• First Merchants Bank – the largest financial services holding company in Central Indiana and second largest in the state – was listed fourth in Forbes' annual ranking of the country’s 100 largest banks, ahead of peers like JPMorgan Chase, Fifth Third Bancorp and Citigroup, according to a release.
Forbes ranked banks based on 10 metrics related to growth, profitability, capital adequacy and asset quality.
First Merchants Bank has more than 120 banking centers in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio with approximately $9 billion in assets, $6.5 billion in loans, $6.9 billion in deposits, and total shareholders’ equity of $1.28 billion, the release stated. Last October, the company reported strong third quarter earnings, which included record totals for quarter net income and net-interest income, as well as total assets and total loans.
"We’ve just finished a year of very high performance and look forward to announcing our full 2017 earnings on Jan. 25,” First Merchants CEO Michael C. Rechin said in the release. “As we celebrate the company’s 125th anniversary, the future has never looked more promising.”
• Randy Brown, a board-certified family physician, has joined Open Door Health Services' Adult Health team.
Brown began his career as a pastor. After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University, he received his MD from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He came to Muncie in 2005 and has practiced at Cardinal Health Partners, Meridian Health Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Brown’s office is at 333 S. Madison St. To schedule appointments, call 765-286-7000. Open Door Health Services is a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center that acts as a safety net for the uninsured and underinsured of East Central Indiana, providing health care services to all people of all ages regardless of their ability to pay. Information: http://www.opendoorhs.org/
• A new book on hazing and hazing prevention edited by Ball State University Journalism Hall of Fame Professor Hank Nuwer has been published by Indiana University Press.
Nuwer, an internationally recognized scholar in hazing education, has put together an anthology of 26 essays titled “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives.” In addition to investigative journalism essays written by Nuwer, the book includes interviews, pieces by other writers and an essay by Ball State alumnus Ray Begovich.
Nuwer’s previous four books on hazing have won wide acclaim and one was adapted into a TV movie, according to a release. Now a resident of Waldron, Ind., and Warsaw, Poland, he taught journalism at Ball State from 1985 to 1989 and is a 2018 faculty member for the BSU Midwest Writers Conference. He is a former outdoor columnist for The Star Press