Message from the Editor: Passing the Baton

Watching the calendar phase from one year to the next has us all thinking about change. Karen Gantzer, senior editor and associate publisher of Heat Treat Today, gives insight to a change happening within the Heat Treat Today team. The team is thankful for the work of both Karen Gantzer and Bethany Leone and look forward to the new year and their new roles!

This article first appeared in Heat Treat Today's December 2022 Medical and Energy print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Transitions. How appropriate as we look at 2023 approaching without hesitation. We have no choice but to welcome this new year, preferably with joy and perhaps a child like anticipation of the new adventures to come.

One of the transitions taking place now, albeit an intentionally slow and steady one, is the move of all the print responsibilities at Heat Treat Today from my plate to Bethany Leone’s as she continues to assume the managing editor role.

I’ve been leading the editorial team for the past several years as we’ve expanded to eight annual print magazines. I have loved helping to produce them each quarter, and honestly, it’s been difficult passing the baton of this responsibility. Not because I don’t think Bethany can do it — I know she will do a phenomenal job in leading the team. I’m seeing it now and am so stoked!

No, it’s because I kind of see the magazine as my “baby.” It’s hard to give it up! Can anyone relate? When you work on a project and see it grow, how exciting and rewarding. To build our team and watch them pivot when necessary and contribute creative and thoughtful ideas to help better serve has truly been energizing and exciting. I think it’s because I love experiencing the process and seeing that magazine in print.

However, the time has come for Bethany to receive the complete baton hand off. (If you ever ran on a relay team and practiced those hand offs, do you remember running with your hand outstretched behind you and adjusting your speed so that you could achieve the perfect transition of the baton from your teammate’s hand to yours without dropping the baton?!) Bethany has her hand in perfect position to receive the baton and I’m looking forward to passing it to her smoothly and completely so that she can run with confidence and vigor.

I’m not leaving Heat Treat Today, just transitioning into new responsibilities — that of associate publisher and senior editor. I’ll still be able to be part of the print publication from 20,000 feet, just not up close and personal (for which Bethany will be incredibly thankful)! I’m looking forward to working on special projects and learning other facets of the publishing world.

So, in February 2023’s Air and Atmosphere Heat Treat magazine, you’ll see Bethany’s picture on this page and enjoy her column in each issue, and you’ll know then that hand off went down without a hitch!

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