Inspirational Business People
Bill Thorndike’s Legacy
William “Bill” Thorndike Jr., a prominent Southern Oregon business leader and dedicated community servant, passed away unexpectedly on February 15, 2025, at the age of 71. He suffered a heart attack while vacationing with his wife, Angela, at their family cabin on Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound. Born in…
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SOU Commencement: good weather and optimism
Sid DeBoer honored with honorary doctorate in humane letters June 18, 2024 SOU’s 98th Commencement Ceremony on June 15 centered squarely on those receiving about 1,300 bachelor’s and master’s degrees – and on the recipient of a rare, honorary doctorate in humane letters. Sid DeBoer, who guided Lithia Motors from a…
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Rentec Direct Honored With Three Stevie® Awards In 2024 American Business Awards®
Property management software company, Rentec Direct, placed in national business awards for the seventh consecutive year, earning three Stevie® Awards from the 2024 American Business Awards. GRANTS PASS, Ore., April 30, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Rentec Direct was named the winner of three Stevie® Awards in The 21st Annual American Business Awards®. The property management…
Read MoreRallly by Luke Vella – Meeting Polls made simple.
I used to use Doodle with a group of random folks from different organizations to herd cats and try to find a time that we can all meet. It’s a simple program. You Create the Meeting Poll and give it some dates and times you are available. Then you email…
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Southern Oregon University President Rick Bailey celebrates 2 years at the helm
By Jim Teece JimTeece.com I got a “Happy New Years” card from the President of Southern Oregon University, Rick Bailey, this year and proudly held it above my head and danced around the room showing it to Dena and the dogs. With the dance moves I was making you would…
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My thoughts from the Global RedwoodJS Conference held in Grants Pass
I attended the RedwoodJS conference in Grants Pass last month. RedwoodJS is a relatively new OpenSource JavaScript full stack platform formed and run in Bay Area Silicon Valley roots. RedwoodJS is the latest open source project of Tom Preston-Werner, the Founder and former CEO of GitHub. So it’s a big…
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SOU alumnus and Foundation Board member inducted into inventors’ academy
Daniel A. Henderson, a 1984 graduate of Southern Oregon University and emeritus member of the SOU Foundation Board of Trustees, is among 169 innovators worldwide who have been inducted in this year’s class of fellows in the National Academy of Inventors. Henderson is best known for his patented invention of wireless picture and…
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Community Building in Coworking
Driving through the downtown areas of cities such as Denver, Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles, it seems like coworking spaces are popping up everywhere you look. There’s a wide range of coworking spaces in major cities, some of them occupying newly renovated industrial buildings while other coworking spaces are located…
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People’s Bank Co-Founder Ken Trautman retires
I have written about Ken and the bank he co-founded (People’s Bank) many times over the years. I met Ken while we both served on the Jackson County fair board. One of my companies (Project A) banked with People’s Bank because it is a community bank and the manager of…
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Anyone can be successful, Just ask Nathan Miller
I first met Nathan Miller, Founder, President of Rentec Direct (rentecdirect.com), a Grants Pass based Software as a Service(SAAS) company in the landlord/property manager space, when he was the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) for a company in Grants Pass that was a SAAS for Internet Service providers, VISP. I was…
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Taking solar to new heights
Interview with Jeff Sharpe, Life-long Entrepreneur and Community Advocate, Founder and CEO of Stracker Solar Jeff Sharpe is the Founder and CEO of Stracker Solar, an Ashland-based solar manufacturer and installer firm. He has been a professional engineer and the founder/owner of various successful businesses for the past 35 years.…
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Jim Wright was born in Ashland, ran LTM (now Knife River), served on several local non-profit boards and is retiring off The People’s Bank Board after 19 years.
When the zoom interview with Jim Wright started he asked me the first question, which is unusual since I’m the one interviewing him. “I have a question for you. What do you see?” That question took me aback a little. I wasn’t prepared for it. I stared at my screen…
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