After an audit last year found what the Gov. Mike Braun administration deemed “excessive” travel spending and unreported potential conflicts of interest by the Indiana Economic Development Corp., the new-regime IEDC has approved new policies aimed at reeling its leaders in.
The IEDC board now has review and approval power over any reported conflicts of interest within the quasi-public agency under a resolution the board approved March 18. Under the new travel and events policies the board approved, all expenses must have direct ties to the economic development work either the IEDC or the Indiana Economic Development Foundation is doing, they must be “reasonable” and “necessary,” and no more approving taxpayer-funded expenses for family members.
This is also an indication that despite previously announcing intentions to “wind down” the foundation, the Braun administration is keeping it alive.
The new policies seemingly target previous behavior highlighted by the 2025 audit, which found that the foundation was buying international plane tickets worth $5,000 to $10,000, stays at high-end hotels like the Four Seasons, and was paying for travel expenses for family members of state officials. According to the audit, the foundation wracked up $167,000 in expenses related specifically to travel for three such family members, about 10% of which the foundation got reimbursed by the IEDC. In another example, about half of a $75,000 chartered flight to Saudi Arabia in 2024 was reimbursed by the IEDC.
“This is going to be the most transparent public navigation through economic development that we’ve ever seen,” Braun said at the IEDC’s quarterly meeting March 19, where the board unanimously approved these policies. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished as a board. Everything we do is going to be there for the public to see.”
Transparency at the IEDC was a calling card during Braun’s campaign for governor, at a time when the agency came under fire for its quiet way of going about the LEAP district, a major industrial park in Boone County. He had ordered an independent audit of the IEDC last April, shortly after signing an executive order requiring financial disclosures from the IEDF.
The new policy for the foundation doesn’t just say expenses for family members can’t be reimbursed by taxpayers; it explicitly prohibits the foundation from spending at all on family members, as well as personal expenses, cash gifts to individuals, expenses unrelated to Indiana economic development or any spending that would jeopardize their nonprofit status.
The policy also specifically requires documentation to for all its expenditures that includes the demonstrated business purpose, the amounts, the dates and locations, and who approved them. Of the international trips the 2025 audit examined, auditors found many of them didn’t have budgets, or there were significant deviations between budgeted and actual costs.
Covered IEDC expenses under this agency’s new policy must be related to governance, such as board meetings and internal planning sessions; staff training; travel expenses explicitly tied to these functions; or compliance and audit work. The policy also applies to expenses tied to federal or private grants that the IEDC administers.
In addition to requiring conflicts of interest be reported to the board, the March 18 resolution also makes changes to the authority IEDC officers have with respect to making grant and loan award decisions. The authority to approve such grant-making decisions without board interference will no longer apply to the Twenty-First Century Research & Technology Fund, known as the 21 Fund, which is the investment fund that Elevate Ventures, a venture capital firm and nonprofit, partnered with the IEDC to manage.
How Elevate Ventures was handling state money was the inquiry that partly inspired last year’s audit. Auditors found a dearth of communication between the IEDC and Elevate that made it difficult to determine whether taxpayer dollars were used as intended. Additionally, auditors identified 30 entities that received funding from the IEDC while an IEDC board member or employee should have disclosed their conflict of interest, but only five were disclosed.
On this topic, the audit overlapped with findings in an IndyStar investigation, which found a top IEDC executive was involved in awarding millions in grants to entities he or his business associates had ties to.
Contact state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X @kayla_dwyer17.
