In case you missed the business news last week, SAS (the company that pays me to write this blog, and the leader in business analytics) was named #1 on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 list. Having been a user (and huge fan) of SAS software since 1985, I am delighted to see the growing recognition of something I’ve known for 25 years: SAS has great products, and SAS has great people. (I only regret I wasn’t considered photogenic enough to make it into the FORTUNE video. They did tell me, however, that I have the perfect face for radio – or blogging.)

I must also point out that for 2009, SAS achieved its 34th consecutive year of revenue growth and profitability, up 2.2% to US$2.31 billion, despite poor economic conditions worldwide. Said CEO Jim Goodnight, “Our continued growth in 2009 is further proof that investing in long-term relationships with customers and employees and maintaining a deep commitment to R&D pays.” Let’s hope other business executives can take a few lessons from the SAS approach to management. It isn’t just charming colleagues like me that make SAS such a great place to work.

If you need a good excuse to visit SAS in person, please join forecasting professionals from industry, government and academics, and from around the globe, at the F2010 Business Forecasting Conference here at SAS world headquarters in Cary, NC, June 7-8.

If you can’t wait until June to get your forecasting fix, please join me and Emily Rodriguez, Program Manager at Intel, for a ½ day workshop “A Primer for Management: Fundamentals of Business Forecasting and Conducting Forecast Value Added Analysis,” at the IBF’s Supply Chain Forecasting Conference in Phoenix, February 21-23. A webinar previewing the workshop is available for free on-demand review.