Journal of Business Publisher Greg D. Bever will retire Jan. 20, after a 43-year career in the newspaper industry.

Paul Read, who has been with the Journal since its inception 25 years ago and currently serves as its operations manager, will become the newspaper's publisher upon Bever's departure.

"The Journal is in good hands and is well-positioned for the future," Bever says.

Bever, 62, has worked since 1997 as the Journal's publisher. He accepted that position after having served as operations and advertising manager of The Spokesman-Review's Spokane Valley office for six years.

He started his newspaper career when he joined Cowles Publishing Co. as district manager in The Spokesman-Review's circulation department in 1968. He earned promotions to city zone manager and circulation sales manager before joining the advertising department in 1988.

W. Stacey Cowles, chairman of Northwest Business Press Inc., a subsidiary of Cowles Co. that owns the Journal, says, "Greg has been an energetic and creative leader in all he's done at Cowles Co. and for the community at large, and we are all going to miss him."

Bever, however, will continue to serve as a board member of Northwest Business Press.

In the community, Bever is past board chairman of Greater Spokane Incorporated and currently is chairman of the Forward Fairchild committee. He also serves on the board of the Community Colleges of Spokane and has played key roles in Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau (now Visit Spokane), the Spokane Regional Sports Commission, the Spokane Valley Chamber of Com-merce, and others.

Read, 50, started work at the Journal of Business as assistant editor when it was founded in 1986 and served in that capacity until accepting the operations manager position earlier this year.

"It has been an honor to work alongside such a talented team at the Journal for all these years, and now it will be a privilege to lead a paper I love into the future," Read says.

Read is active in the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts, serving as chairman of its Chinook District. He also is ruling elder of Hamblen Presbyterian Church and past chairman of both the Children's Home Society Northeast Region and the Society of Professionals Journalists, Inland Northwest chapter.