About

A family man, Doug and his wife Ronda have been married for 35 years. Together they have two children, Leslie and Kevin, one grandson and one step-grandson.

Doug’s hobbies include golf and fishing – primarily fishing. He says, “When it comes to fishing, there are two types of people, there are fishermen and there are folks that like to fish.” Doug just likes to fish! And most say the same is true with his golf game!

From Doug Eckerty: 

I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1954. My dad was employed at that time by A&P Supermarkets as a produce clerk and my mom was a professional hair dresser. After I was born, she stopped working, and a few years later came my little brother, Jim. Mom continued to stay home and raise her boys while dad worked in the grocery business.

When I was about 4 years old, my dad changed jobs and went to work for the new “upstart” Marsh Supermarkets. Marsh expanded quickly; with expansion were promotions for my dad. He became a New Store Opening Specialist and opened about a dozen new supermarkets for Marsh in four years. When I was 8 years old, dad was transferred to New Castle, Indiana as the Store Manager for the new store. Two years later he was promoted to Zone Supervisor, supervising 15 stores. Shortly after, he became the second Operations Manager for Marsh’s new division “Village Pantry”. After that dad became the Executive Vice President and Director of Operations for the entire Marsh Company. I was always proud of my dad. The best thing I think he ever did, while at Marsh Company, was push the Marsh Upper Management and Board of Directors to remove all Playboy and Hustler magazines from the stores. He thought they were inappropriate and offensive to female customers and children. It took him about two years to get that done, but he finally prevailed.

Learning a good work ethic was always a big deal in our house. My brother, Jim and I were expected to do lots of things to help out around the house. When I was 13 my dad told me that a motel down on Highway 3 had a sign outside advertising for a Grounds Keeper and that I should apply for the job. When I asked him how I was suppose to get there to fill out an application he said, “Ride your bike, it’s only 4 miles.” So I went and applied for the job and got the job. I rode my bike to work every day. My job was to mow the grounds, trim the bushes, and clean the pool. My next job was at a local golf course, I had to get there before daylight and turn off the sprinklers that watered the greens, then return around dark and turn them back on. The next year they added me to the Greens Keeper Crew where I mowed greens. It was a great job. I got paid and got to play unlimited golf all summer, best job ever.

I was very fortunate growing up with a dad who was very business savvy. Dad’s brother Reece was a president of a bank in Clarksville, Indiana. My dad and his brother spent a lot of time together and were always talking about business, budgets, cash flow, and how to effectively manage and deploy cash and assets. I really enjoyed listening to them, but really had no idea what they were talking about, but I knew from listening to them that I wanted to be in business someday. Later when I was at Ball State studying business and finance I was always excited whenever I knew my Uncle Reece was going to be at Mom and Dad’s house, because I knew I could talk endlessly to them about what I had learned at college. The three of us would talk all day and into the evening about business, I loved it!

After graduating from high school in spring of 1973, I started Ball State in fall of that same year. I really wanted to tear into business studies, and was frustrated wading through the endless freshman and sophomore mandatory classes that had nothing whatsoever to do with business. After my sophomore year I married Ronda Thompson from Desoto, Indiana. We both worked and went to school. We had absolutely nothing in terms of money, had a couple of old cars, it was one of the best times of my life. I graduated from Ball State in 1977 with a degree in Business. I had a couple of different jobs from 1977 to 1981 and then in the fall of 1981 I landed a job with State Farm Insurance in Muncie, Indiana. We were also expecting our first child.

About 1987 a friend of mine from high school and college decided to try our hand at Real Estate investing. We liked it and became very good. The real estate company grew to be much larger than anything we had ever envisioned, and eventually became large enough that I decided to do that full time and retired from State Farm in 2001. A few years later, I sold off part of the company and realigned some assets and retired again, wanting to devote my time and energy to church and charitable activities as an unpaid volunteer.

In 2007 the great property tax fiasco hit Indiana like a spring tornado causing major problems for our senior citizens and business owners. I understood very quickly the severity of the problem and set off to the state house in Indianapolis, Indiana to find some answers. To make a long story short I was never satisfied with the answers I got from different legislators. I was especially displeased with our legislators from Delaware County and their lack of concern for the problems being caused to our citizens by the explosion of property taxes. Perhaps more troubling to me was the discovery that in the Indiana House of Representatives and Senate there are so few people with any practical business background and experience. The problems facing Indiana right now cry out for leadership that has sound business background, budget experience, and a keen awareness of how to manage and effectively deploy scarce resources. We need leaders at the State House who know how to exercise fiscal discipline, prioritize spending, and cut out wasteful spending. I believe that my background and experience gives me the tools to do this job and that is why I wish to serve the people of State Senate District 26 in the Indiana Senate.