In late March, I loaded up 15 years worth of back issues of D CEO and carted them home in my trusty blue wagon. (I went car-free a few years ago and live just a few blocks away from the office.) I spent the following month or so reading all 144 editions, for a feature on the magazine’s anniversary. (In good times, we published 12 issues a year. In more trying times, we produced eight.)
It was a fascinating look at how quickly things have changed; this was especially apparent in reports involving tech.
One of the first issues of the magazine, initially called Dallas CEO, featured a story on risks executives like Mark Cuban face when blogging (lol). The YouTube phenomenon was covered in May 2008, and a look at CEO mobile phone apps and who-follows-who on Twitter came a year later. In 2010, we published a story on pioneering moves in co-working and another on AT&T’s bet on broadband TV.
It was interesting to see how much D CEO has changed, too. Early editions included things like executive matchmaking ads and some commentary that was borderline sexist. And for far too long, the magazine was overwhelmingly male and White, providing a limited scope of the true North Texas business community.
In his first editor’s note, our beloved founder, the late, great Wick Allison, wrote about his decision to expand the platform of D Magazine, which he launched in 1974, with a business publication. Acknowledging a glut of local and national media competitors, he wrote of his mission to connect executives in Dallas—both to each other and to the city.
It’s gratifying to see how D CEO has thrived, evolving into a platform that includes news verticals, the Dallas 500 compendium, other special publications, awards programs, and events. I have to think that none of this was surprising to Wick. In the last line of that first editor’s note, he wrote: “We’re from Dallas. We found that nobody ever died from thinking big.”
So, take a look back at 15 years of business in Dallas-Fort Worth. The feature is online now.
