Welcome to the 35th anniversary of The Ticker’s business section. That’s right — it took 57 years for a newspaper that serves a college mostly known for its business school to launch a section dedicated to business news.

Rarely has a single section been celebrated aside from the day it entered circulation. But this year could not be a more perfect one to honor business as this first issue of this anniversary year is also The Ticker’s first winter issue, making a mark on the newspaper’s history.

The “Editor’s Discernment” column has its history, too. It was originated by Emmanuel Onyenyili, the longest-running business editor from October 2007 to May 2009. Under incredible circumstances, it is being revived for a third time by me, who served as the second longest-running business editor from December 2021 to May 2023.

Over 35 years, 37 business editors have been named on The Ticker’s masthead and have helmed the section’s direction, and a countless number of Baruch College students have contributed more than 1,000 articles.

For those who have read the section over the past two years, it may also be hard to believe that Business was one of the most underperforming sections in terms of writers and content. 

During The Ticker’s annual dinner on May 8, 2023, former Managing Editor Victoria Merlino told me she was surprised how the section has consistently published about 10 articles and spanned four print pages. That was the day I started editing my final issue, which published 18 articles over eight pages.

Historically, business editors have struggled to make the section reach two pages, she said. I’ve also seen sticky notes from previous business editors who wrote their goal for the academic year was to make the section publish enough articles to span more than one page.

There have also been periods of time in which Business dropped out of circulation because of lack of writing interest. But interest in writing and the need for business news has always rebounded, which is a testament to the section’s resilience.

The business section was first published as the “Business Page” on Jan. 30, 1989. John Tse served as the founding business editor and authored the inaugural piece about employee benefits. But the page was short-lived, ending its initial run at the end of the spring 1989 semester.

Edward Asante revived the section as “Economy and Business” for the issue published on Sept. 19, 1990. The highlight of his run is a profile featuring Baruch professor Harry Markowitz, who had won the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science.

Marina Krivyakina became the section’s first female business editor, but her two-month run during the fall 1991 semester would be the last time the section would be published until the fall 1994 semester.

John Camacho spearheaded the “Business and the Economy” section during the 1994-1995 academic year and was succeeded by five business editors through 1999. One notable editor among the bunch is Dov Gertzulin, who is now managing principal at DC Capital Management and a trustee of the Baruch College Fund.

During the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, the section rebranded into the “Business and Technology” section on Nov. 10, 1999, under Graceann Hall. She would go on to become The Ticker’s first and only executive editor to date during the 2000-2001 academic year.

This version of the business section would be managed under five more editors through three years. The more infamous one of the bunch would be Martin Shkreli, who The Ticker has written about over the past 10 years regarding his business affairs and time in prison. He ran the section through three issues from February 2002 to March 2002, notably writing about the lessons learned at a panel revisiting the Enron Corp. scandal.

But the section dropped out of circulation again in September 2002 with Sulexan Chery as its last editor. It wouldn’t be until another four years that Business rebounded, with this third revival still running to this date.

Glenn Geis spearheaded the section’s return to The Ticker for its issue on Sept. 11, 2006, and Yury Monakov would join him a month later. Both editors would help The Ticker celebrate its 75th anniversary.

Also celebrating the newspaper’s milestone year was Onyenyili, who was the advertising manager before being tapped to succeed Geis and Monakov. His two-year tenure was marked by the Global Financial Crisis. The section was in a golden era, characterized by in-depth financial markets reporting, industry-specific correspondents and Q&A pieces.

Since Onyenyili’s run, 18 more editors have left their mark on the section.

Among these editors, Luis Sued, who succeed Onyenyili for the 2009-2010 academic year, received an invitation to the 2010 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. annual shareholder meeting in Nebraska after writing a letter to CEO Warren Buffett. After traveling to the event with a writer, Sued wrote an article about lessons from Buffett and Charlie Munger, vice chair at the company, for his last issue before graduating.

Anthony Esposito became the second-longest running business editor with his tenure from December 2013 to May 2015, which saw a healthy mix of on-campus event coverage, corporate and economy news.

The shortest tenure would belong to Vicki Savvides, who managed the section for the 2016 summer issue. She briefly served as the associate editor of the news section before dedicating her time to the Macaulay Messenger, where she served as editor-in-chief. Although her run was short, Savvides has been the only business editor to graduate as valedictorian.

Noah Fleischman, who managed the section from May 2018 to May 2019, would become the first to start a chain of senior staff writers in their freshmen year to become business editors in their sophomore year, then copy chiefs in their junior year.

Fleischman would become the first business editor to move up to the editor-in-chief role. The two business editors who follow him immediately — Ayse Kelce, from May 2019 to May 2020, and Farah Javed, from May 2020 to May 2021 — would become managing editors in their respective senior years.

Kelce, who had trained me as a copy editor over summer 2021, dealt with the section when the COVID-19 pandemic forced production to shift online only. Javed and successor Thomas Ghita, who was also a writer for the “Market Update” column, produced the section completely on the web.

After Ghita departed to transfer schools, I took over the section, overseeing it as The Ticker resumed print production. Along with The Ticker resuming in-person operations, events also returned in person, affording writers the physical experience of covering events and meeting speakers.

When I began in December, the first new writer I added to the section’s email list was Judah Duke, who would become a copy editor frequently assigned to the section, later my successor. I could not be more proud to see how my successor has run the section, with more small-business profiles and personal finance pieces.

Alongside each editor who has graced Business is a team of ambitious writers, who have made the most that they can with the section.

I have always believed that the writers know better than the editor what it is that business students want to know, given that I was a journalism student, and a lot of the section’s writers tend to study a business-related discipline. But the business editor does step in with editorial judgment.

Business continues to touch a wide range of topics, from the business of sports to the business of music, and from legislation on related matters to news relating to the companies that students follow — such as the “Big Four” accounting firms. I am excited to see what the section will produce in the months to come.

Those who have been involved in the business section’s production may join the section’s LinkedIn  group and keep in touch with affiliates past and present.