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Legendary entrepreneur Steve Jobs once noted, "people say you have to have a lot of passion for what you're doing and it's totally true. And the reason is because it's so hard that if you don't, any rational person would give up. It's really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time" (Interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, 2007).
To anyone who has closely observed Dr. Lynne Doti over the years, one thing is glaringly obvious: she has an amazing and enduring passion for her work. Less obvious is the breadth of what Lynne Doti actually does, and indeed, if she defines it as "work." Many familiar with her fine scholarship and teaching may be unfamiliar with Doti's numerous other contributions, such as her shepherding the growth of the Economic and Business History Society (EBHS). In her successful endeavor to help the EBHS develop into a major, well-respected academic organization, Lynne Doti has been a wise entrepreneur, exerting leadership when necessary, teaching others to take the reins, and with ceaseless energy, tackling new projects, like editing the Society's peer-reviewed journal Essays in Economic and Business History (EEBH). In everything Doti does, she leaves a legacy of strength, expansion, and stability. She has helped immeasurably to grow not just the EBHS, but also the field of business and economic history. Undoubtedly, she would make a remarkable CEO of a start-up company, as she sees enormous potential in fledgling endeavors and provides concrete paths forward to achieve those ambitious visions. A lover of the history of the American West (and a major contributor to our understanding of it), Doti has the can-do spirit of the many pioneers who ventured into uncharted territories.
For Lynne Doti, one of those new territories she began exploring years ago was the EBHS. In 1975, the EBHS debuted as a small professional organization dedicated to interdisciplinary scholarship in the evolving fields of business history and economic history. At the time of EBHS' founding, Doti was a bright young scholar who was just three years away from obtaining her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Riverside. Quickly becoming one of the foremost experts in the world on banking in the American West, Doti...