Category Archives: Business News

Innovation from the University of Chicago

August 31, 2015Business NewsDave Thomas, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Tap Recorder, University of ChicagoChicagoAdmin

The results of this past summer’s accelerator program at the University of Chicago are impressive. An app called “Tap Recorder” allows users to make notations on an audio file while recording with an iPhone. The co-founder of the Chicago start-up that developed the app, Dave Thomas, explained:

“It was originally started because we were working with some doctors, and they mentioned that they’d love to find a better way to record some of their consultations and transcribe them,” Thomas said. “It uses basic gestures. Throughout the conversation you could tap it, swipe it, put your hand over it, and each of those gestures would correspond to an annotation, a bookmark or highlights.”

The app was developed with the help of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a program which will end with a demonstration day this coming September 9.

The app is in private beta testing now, but is expected to be launched to the public at the end of September. The company is hoping that the final version will include the option for users to have a transcription made of the audio file for a fee.

Amazon Fulfillment Center Coming to Joliet

August 8, 2015Business NewsAmazon, Bob O'Dekirk, Chicago, Fulfillment Center. Mike Roth, JolietChicagoAdmin

Amazon announced that it will soon be building a new 500,000-square-foot warehouse, known as a fulfillment center, in the city of Joliet, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. The giant on-line retailer promises that the new facility will be hiring about 1,000 full-time employees when it is completed.

Fulfillment centers are Amazon’s method to incredibly fast delivery of consumer products ordered from their web-site. The warehouses, filled with workers and products, process orders of a huge variety of items, including books, electronics, clothing, jewelry, and just about anything else that can be delivered by truck (or drone, in some places.)

At the end of April Crain’s reported Amazon’s intention to build a new center in Joliet, and that they had also leased space on Goose Island.

“We are thrilled that Amazon has chosen Joliet as the location for its new Illinois fulfillment center,” said the mayor of Joliet Bob O’Dekirk in a statement from Seattle-based Amazon.

Vice president of Amazon’s operations in North America, Mike Roth, said in a statement:

“We are grateful for the support of local and state leadership in helping to bring Amazon to Illinois and we look forward to being an active member of the community.”

Paula Steiner to Take Over Chairmanship of Health Care Service Corp

August 2, 2015Business NewsBlue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Health Care Service Corp, Patricia Hemingway Hall, Paula SteinerChicagoAdmin

Meet Paula Steiner. She will be taking over for Patricia Hemingway Hall, who was the previous CEO of Health Care Service Corp. She is set to lead Chicago’s biggest private company this coming January, a company which is the parent of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois.

Steiner, who is 58 years old, has been with Blue Cross Blue Shield for over 30 years. Today she is HCSC’s executive vice president and chief strategy officer. She also is the chief to external affairs, including government relations and advertising.

The outgoing CEO, Patricia Hall is 62 and was with HCSC for over 23 years, spending the last seven years as CEO. The company offers BC & BS plans in five different states and is the country’s fourth-larges health insurer, having almost 16 million subscribers.

“Given her experience, her tenacity to solve tough issues and her ability to lead people, Pat has been the ideal CEO to navigate this company so successfully through the twists and turns of our industry over the last several years,” Milton Carroll, chairman of Health Care Service, said.