40 Under 40: Ian Bivona

For the last two years, the Columbia Basin Herald and Basin Business Journal have benefited greatly from the addition of Ian Bivona to our team.

Covering 11 high schools, often with each having four to six sports going on at the same time, Bivona is a powerhouse of a sports reporter. 

He has constantly and consistently worked to improve our sports coverage and stepped out of his comfort zone again and again when we were in a pinch and needed someone to cover something outside of his wheelhouse. While he’s young and still has experience to gain, he soaks up sports and journalism knowledge like a sponge and has been a key to our success as we relaunched our sports section at the Columbia Basin Herald, expanded sports business coverage in the Basin Business Journal and launched the STUDIO BASIN Podcast. 

Bivona has won awards for his coverage and has helped us launch multiple special sports editions in addition to our annual Gridiron Guide publication. A separate fall sports preview covering sports outside of football and a spring sports preview edition with everything from tennis to softball has also been launched. While each of these are big lifts from a production standpoint with a need to schedule dozens of interviews, Bivona holds his head high and produces solid, high-quality content.

From a news network perspective, Bivona has also worked with the Hagadone Sports Network to produce the Big Sky Now podcast, covering the Pacific Northwest’s Big Sky Conference for football.

Working with him is a privilege and hiring him is one of the best decisions I’ve made as a manager. Keep an eye on him. He’s going to do great things.

— R. Hans Miller, Managing Editor, Columbia Basin Herald