Lawrence Amaturo, Norm and Joni Rosinski, and John Dennis
the magazine.” Duffy says the pressure to write something “coherent” every month has pushed him to become a better writer, though it remains a struggle to be informative, useful and entertaining— three goals he sets out for himself each month. After 25 years of Tech Talk, Duffy believes he’s written about 400,000 words for the magazine. “It’s truly hard to believe,” he says. Another big step in 2001 was the launch of the magazine’s website, where online readers would find an archive of back issues, as well as some web-only features. The now-defunct site, sonomabusiness. com , was built by tech columnist Duffy, who had become something of an unpaid IT consultant for the company. “They would
be a bubble, but that’s another story—and after more than 25 years focused solely on its namesake county, Sonoma Business was ready to expand. The November 2002 issue included Norman Rosinski’s announcement that they were now publishing throughout the North Bay’s tri-county area as the newly branded NorthBay biz magazine, under three names— Sonoma NorthBay biz, Marin NorthBay biz and Napa NorthBay biz, each circulating in their respective regions with the same content under different titles. He stressed the growing reality that the North Bay is one “vibrant trading area… mandated the need for the magazine to expand its footprint.” “It’s generally recognized that the county geographic borders are distinct and cultural differences are wonderfully diverse,” said Rosinski at the time. “However, they’re almost non-existent when it comes time to conduct business—then the three counties become one North Bay market.” By June the following year, the need to localize the name of the magazine to three different areas was deemed unnecessary (and probably somewhat confusing) and the brand solidified across the region as NorthBay biz . Those early years under the new brand found Norm, Joni and John working seven days a week, guiding a small staff and livening up the design with four-color printing and glossy cover stock. Over time, the magazine became the go-to source for local business trends and regional economic analysis from the edges of the San Pablo Bay to the beaches of the Pacific. As with many community publications, the editorial staff
ask me out to lunch whenever they had a technology question,” he laughs. The early 2000s enjoyed a rocketing economy, thanks in no small part to the Bay Area tech boom—it eventually proved to
Alexandra Russell, Great Tastes columnist.
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 23
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