Business likes certainty, which means that 2011—with its inept Congress, dismal jobs picture and euro crisis—placed many of us in a holding pattern. Yet I think you’ll see life and hope in our regional economy when you read our year in review story, which starts on page 20.

Businesses may have been holding back, but business and community leaders did not. They coalesced this year behind major initiatives like the Jackson Lab project (even though it failed), sports tourism and the Institute for the Ages—all products of ambitious thinking on a regional level. It was an impressive show of collaboration and forward movement. Now, let’s see if we can build upon it in 2012.