Idaho is growing, employees are having trouble finding child care and people are looking for new ways to have their own business. The result is that, a number of franchise businesses in child care and preschool education are spreading across ...
Read More »A word with Carol Barkes on conflict mediation 
Carol Barkes has an MBA in conflict management and negotiation and is currently pursuing a PhD in peak performance psychology with an emphasis in neuroscience and conflict management. Barkes runs a private practice/consulting business while also serving as the mediation ...
Read More »A word with Tiam Rastegar, executive director of Trailhead 
A graduate of Boise State University where he studied international business and political science, Tiam Rastegar worked in customer-facing leadership roles at PKG and Vacasa before becoming the executive director of Trailhead in 2018. Trailhead, launched in 2015, is a nonprofit intended ...
Read More »A word with Ron Pisaneschi of Idaho Public Television 
You may not know Ron Pisaneschi, but chances are, you’d recognize his voice. On May 21, Idaho Public Television announced that its general manager, Ron Pisaneschi, was retiring after more than 35 years at the station, the last eight of ...
Read More »A word on hiring and retaining talent with Verified First 
It’s not news to anyone that hiring is becoming increasingly difficult in Idaho. With one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, companies are looking for ways to attract and retain employees in Idaho, including importing them from other ...
Read More »A word with Gov. Brad Little on transportation funding 
Improving Idaho’s transportation system has long been one of Gov. Brad Little‘s goals, but he has held off on proposing specific programs until this year, after a study by Boise State University’s Idaho Policy Institute was completed last year. That ...
Read More »A word with Norman Semanko of Parsons Behle & Latimer 
Earlier this year, Norman M. Semanko was appointed as an advisory council member for the nonprofit law organization, Mountain States Legal Foundation. Semanko is Parsons Behle & Latimer‘s water law practice group expert in the Pacific Northwest region. He has more than ...
Read More »A word with Gina Bessire of Zions Bank’s Business Resource Center 
Zions Bank’s Business Resource Center in Boise, which provides classes, one-on-one business counseling and guest speakers to existing and prospective small business owners, was started in 2013 by Karen Appelgren and Sheila Spangler, who had helped start a previous incarnation ...
Read More »A word with Sarah Benken of the KNOW Women 
Being a working woman in Idaho isn’t easy. The state ranks among the lowest in the country for the ratio of women’s earnings to men’s, at 74.2%. What’s worse is that the ratio is getting worse, not better; after reaching ...
Read More »A word with Ada County Commissioner Rod Beck 
Rod Beck was elected in November 2020 to the Ada County Commissioners, after stints as an Idaho legislator, serving as Senate majority leader, and as a Republican party official. With the election of Ryan Davidson as well, that led to ...
Read More »