Archive for March 2004

“Cactus” Jack Barringer got his nickname as a little boy, due to his obsession with dressing up with a cowboy. The name, given by his father, spread across the neighborhood. As an adult, when he …

Dear Mr. Berko:

I have $43,000 to invest in a growth and income portfolio. Could you provide me with the names of four issues that you like as growth and income stocks?

I’m a long-term …

In December 2002, executive recruiter Chris McLinden found himself without a job after his employer, Dice Inc., which operates a job-posting Web site for technology professionals, worked to cut costs and ultimately filed for bankruptcy. …

Robert Shumaker has devoted 20 years of his life to a relationship with Azy and Indah, a pair of orangutans due to arrive at the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary this summer. He knows their behavioral …

Ruan Transportation Management Systems, the trucking firm that helped make John Ruan II one of the most powerful men in Iowa business, is undergoing its largest strategic shift in 20 years.

Over the past three …

The high school sports March madness has begun in Des Moines. Downtown skywalks are crowded with fans and players, most of the motels and hotels are filled to capacity, local restaurants have long waits, and …

In early December 2001, I experienced what was to be one of the strangest and ultimately best interviews I have ever had.

Having followed my wife here from New Jersey for her job at WOI-TV, …

A friend who just returned to Des Moines after spending several years in the South remarked as he walked through downtown that the city’s face is mostly white. We’d heard that comment before, most recently …

The Business Record spoke with Scott Hatfield, president of SVPA Architects, about architectural trends in Central Iowa. His company’s recent projects include Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Inc.’s headquarters in West Des Moines and Rain and …

It’s been a busy year for Katie Cownie, an associate attorney at Brown, Winick, Graves, Gross, Baskerville and Schoenebaum. She got married last summer; she and her husband, Damien Lock, started new jobs in January; …