R. Lee Hicks

Full resume
on request

leemvnews@aol.com

 

Lee Hicks most recently was owner and publisher of the Methow Valley News, a 100-year-old newspaper in a resort and recreation area of Washington near the British Columbia border. Lee began his association with the newspaper as a shareholder and director in the mid 1980s. During his tenure as publisher from 1994 through 2001 the paper won numerous awards, among them selection as top weekly in its circulation group by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Lee was the lead reporter while supervising his paper’s coverage of resort development, endangered species and water allocation issues that have brought national attention to the Methow Valley--a remote basin in the upper Columbia River system. This experience nurtured his in-depth knowledge and insight into the tensions of traditional values of the "Old West" and the "New West."

In his early career, Lee was a reporter and editor with weekly, daily and national wire service media in Colorado and Connecticut. He later was a marketing and public relations advisor for a number of national real estate companies, and was involved with major commercial and residential projects in Denver and Seattle-- in addition to advising other business, government and non-profit clients. Lee has been a licensed Washington real estate agent since 1990. After an affiliation with Coldwell Banker in Sisters, Lee is now a sole proprietor broker in Oregon and an associate broker in Washington. 

Lee’s personal pursuits include nordic and downhill skiing, golf, flyfishing and river rafting, which extends an interest of college summers spent as a commercial rafting guide on the Snake River in Wyoming’s Jackson Hole. His first summers in Wyoming also included experience in food service and housekeeping for Jackson Lake Lodge, where he developed an appreciation for customer care in a tourism setting.

A North Carolina native, Lee graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill and served two years in the Army before beginning his professional career. His daughter is a senior at Sisters High School.  As publisher of the Methow Valley News, Lee resided in Seattle and the Methow Valley before becoming active in Sisters

Book always in reach:
"Flyfishing Basics"
a good read after a bad day of casting
Political persuasion: Independent-no party affiliation; A guiding principle is that  facts, issues and context of individual situations are more important than ideology.
Quick way to relax:
Shooting baskets--anywhere there's a rim (with a net); good exercise and a test of concentration. (tip: deflate basketball, travel with a mini-pump when on the road)
Nickname:
Bear--a designation that grew out of days in Wyoming as a river guide, and which bears no relationship to the subject's personality.

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