This Hoosier goes home (for a few days)

Most people know I'm from southern Indiana and a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington. I spent four great years—yes, I graduated in four years—in that town of 25,000 that expands to about 60,000 when school is in session. It's a great small town with lots of culture, residents from around the world and more.

The joint conference of the Kentucky and Indiana Chamber of Commerce executives groups was held on the IU campus for three days this week. I was closing out my year as the president of the board of the Kentucky chambers group in my college town and the memories flooded back as I drove through campus on my way to the student union building on Wednesday morning.

It turned into a great experience. Not only did I have the pleasure of thanking IU basketball coach Tom Crean and meeting him after he spoke to our group, I had a chance encounter with IU Athletics Director Fred Glass and met the director of the renowned Kelley School of Business—Jerry Conover—after he also presented to our group. To top it off, we got a tour of the IU basketball and football athletics facilities and I stood at center court at Assembly Hall. It doesn't get much better than that for an IU grad!

I've lived in Kentucky for more than 20 years now and have come to enjoy and appreciate the Bluegrass, but there will always be a large part of me in Bloomington. I grew up there in four short years. My time there this week was special.