Heading into the 1980s, Eastern Washington and North Idaho-renamed the Inland Northwest-were still heavily dependent on natural resources for our economic health. Then the national and regional economies went into a nosedive. A generation of leaders s

In 1986, the Spokane economy was in the doldrums. The last two high-rise office buildings to be built downtown had just come on line five years earlier. The opening of the Seafirst (now Bank of America) and Farm Credit Banks (now Wells Fargo) buildings ha

Congratulations to the Journal of Business for 30 years of service to the Spokane business community! It's both an honor and a privilege to be asked to contribute to this special anniversary edition of a publication that is anticipated and relied upon b

I have been a subscriber to the Journal of Business since my early days with Inland Imaging. In 1986, I was 30 years old and had just completed my first year as CEO at Inland Imaging. Our new imaging center on South Cowley Street was struggling to stay op

I came to Spokane in the early 1980s, so I have seen firsthand how education has evolved in this community over the last 30 years. When I arrived here, I was in my late 20s and had no intention of staying very long. The plan was to stay here with friends

I will have been at the Journal of Business for 27 years as of this spring, yet sometimes I still feel like a latecomer, having missed its first three years of existence. Those were the truly formative years, when founders Norm Thorpe and Scott Crytzer,

And so it has now been 30 years since we launched the Journal. The thought makes me smile as I look across my office to a simple plaque on the wall celebrating my first five years at the paper, given to me a quarter century ago. I say that partly in apolo