Private Matters.

• Author: MILLER, SUSAN H.
• Position: Indiana businesses - Brief Article

News from Indiana's largest private companies.

While many of Indiana's public companies have been in the headlines over the roller coaster ride in the stock markets, Indiana's largest privately held companies have been making news, too.

The state's largest private company has a new CEO and continues to grow via acquisition. Larry Glasscock joined Anthem Inc. about two years ago, but stepped up to take the company's top spot in October. L. Ben Lytle retired as CEO but remains Anthem's board chairman.

Indianapolis-based Anthem is now the country's sixth-largest health insurer in enrollment and is still growing. The acquisition of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine should be completed in July, on the heels of other recent Anthem acquisitions in New Hampshire, Colorado and Nevada.

Do It Best Corp., a member-owned hardware and building materials cooperative headquartered in Fort Wayne, wholesales to 4,400 stores across the country and in 40 foreign countries. This month, McCord's Do It Best Hardware in Fort Wayne will be the first to fully implement the company's new e-business strategy. The 14,000-square-foot store will feature an e-commerce kiosk for special orders and will be merchandised through a category-management system that uses the latest technology.

American United Life Insurance Co., headquartered in Indianapolis, plans to restructure into a mutual holding company. The company also is expanding into new markets. A Florida-based subsidiary, AUL International, recently opened a branch office in Buenos Aires. AUL is also expanding into the virtual world with the rollout of eBenefits, a group insurance product targeted to employers with 10 to 49 lives to insure within their companies.

In Fort Wayne, North...