South Bend Times

Two IU South Bend alumni honored in inaugural Indiana 250 list

Indiana Business Journal has released a list of noteworthy leaders throughout the state, and IU South Bend graduates Regina Emberton and Isaac Torres are among them.

The list, available at Indiana250.com, was compiled by IBJ executives, editors and newsroom staffs after a process that included reviewing nominations, researching Indiana organizations, and interviewing community leaders across the state.

“Our graduates regularly go on to have careers that have impactful reverberations statewide,” said Chancellor Susan Elrod. “It’s gratifying to see Regina Emberton and Isaac Torres recognized on the inaugural Indiana 250 list, and we expect to see plenty more of our IU South Bend grads receiving this prestigious honor in future years.”

In March of this year, Emberton took over as CEO of ChoiceLight Inc., a company that provides fiber-optic telecommunications infrastructure. Her inclusion on the list, however, has more to do with her work in her previous position as president and CEO of the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership, which she led from 2013 until early 2022.

The spirit behind the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership’s mission made Emberton a perfect fit for the list. IBJ Media’s CEO, Nate Feldman, made this clear in the Indiana 250 announcement, saying that the list is not merely an “honor roll,” but more specifically “a way to help Hoosiers in one part of the state learn about leaders and organizations in other areas of the state.”

Emberton’s side pursuits, especially her time serving on boards of directors of organizations such as the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, South Bend Transpo, Ancilla College, and the Boys & Girls Club, also made her a natural choice for the honor.

“I’m grateful for those experiences, because that’s how I became so well-connected,” Emberton said. “You’re generally ‘giving back’ when you serve on a board, but you’re also making those connections, and those can last for a long time, even when you’re no longer involved with the organization.”

Isaac Torres came from Mexico to IU South Bend in 1996 to work on an MBA. Promptly upon completing it, he founded InterCambio Express, an international money transfer service provider. He directly modeled his real-life business plan on the hypothetical plan he devised for a marketing management course.

“As a young, eager international student at IUSB, I never could have imagined how far my IU education would take me,” Torres said. “Now, I can honestly say that, reflecting on my professional trajectory, I would not be receiving state and even national recognitions without my time spent running through the IUSB corridors to get to class and the countless hours of working on creative and innovative projects at the South Bend campus. I say this because anytime I get asked what’s the key to my business success story, I always answer, ‘Education.’ For me, it all started with the master’s program at IUSB.”

Original source can be found here.