Sam Stall

Profiles & Interviews

Indianapolis Business Journal •

Mickey Maurer Entrepreneur of the Year Award: ‘A great connector of ideas and people’ - Indianapolis Business Journal

Justin Christian launched IT consulting and workforce fulfillment firm BCforward in 1998 in Indianapolis. (Photo courtesy of Justin Christian)
Justin Christian, 50, founder and CEO of the Indianapolis-based IT consulting and workforce fulfillment firm BCforward, is as famous for his networking skills and charitable works as for his business acumen—an acumen that’s built his company from a two-employee startup in 1998 into an international powerhouse. During its quarter century of existence, BCfo...
Indianapolis Monthly •

Q&A With Nick Offerman

With so much going on, how do you budget your time?“That’s a difficulty my wife and I both face. We get such great opportunities, but then we have to check the calendar and say, ‘Which of these jobs can we do, but still get to kiss each other every once in a while?’ The older I get, the more I try to do just one thing at a time. Also, I’m not known for my refinement or finesse. I can probably write one of my clumsy books in the time it would take a great writer to sharpen his pencil.”
Did you do...
Indianapolis Monthly •

Meet The Noisy Librarian: Laurel Setser

WHEN LAUREL SETSER began her multidecade career as a librarian at the Avon-Washington Township Public Library back in 1989, the building was still out in the country. So far out, in fact, that its nearest neighbor was a barn. But that didn’t last long.
“I remember when they were tearing the barn down to put in a subdivision,” Setser recalls.
Over the decades, as the village she served morphed into a bustling suburb, the mission of her library changed too. It transformed from a quiet book deposit...
Indianapolis Monthly •

Nate Spangle: The Podcaster In Your Neighborhood

NATE SPANGLE talks really fast. So fast that fans of his podcast, Get IN., regularly beg him to slow down. But talking slowly—especially when he’s talking about Indiana—is probably impossible for the 28-year-old, Broad Ripple–based podcaster. “I’m just an energetic, excited person in general,” Spangle says. “It’s who I am, and it’s cool to get to be myself on the internet and have people want to watch it.”
Besides, his current work schedule would likely grind a more laid-back person to dust. He...
Indianapolis Business Journal •

Carroll Award winner: Bill Oesterle succeeds big time, bridges cultural divides - Indianapolis Business Journal

Last month, former Angie’s List employees gathered for a reunion at Elevator Hill, the 18-acre parcel of near-east-side buildings that was once the online consumer-review company’s headquarters campus.
The event drew hundreds, but many came for more than just a chance to commiserate with workmates. They also wanted to see their former boss—serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, activist and Angie’s List co-founder Bill Oesterle.
“They came back because of Bill,” said longtime Angie’s List employee...
Quill •

2023 Fellow Feature: Marvin Kalb

September 22, 2023 • Quill Archives
Personally recruited to CBS News by Edward R. Murrow, Marvin Kalb abandoned his Ph.D. work in Russian history at Harvard University to plunge into a journalism career that spanned decades, including five and a half years living in the U.S.S.R.
Today, at age 93, he resides in Washington, D.C., serving as a nonresident senior fellow with the foreign policy program at Brookings — and also putting the finishing touches on his 18th book. 
“It’s a memoir,” Kalb said...
Indianapolis Monthly •

AMA: Katy O'Brian, Actor

You were an officer with the Carmel Police Department for almost five years. How did you decide to try acting?When I was a kid, I always wanted to act, but I never thought professional acting was possible for me. [I thought] I needed to have a stable job. So I worked as a police officer. But then I thought, While I’m somewhat young, I should at least attempt to do the thing I really want to do. If it didn’t work out, I figured I could always go to school or get into federal law enforcement. I di...
Indianapolis Monthly •

Quick Q&A: Neil deGrasse Tyson

So you must be a real wet blanket at the theater.I’m not the total a-hole that people think I am. My goal is to enhance your movie-going experience, not to be the annoying person who says, “That can’t happen.” I’m stereotyped as someone who sort of nitpicks science facts. But my motives are deeply misunderstood. I’m guided by Mark Twain, who once said, “First get your facts straight, then distort them at your leisure.” If you do your science homework and you can see that foundation, then I celeb...