Idaho Business Review IBR

Eight years ago when Barry Waggener assumed top management of Farmers Insurance Group’s Pocatello regional office, its employees totaled 160. Employment there now stands at 275 as its responsibilities have expanded, making it a major specialized servicing center for the ...

With passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the fact parts of the bill are set to kick in within the next couple of years, businesses and individuals are feeling a sense of uncertainty about ...

A Canadian company with an intriguing name is working to build franchises in the U.S., and Sarah Artis of Boise, in conjunction with Air Van, opened a branch of the firm called Frogbox in the Treasure Valley on July 19. ...

Thanks to employee inventiveness, Inovus Solar has a continued bright future in the lighting industry. The Boise-based company, which launched in 2007, makes and sells on-grid and off-grid solar light poles. While Inovus did not originate the solar light pole ...

In the 1967 movie The Graduate, the one word of business advice confidentially imparted to young Benjamin Braddock – a role played by Dustin Hoffman – touted a commodity: plastics. Today, it looks like the best way to generally advise ...

To get his foot in the door, Kevin Van Hoesen volunteered to work at a firm for nothing. In just three weeks, the company recognized his worth and put him on the payroll. Now, Van Hoesen performs payroll and other ...

Brice Sloan claims his family has a very unsuccessful background in business. Many years ago, his grandparents invested in something called the “Gyrocopter,” a concept that never really got off the ground. “Business had a bad name from this, a ...

If you’d asked Lee Rice 20 years ago about the future of family farming, he’d probably have warned you against quitting your day job. In truth, both Lee and his father Gilbert retired from vocations as professional plumbers to pursue ...

One thing you can say about Daniel Brockett, he’s not risk-averse. Brockett departed his steady job at AK Drilling in March and established his own business in Boise in June. “I just left and jumped off a cliff,” he said. ...

Owner and general manager of the Owyhee Plaza Hotel John May wants to return the downtown Boise landmark to its past glory. “We’d like to see that occur, to bring it back to the kind of property it was when ...