Congratulations to David Lefever named 2022 Innovator of the Year by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Indiana Chapter. 
 

David joined the Indiana Chapter Board of Directors in January 2021 and was named Vice Chair in January 2022.
 

His visionary leadership and dedication to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has grown board membership, increased corporate supporters and boosted community engagement.
 

Unassuming and tireless in his philanthropic efforts, David is passionate about furthering the CF mission to cure the disease and lengthen lives of those living with it.

The IIA-Indianapolis Chapter, in conjunction with Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, participated in the 2nd annual Financial Literacy Day. This year the event was held at Pleasant Run Elementary school in Warren Township, Indiana. Audit and Risk Manager, Meredith Yonker represented The Mako Group once again for this worthwhile event and spent her day volunteering in one of the school's first grade classrooms alongside Caroline Hensley who has her own CPA consulting firm. The purpose of this event is to provide elementary school students with community volunteers from local business partners to combine real-life experiences with Junior Achievement’s economic-based curriculum, showing students the relevance between what they are learning in school and the real world.

Recently, David Lefever joined the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity as a Board Member. Led by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana Office of Technology, Indiana State Police, and the Indiana National Guard, David joins other government, private-sector, military, research, and academic stakeholders to collaboratively move Indiana’s cybersecurity to the next level. With 35 council members and about 200 advisory members, the council works together to deliver a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy plan to Governor Holcomb.

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The formation of this council follows Governor Holcomb signing the National Governors Association’s “A Compact to Improve State Cybersecurity” in July of 2017. This compact agrees to protect personal and government data stored on state systems as well as develop statewide plans to combat cyberattacks against information technology networks. This compact includes a pledge to build a cybersecurity governance, prepare and defend each state from cybersecurity events, and increase the nation’s cybersecurity workforce. A total of 38 state governors have signed this compact.

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For more information about the Compact to Improve State Cybersecurity click here.

Meet Thalia L. Guadalupe! She is a proud Virgin Islander from the island of St. Croix, USVI. Thalia is currently a senior at the University of the Virgin Islands earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Cybersecurity. For most of her life, she has had an interest in computer technology and in High School decided to learn more about the subject through CIS (computer information system) classes. After several classes she was quickly hooked and knew she wanted to pursue computer technology in college. While at the University of the Virgin Islands, she was introduced to cybersecurity and found it to be such an interesting subject. To deepen her knowledge, she participated in several internship programs where she contributed to the creation of an image-based challenge-response system where a prototype were developed to determine if users are more comfortable with recalling selected images vs. traditional passwords. The experience gave her the opportunity to develop applications that are related to security.

Thalia’s hard work and continuous dedication to her education put her in the running and, in the end, awarded her the University of the Virgin Islands Book Scholarship which was sponsored by The Mako Group. We are pleased to be providing this assistance to Thalia to aid in her education and allow her to gain additional expertise and knowledge in the field of cybersecurity. She is well deserving of this honor and we don’t doubt will continue to do great things. Congratulations Thalia!

If you or your company are interested in sponsoring future scholarships similar to the one that was recently awarded to Thalia please contact Mitchell Neaves (mneaves@uvi.edu) at the University of the Virgin Islands.

Yesterday morning, several members of our team in Detroit volunteered their time at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen by working in their Earthworks Urban Farm. The farm is a 2.5 acre certified organic farm located in the City of Detroit. Earthworks provides fresh produce used to prepare meals for the homeless and also sold to the public in an effort to raise funds to further support their mission. While there, our team harvested peppers, tomatoes and beans and prepared soil for the planting of new crops. For more information on the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, click here.

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Pictured left to right - Matt Kipp, Andrea O'Donnell & Shane O'Donnell

As part of the 26th annual Day of Caring, several members of our Fort Wayne team gathered together to spend the afternoon helping out at The Gingerbread House, a licensed child care center in the heart of Fort Wayne. The child care center helps with children between the ages of three-twelve. While there, our employees helped clean up and prepare a new toddler playground area by laying mulch and also dug a small area the center intends to use as a garden. The purpose of this event, held throughout all of Allen County, is to give thousands of volunteers the opportunity to come together to make the area a better place to live and work. Last year, over 1,600 volunteers participated in more than 80 community service projects in the Fort Wayne area. We were honored to be able to be a part of such a wonderful event.

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Pictured left to right - Meredity Yonker, Brandyn Fisher, David Lefever, Brooke Gardner and Bethany Deeds

On May 4th, Audit and Risk Manager, Meredith Yonker, along with six other IIA Indianapolis chapter members, spent the day at Hawthorne Elementary in Warren Township, Indiana, for Junior Achievement of Central Indiana's 2018 Financial Literacy Day. During this time, volunteers worked with Kindergarten through 4th grade students to equip them with life skills in financial literacy, work-readiness and entrepreneurship. Events like this help to bring the real world into the classroom and allow students the chance to gain team-building and leadership skills at an early age. Meredith spent her time at the school with a 1st grade class and was joined in the afternoon by CEO, David Lefever who helped teach the students about what it means to be an entrepreneur. 

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Pictured left to right - Meredith Yonker and David Lefever

Last week, several members of our Indianapolis team came together to be part of the thousands of volunteers each year that devote time to the Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity. The organization makes it possible for dozens of families to have affordable homeownership each year which has proven to improve mental health, decrease reliance on social services and improve academic achievement of children. In the picture to the right you can see the house our team worked on where they caulked, painted and nailed up trip as well as the porch roof. It was a wonderful day of giving back and working together to help make a difference for a deserving family.

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Pictured left to right - Joe Gates, Brooke Gardner, Bethany Deeds, Justin Walker, Meredith Yonker and Peter Clarke