Loretta Miles retires from NPE

Well, they say all good things must come to an end, and this good thing just has. Loretta Miles retired last month from Cygnus Business Media and I’m sure going to miss working with her. Loretta and I go way back, to 1990 when the magazine and National Pavement Expo were acquired from Bob Woltering by The Aberdeen Group. We worked together in this industry since then -- Loretta as primary salesperson for Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction and NPE before becoming manager and primary salesperson on NPE and NPE West, and me as editor and conference coordinator for the shows. Technically I worked "for" Loretta, but we were really the most successful team I've ever been involved in. Ours was one of those working relationships that was a great one. We each had a goal of developing the magazine and the trade shows for our company -- first Aberdeen and now Cygnus -- because just like contractors and manufacturers we're in the money-making business. But what made us work so effectively is we both figured the best way to do that was to try to help the paving & pavement maintenance industry develop and grow. We believed that as individual businesses improve and become more profitable, the better and stronger the industry itself becomes and the more the industry can grow -- and the more successful we can be for our company. It's a real "rising tide lifts all boats" kind of philosophy and as I point out it my August Editorial in Pavement our efforts have resulted in "a trade magazine and two trade shows recognized for their unbiased and straightforward efforts to reflect, develop, and grow the paving and pavement maintenance industry." Loretta can certainly can be proud of that and I'm sure we can continue the path she helped mark out during her almost 20 years in the industry. I’ll still be talking with Loretta regularly, letting her know what’s going on in the industry, and she’ll be telling me about her long and straight tee shots and the putts she holed from just off the edge of the green, reminding me I could finish a round of golf a little quicker if I didn’t zig-zag down the fairway. I know she’d enjoy keeping up with her friends in the industry so if you want to drop her a note you can reach her at [email protected].
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