino operator majority-owned by Standard General-managed funds. The global casino and entertainment company owns and operates 19 casinos in 11 states. Originally known as Casino Aztar when it opened the state’s first riverboat casino in 1995, the Evansville casino property was purchased by Tropicana in 2010, moved to a land-based facility on Northwest Riverside Drive in 2017, and was bought by Bally’s in 2021.
Regional and state officials cut the ribbon on the Mount Vernon Railroad on April 22, labeling it a “Mega-Modal” partnership between rail transportation company OmniTRAX and Ports of Indiana. Owned by Ports of Indiana and operated by OmniTRAX, the Mount Vernon Railroad acts as the switching carrier for the Mount Vernon port, which processes an average of 25,000 railcars annually and is home to a 500-acre site targeted for large-scale multimodal development. The port is investing $25 million to support growth in steel, automotive, plastics, energy, and heavy industrial transport, and attract large multimodal industries that rely on barge and rail transportation.
