I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly,
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye,
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change,
and breakaway...

Kelly Clarkson’s hit song “Breakaway” has been playing in my head the last few weeks, while I’ve struggled to sum up what has been a heck of a 13-year run at the Westchester County Business Journal, the last seven as editor-in-chief.

This week I begin what is both a very exciting and very challenging job, launching a new newsletter for GenomeWeb L.L.C., a growing Manhattan publisher of biotech newsletters and magazines. From time to time I’ll be traveling ‘round the country, catching the industry’s major conferences and some other events.

Over the past few weeks, as news of my leaving has spread, many of you have taken the time to call or e-mail me with your warmest wishes. I’ve heard so many kind words from readers and colleagues – especially among commercial real estate pros who kept up with D&D and shared some keen insights into leasing and life. I thank you for them all.

But like Clarkson in Breakaway, I won’t forget where I came from either. There aren’t enough pages in this issue, or 10 others, to thank everyone who has helped me over the years, whether just to return a call before deadline, or last year to offer some much-appreciated comfort after my father and mother died within three months of each other.

But I have some exceptions. I’ll miss everybody at the Business Journal, from publisher DeeDelBello and executive editor Caryn McBride on down. I’ll especially miss working in the same place with research coordinator Karen Philippidis, my wife and forever friend. I can’t thank her enough for putting up with more of my early morning breakfasts, late night meetings and odd hours than I could count.

Thirteen years ago Dee, Caryn, and then-editor Mills Korte hired me to cover news for sister newspaper Fairfield County Business Journal. I had the right answer when Mills asked me how to utter a certain four-letter word in Greek. Only nine days into my tenure, I was thrust into covering Westchester too. By summer ’94 I settled in Westchester, where I have remained till now.

Since then, it was my privilege and pleasure to learn what was happening in the local business scene – before the rest of the world is onto it, whenever possible – and write about it in the pages of this newspaper.

And what changes we’ve seen. When I joined the Business Journal we typed stories on black-and-white, box-shaped Macintosh computers, only one of which had an Internet connection. It got the most use from two reporters who trolled the Web for dates.

Back in 1994, you could still buy a Westchester house for less than a half-million dollars. The storefronts were pockmarked with “For Rent” signs in downtown White Plains, where office vacancy rates were 20 percent countywide, 30 percent-plus. Cable news about Westchester was limited to a single half-hour a week. Mario Cuomo was governor. Nancy Bordier was struggling to make Westchester a high-tech mecca. Louis Cappelli wasn’t building much beyond Mount Pleasant. And Donald Trump’s interest in Westchester was limited to David’s Island off the New Rochelle coast.

I still remember Trump’s first big Westchester appearance, a photo-op at New Rochelle City Hall. While Penny Crone of Channel 5 and Doug Johnson of Channel 7 peppered The Donald with questions about his project, the scene-stealer that day was then-Mayor Tim Idoni’s mother, who spontaneously came up to the podium, then kissed the dapper developer while the cameras rolled. Of course that was before he met Melania.

Nowadays Trump’s Westchester appearances are meticulously planned and executed by the Thompson & Bender PR troupe. Another PR pro, Carolyn Mandelker, persuaded Martha Stewart to chat with me at Caramoor one night two years ago. I didn’t break too much news that evening, but I was thankful for securing a few minutes of her time with Carolyn’s help.

I’m also glad that some things remained same as they ever were. Like this newspaper’s commitment to the issues affecting smaller businesses, the ones you won’t often see on CNBC or other national business media. Not to mention a profile or two of an up-and-comer, before they hit it big (or, sometimes, go flat broke).

At the Business Journal, I’ve enjoyed watching Bill Mooney revive the Westchester County Association, and before that Marsha Gordon breathing new life into the Business Council of Westchester. I still say both groups should merge someday, though I say when or if that would ever happen.

I’ve also had the fun of being interviewed by other media – from The New York Times, RNN and WCBS-TV, to News 12 Westchester, and WVOX-AM. For ‘VOX, I was a regular guest on the morning show every Friday at 6:20 in the morning for four years. The fun ended last December, when my benign inquisitor and host Larry Goldstein left for a county Board of Legislators job. I miss hearing Larry on the radio.

I also miss so many fine people I came to know over the years who have left us. Among them:

Noreen Preston, the county’s superb economist. Steve Schiff, the energetic president of Judicial Title. And Bill Grollman, who embraced video and online education before half the business community here knew what they were.

Another notable no longer with us is Sam Albert, the IBM retiree who developed a new career explaining the basics of computers through one-minute “CompuTips” heard on 1010 WINS. It was actually a throwback to his first career as a radio announcer.

Some time in 2000, Sam and I talked about me someday joining him in writing CompuTips. Unfortunately, he contracted cancer, and passed away soon after. But he left me, and everyone he ever touched, some very wise words we’d all do well to remember:

“It’s never too late to be the person you were always meant to be.”

Again, thanks for your time. May our paths cross again soon.

WANNA STAY IN TOUCH: Just e-mail me at alexphilippidis@hotmail.com

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