To go boldly.

• Position: UP FRONT

As this is written on deadline, early one morning 13 days before Christmas, the Three Kings from Detroit have been told there is no room for them at the inn. When the market opens in a few hours, the slaughter of the innocents will begin anew. These are tumultuous times in a season once reserved for reflection on what the old year has brought and the new one will bring. As we grieve for Wachovia, still wondering what price must be paid for its passing, we learn that the toll in jobs at Bank of America will be heavy, too. Things keep surfacing, ripples from the finance bubble's bursting becoming waves that batter economies both local and global.

Among such uncertainty, it's human nature to want to know whom to blame, whom to hold accountable. We want to put a face on our fears, as well as our hopes. This is especially true of a publication such as ours, which strives to chronicle commerce by telling the stories of those whose actions shape it. In out 25th anniversary issue in 2006, we profiled the two dozen people our editorial staff thought had the most impact on the Tar Heel economy during the past quarter century. Ken Thompson was one, for fixing First Union. If we were picking that list again, he'd still be on it, but for a different reason. It's why he's our Mover and Shaker of the Year.

Here's what the magazine said back then:

Ken Thompson is that rarest of corporate chief who will admit his company has made mistakes, then move boldly to fix them. By the end of the '90s, Charlotte-based First Union was the nation's...