Taking care of business.

• Position: Up Front

For the first time in 14 years, BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA has a new publisher, only the fourth in the magazine's 22-year history. You might say it's a job he has prepared for his whole life.

My son, Ben, grew up in the newspaper business, as my career took us across North Carolina and up and down the East Coast, from New York to Miami. While still in college, he went to work for The News & Observer. In 10 years with the Raleigh paper, he worked in circulation, marketing and ad sales. He joined the BNC staff in late 1999 as Triangle account manager and quickly became our top producer.

Two years later, when our general manager was killed in a plane crash, fate flung him into a job he never sought, one he mastered by doing. For many months now, he has performed the publisher's role. Now, at 33, he has the title to go with it. His running the business side of the magazine allows me to concentrate on the editorial, which has always been my first love.

"My job," he says, "is to make sure the business side of our company measures up to the editorial. This is one of the best-written, best-reported publications in the Southeast and one of the very best regional business magazines in the country. I want to make sure the business and political leaders in this state know that.

"For many years, we had a philosophy of 'publish it and they will come.' Now it's time to take it to the next level. We need to make a clear distinction between us and publications that pander to business. Our job is to tell the truth. People read BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA because it's the most entertaining, informative and valuable resource for business news in the state."

All I can say is, as an editor, that's the kind of...