Wabash Valley residents named to IBJ's 'Indiana 250'

IBJ Media this week released its third annual Indiana 250, a collection of the state’s most influential and impactful business and community leaders.

The list represents public and private companies, law firms, universities, not-for-profits, government and community organizations.

It was compiled by the executives, editors and newsroom staff at Indianapolis Business Journal, Inside INdiana Business and Indiana Lawyer.

Wabash Valley people included on the 2024 Indiana 250 included Robert A. Coons, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology president; Greg Gibson, president and CEO of Gibson Development; and Paul Thrift, president and CEO of Thompson Thrift Development. All are returnees to the Indiana 250 list.

Coons, president of Rose-Hulman since November 2018, has worked there for more than 33 years.

The institute’s 16th president has provided experience and leadership that have helped guide the nation’s No. 1-ranked undergraduate engineering college to success and a celebration of its 150th anniversary.

He was the recipient of the Rose-Hulman President’s Outstanding Service Award in 2010 and the Rose-Hulman Honor Alumni Award in 2013 as well as the 2013 Indiana University East Honor Alumni Award. In 2014, he received the Terre Haute Rotary Vocational Service Award and was an IBJ CFO of the Year Honoree.

His board service include Union Health Board (chairman), several higher boards and councils, the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp. and Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce boards, as well as the Indiana Governor’s Workforce Cabinet. Other service includes United Way of the Wabash Valley and Vigo County Lifeline.

Gibson has founded, owned or led more than 50 companies spanning a variety of industries, including trucking and transportation, excavation, coal mining, commercial and residential real estate development, and hospitality and food service.

Reflecting on his first job, Gibson said in an email, “Cleaning the truck drivers’ bathrooms and showers at Gibco Motor Express and Gibson Trucking Company at 15 years old, and later working as a ‘picker’ on the back of a garbage truck, taught me the value of hard work and the importance of seizing opportunities that others might overlook.”

His influence extends beyond business into Terre Haute’s community development, including the new convention center, the Larry Bird Museum, and preserving the Indiana Theatre. He also repurposed the Hulman Building into a business and economic center.

He has served on the Indiana Port Commission and Indiana Judicial Commission and holds leadership roles in the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau and the West Central Indiana Defense Network. He is active with his alma mater (Rose-Hulman) and is known for his generous contributions there and to various charitable organizations.

Thrift founded Thompson Thrift with John Thompson in 1986 and is president and CEO.

Since the company started in 1986, Thompson Thrift has grown to more than 600 team members. It occupies several floors in the Salesforce Tower in downtown Indianapolis, is a leading employer in Terre Haute — where the business began — and has offices in Denver, Houston and Phoenix.

The firm boasts roughly $5.9 billion in development of residential and commercial property in more than 20 states.

Thrift can point to transformational projects that have taken place in downtown Terre Haute: two hotels, the Children’s Museum, the federal building and at 500, 901 (location of the Thompson Thrift office) and 925 Wabash Avenue.

Other people with ties to the Wabash Valley included included in this year’s Indiana 250 list include the late Jim Morris, vice chair of Pacers Sports and Entertainment and longtime central Indiana civic and business leader; Brian Bauer, former president of Terre Haute Regional Hospital and currently president of IU Health Northeast Region; and Rick Fuson, Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO, whose parents lived in Terre Haute and in Clay County before relocating to Indianapolis.