Thirteen years ago, I walked into the office of the NationalUnderwriter Co. and interviewed for a job with thegone-but-not-forgotten Ohio Underwriter. I'd been acommunity journalist for more than 20 years, but I was upfrontabout my lack of knowledge of the insurance industry.

You can imagine my relief when my future boss responded, “We'dbe a little worried about you if you did understand the insuranceindustry.”

Osmosis alone has increased my knowledge of insurance, but eventhough I've covered insurance and technology issues for thismagazine since its inception, I'm not an insurance IT professional.I'm a journalist, and I love doing what I do.

What I've been trained to do is seek out smart people, ask themquestions, and collect the responses in a way that entertains andinforms the people who read this magazine and click our Website.

I thought it might be interesting to know how many words I'vewritten for this magazine over the years, and the number I reachedis about one million. I could never have done that without the helpof all those smart people that work in and around the insurance ITworld. They've been gracious with their time and their knowledge.They've been willing to share what works for them and what hasfailed. They've educated me and allowed me to do my job.

And now my job has changed. I'm no longer just the guy whowrites the articles. After helping others run this magazine for 11years, I'm the one in charge–the one who picks the stories, createsthe editorial calendar, and all the tasks that go with thisposition. I'll still be writing articles, because I love that morethan anything else.

When there is a change of leadership such as we've undergone,the first thing people ask about is the prospect of changes.Considering that I've been here so long, I'm tempted to say therewon't be major changes.

Tech Decisions is no longer just a monthly magazine.Time doesn't move that slowly anymore. We are a 24/7 entity withour Web site and all that goes with it. I just spent the summerdoing eight podcasts with various insurance analysts. I have ablog now(find it at www.tech-decisions.com)–and some of youmay be reading these words there.

Shortly after my promotion, I took part in a vision meeting forTech Decisions. I came away excited and a little scared.Business magazines went through a long period of time where therewasn't much change. In the last five years, though, the roof hasliterally been blown off
the publishing industry in much the same way it's been blown offthe insurance industry.

What better place to be in today's changing world than editing amagazine and a Web site with Tech in its name. This is going to befun.