Thank You

I ain’t saying this is my final blog post.

But it is my last one as an employee of Elsevier Business Intelligence, this blog’s publisher. As of November 2, I’m relinquishing my operating role, taking a few steps back, and figuring out what’s next in my life. (I’ll still be around, consulting with Elsevier a few days a week, at least for the immediate future.)

Elsevier has been a great acquirer: in the 18 months since they bought Windhover, we've pretty successfully melded two very distinct editorial and marketing groups. I’ve liked running the combined pharmaceutical group; we've put together an extremely capable group of successors. This place has all the talent it needs.

And it's time to let them have their chance to run things while I figure out the next thing to do, taking some time off to let my subconscious health-care mind play about on the problem.

It's been a great ride. I’ve had the nearly unique opportunity to go to graduate school in the pharmaceutical industry by reporting on pretty much whatever I wanted to, without much worrying about how the folks reading it would react and while naively assuming that what I wrote would be of some value to at least some readers. It's paid the bills. And you can’t ask much more than to combine your avocation with your vocation.

For that extraordinary gift, I’ve got to thank many of you – customers, contacts, colleagues. I've bugged you for interviews for articles, for talks at our conferences, for business advice. And you’ve helped me far more than I should sensibly have hoped.

I’m humbled by your generosity.

Roger Longman