-30- (Editor’s Note)

I’ve been privileged to cover banking and the larger business community as a reporter at the Business Journal for seven years. This will be my last edition as a full-time staffer. I’m fortunate, and humbled, to be starting a new career at Tyson Foods in March.

When my first editor, Jeffrey Wood, assigned me to the banking and finance beat after he hired me, neither of us could have imagined the tumultuous ride immediately ahead. I was shown to a desk, strapped in and turned loose.

What I knew about banking and business at the time wouldn’t’ve filled a 3 by 5 note card.

Within days, it seemed, Northwest Arkansas investors were peeling off hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, to open new banks or purchase footholds here or revving up with aggressive expansions from other markets. Northwest Arkansas was the land dripping of milk and honey. I found myself smack dab in the middle of an important unfolding economic story I wasn’t sure I could cover.

Not knowing what I didn’t know, someone soon suggested I visit with John Lewis, founder of The Bank of Fayetteville. In him I found a great source, an objective sounding board and a friend who patiently explained anything anytime. He was a man who later took time out from retirement to consult on obscure financial instruments and why one bank might look at a set of numbers one way, and another bank yet another way. Lewis was a man who was interested in making sure this reporter was armed with good information for the benefit of the region.

From Lewis I learned a level of selflessness and sense of community I’d never before seen demonstrated.

Another banker, a man I didn’t have the opportunity to meet in person, was the first in the industry to tell me I was doing a good job. William King Gladden, founder of Community First Bank of Harrison and an early partner in Signature Bank of Arkansas, died in a plane crash a short time after I tracked him down on the phone for a quote. I didn’t seek his praise; it was a benevolent gift.

From Gladden, I learned about the power of grace. He let me know I was serving his community and that the Business Journal was hitting its mark.

From still more bankers and lawyers, accountants, investment advisers, entrepreneurs and sources I cannot name, I learned about implicit trust and what it means to keep one’s word.

Writers are always interested in the complete story arch, and I’ve had the bittersweet opportunity to write about everything from those de novo banks of ’05 to a single sweeping failure, and all the in-between. That was an honor and it’s my hope we served the readers well during that time. I’ve had my personal story arch here. It’s time for a new book.

Rob Keys, a man I’ve come to consider a good friend, a gentleman and a helluva good writer, will be promoted to editor of the Business Journal immediately. I’m confident he will do an outstanding job of guiding this publication through the economic recovery and well into the next upward cycle. I’m grateful I can leave it in such competent hands.

I still believe Northwest Arkansas is the land of milk and honey for the state. One way or another, most of the banks and builders struggling today will right themselves, dust off their breeches and get back to it. That’s the spirit of this area. That’s the legacy left by our most famed entrepreneurs and the tenet many of you live by.

What I know about banking and business now will fill a 3 by 5 note card, but just.

It’s not the business knowledge that will serve me in the future, it’s what I learned from the avuncular likes of Lewis and Gladden and Wood and everyone I’ve come to know during my tenure here. I’ve been blessed and honored get to know many of you and I will take along the lessons you taught me.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn from you.