Springs & Co. A look inside local business

CEO change at Coast

Dan Dueber started Monday as president and chief executive of Coast Independent Review Board LLC, succeeding founder Darren McDaniel, who resigned in May but remains majority owner and continues to assist with marketing.

The 55-employee company, which moved last year to Colorado Springs from California, recruits and handles administrative details for medical ethics committees that watch out for patients involved in clinical trials for prescription drugs and medical devices.

McDaniel, who started the company in 2001, plans to spend more time with his family.

Dueber, 53, spent 12 years at The Gazette before leaving as senior vice president of finance to join Coast. He previously had spent 15 years as an executive for a medical publishing firm in St. Louis owned by Times-Mirror Co. and four years with accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, also in St. Louis.

As CEO, Dueber said he wants to position Coast "for growth by growing revenue as quickly as possible. I believe this company has a lot of growth potential and could double its employee numbers in three years if we fulfill that potential." The company reported its 2007 revenue at $7 million to Inc. magazine, up 156.4 percent in five years.

Office politics rising

Office politics is on the rise in offices nationwide and in the Springs, according to a not-too-surprising survey by Accountemps, a temporary-staffing firm specializing in finance that is owned by temporary-staffing giant Robert Half International Inc.

The company's nationwide poll found 53 percent of the 522 workers interviewed said office politics have increased somewhat or greatly during the past five years, while just 12 percent reported a decline. Still, more than half of those surveyed believe it's best to at least keep track of what's going on in the office without directly participating in the dreaded rumor mill.

The local results wouldn't be much different than the national numbers, based on feedback from clients and job candidates, said Katie Essman, manager of the local office.

"The rumor mill feeds on bad news and in an uncertain economy, people are more sensitive to political undercurrents in the office," Essman said. "No one is immune and you will see it in any office, but it is concentrated in the banking and mortgage industries."

Supervisors can limit the damage by not tolerating participation in spreading rumors and keeping closed-door meetings to a minimum, Essman said.