Wood: BizWest announces staff hirings, promotions

Any business owner knows the challenges involved in hiring and retaining a talented workforce these days, but BizWest is fortunate to have made some excellent staff hires and promotions in recent weeks.

First the promotions:

Lucas High has been named associate editor for BizWest, adding new editing duties to his current reporter role.

He joined BizWest as a reporter in September 2018 after working for the Boulder Daily Camera and Longmont Times-Call. Prior to that, he had worked for several other news organizations, including the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

Lucas has done a fantastic job for BizWest, covering real estate, cannabis, natural & organic products, the outdoor industry, banking and many other sectors. He will continue with those beats, but now will assume various editing duties, including working with Breaking Ground reporter Tommy Wood on further developing our Breaking Ground website, which features new development projects. He will also fill in with editing and assigning of stories, along with other duties.

Lucas’ promotion to this new position illustrates two of his outstanding traits: the willingness to tackle any task, and the eagerness to secure new knowledge and responsibilities.

Sara Duffert has been promoted to senior account executive. She joined BizWest in August 2018 and has become a leader not only within the sales department but also for the entire staff.

Her account territories include real estate, agriculture, banking and finance, professional services, and water. While she’s extremely effective in sales — working diligently to craft the best marketing plans to fulfill clients’ needs — she also develops new ideas, embraces new technologies and provides clear thinking in assessing existing or potential initiatives. (She’s not afraid to tell us when we’re about to make a dumb move.)

She also embraces providing additional training for new hires and always takes on any task necessary to get a job done.

Now the hires:

Katherine Stahla joined BizWest as a reporter in January, after recently graduating from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism. While at UNC, Katherine served as editor-in-chief of the Mirror student newspaper, as well as anchor of the UNC Bear News.

She covers Northern Colorado real estate, agribusiness, energy, health care and several other beats, and also brings photography and video expertise. Katherine has great instinct and is quickly grasping the ins and outs of business coverage.

Drew Giffin has joined BizWest’s advertising team as major accounts executive and vice president of digital sales. He has a long history in marketing and sales, including running his own boutique marketing agency, working in marketing roles with several credit unions and other industries, and in sales for the Coloradoan newspaper.

His territories include health care, commercial construction, staffing agencies and sustainable energy.

He joins a sales team that also includes Briar Erskine, who has a variety of industries, mainly concentrated in the Boulder Valley. Briar joined BizWest in May 2021 after working first as an advertising consultant and then an advertising sales manager for Rocky Mountain Student Media Corp. He is a 2021 graduate of Colorado State University, with a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies.

Briar has brought enthusiasm, energy and fresh ideas to the sales and marketing side of BizWest’s operation.

These are just a few of the talented members of the BizWest team, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with them for our readers and customers.

Christopher Wood can be reached at 303-630-1942 or cwood@bizwest.com.

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