Business Leadership
Together with his wife Loretta Doodeman Downey, Ed founded two companies. In 1969, they founded Ladycom a magazine for wives of servicemen. The name was a portmanteau for Lady+Communications.
After years of hard work, the company became a success.
Ed and Loretta relocated the company to Washington, DC to be closer to key military commands, a move that sparked significant growth of the magazine. Recognizing changing demographics, the magazine changed its name to Military Lifestyle and broadened its mission to serving military families, not just wives.
In 1985, Ed and Loretta launched Empower IT to analyze sales trends in the military market. They sold the company to IRI in 2015.