September Edition of Biz Buzz: Changes in the South

By Chris Roush croush@email.unc.edu

LONGTIME STAFFERS LEAVING ST. PETE

Two longtime journalists on the St. Petersburg Times business desk are taking the paper’s buyout offer, reducing its staff even more.

Business writer Tom Zucco, whose main assignment is writing about insurance, and personal finance editor Helen Huntley, are taking the buyout. Huntley had been on the staff for 37 years, while Zucco has been at the paper for more than two decades, and previously held spots as a sports writer, sports columnist and a feature writer for the Floridian section.

Both Huntley and Zucco’s last day is Aug. 29.

“I have no plans to tell my wife,” says Zucco, (right) who is known for his wit. “I will leave for work at the same time I always do. But instead of the Times, I will go to the local diner, barber shop and cigar store. That should take me to 5 p.m., when it will be time for the three-block commute home. She never asked much about what I do anyway. I could easily make it to 65, which is 10 years from now. I have no plans other than that. Which is both foolish and thrilling.”

Huntley plans to become an independent financial adviser in St. Petersburg.

The Times previously lost two business reporting positions due to downsizing. Staff writer Scott Barancik was let go, and Maddie Bora was assigned to a bureau in north Tampa as a general assignment reporter, but rather than go there, she quit at the end of her maternity leave.

Barancik is trying to get a new business up and running as a tip sheet on court actions in the Tampa Bay area. Meanwhile, Scott Long, who was business news editor, left on his own accord to launch a new business.

Business editor Robert Trigaux will step down from that spot and return to writing a column three times a week. Deputy business editor Jeff Harrington is in the running to replace him.

Business writer Kris Hundley also transferred to a new assignment doing investigative reporting, so she’ll still be at the Times, but not under the business news department.

PALM BEACH ALSO FACES LOSSES

On the other side of Florida, the Palm Beach Post business news desk is facing a similar situation.

Staff writer Lori Becker, who covered utilities, is left Aug. 15 to become managing editor at the Nashville Business Journal. Assistant managing editor for business Rick Christie says her loss “hurts” but that he is happy about her offer in Nashville.

Becker has also covered small business and the boating industry at the Post. Her reporting career has included reporting stints at the Lansing State Journal, The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Lexington Herald-Leader. Becker is a Bowling Green, Ky. native and a graduate of Western Kentucky University. Her first day in Nashville is Sept. 2.

In addition, the Post lost three business news desk staffers to buyouts in August. They were assistant business editor Greg Stepanich, business writer Steve Pounds, who covered technology, and business writer Linda Rawls, (left) who covered tourism, airlines and economic development. Rawls also took early retirement. Tuesday was their last day.

“I know we’re not the only ones going through this,” says Christie. “I wish everyone else the best of luck.”

Christie has also been asked to take on the additional duties of national editor in addition to running the business news coverage.

NEW JOBS IN ATLANTA

Meanwhile, just north of Florida in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has announced changes on its business desk.

Andre Jackson, an editorial writer who was the business editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will become the new editor overseeing business coverage. In addition, longtime journalist Tom Oliver, who covered Coca-Cola for the paper in the 1980s and then oversaw its Olympics coverage in 1996, is becoming its new business section columnist.

Also, longtime business reporter Matt Kempner is becoming the paper’s public editor.

The changes are necessitated by the recent buyouts at the paper. Among the participants in the buyout were longtime business columnist Maria Saporta and editor Kathy Brister, who oversaw business coverage.

In an e-mail from distributed to staffers, editor Julia Wallace stated that Jackson, a SABEW board member, would become senior editor for business, federal and state. “Andre (right) joined the editorial page in May and has already made a mark, writing about federal oversight of banking, workplace issues and the impact of oil pricing on the economic downturn,” said Wallace. “He has a deep background in business, most recently working as Assistant Managing Editor for Business at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, where he led expansion of the business section and a redesign of the business news Web site.”

As for Oliver, Wallace wrote that he will be “writing about key business issues and what they mean to our readers. Thomas is the former business editor, has written a book on Coke and is a former Journal editorial writer. His knowledge about Atlanta business and keen insights will make this a must-read for smart business people.”

NEW BIZ EDITOR IN RICHMOND

John Hoke has been named the new business editor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Hoke, 55, joined the Times-Dispatch in 1982 and has served in its Clarksville and Roanoke bureaus and as night Virginia editor, Sunday Virginia editor and deputy editor for Chesterfield County.

Hoke (right) will oversee a team of eight reporters and editors.

Pam Feibish had been the paper’s business editor, but she was reassigned to deputy flair editor in January amid a reorganization and retired from the paper last month. Deputy business editors Marilyn Shaw and Greg Gilligan have been running the department since January.

Hoke is a native of Williamsburg and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in political science. He served four years in the Navy.

BOSS WATCH

Sam Grobart, formerly managing editor of personal finance Web site FiLife, joins the New York Times as assistant technology editor… Pittsburgh Business Times ME Rob Sandler leaves to pursue a master’s of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. At another American City Business Journals’ paper, the New Mexico Business Weekly, editor Nancy Salem (left) becomes its publisher, while ME Kathi Schroeder has been promoted to editor…American Banker associate editor Todd Davenport leaves to become a senior writer at Fannie Mae. Davenport says he has to “scratch a policy itch, which I've been interested in for a while. I hope to be doing speeches, financial communications, possibly some press releases, other internal stuff. I have some regrets about leaving journalism.”

UPPER EAST SIDE

Dane Hamilton, a hedge fund reporter at Reuters, leaves to work on activist investor Carl Icahn’s Web site, The Icahn Report…Colleen O’Connor-Grant, formerly of AdvisorMax.com, joins Dow Jones Newswires as a reporter. Also at Dow Jones, Sarah Lynch will join the Washington bureau later this month to cover the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and general news. Lynch formerly worked at the Daily Record in New Jersey. Joshua Mitchell will join the Washington bureau this month to take over the transportation and general assignment beat, including coverage of upcoming federal transportation funding legislation. He comes from the Baltimore Sun. Jessica Holzer recently joined the DC bureau of Dow Jones to expand coverage of the banking and housing policy beat. She will focus on housing and the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other issues. She comes from The Hill, a congressional newspaper, where she covered tax, financial services and hedge fund lobbying of Congress. Also, Darrell Hughes joined Dow Jones Newswires’ Washington bureau in July as a breaking news and general assignment reporter. Darrell came from the Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where he covered the health care industry and economic development…Jon Hilsenrath, (right) most recently the markets editor in the Money & Investing section of The Wall Street Journal, becomes chief economics correspondent. He will be responsible for covering the Federal Reserve and all major developments in the U.S. and global economies…At the Philadelphia Inquirer, longtime business desk staffers Henry Holcomb and Tom Belden have retired…At Mass High Tech, Stephen DeSantis replaces Ryan McBride on the life sciences, biotech and medical devices beat. DeSantis comes from CentreWatch, where he covered health-care IT. Michelle Lang also joins the paper as associate editor-digital, keeping the tech-business weekly’s newly redesigned and relaunched Web site up and running, as well as coordinating two new daily e-mail news products. And James Connolly joins the paper as associate editor in charge of special sections and signature programs. A longtime Boston-area journalist, Connolly previously worked for Ziff-Davis and ComputerWorld and was a founding editor of TechTarget. Connolly got his start as a Boston Herald reporter.

WAY DOWN SOUTH

Bert Gutierrez joins the Triad Business Journal as a staff writer based in Winston-Salem. Gutierrez, who has been with the Winston-Salem Journal for the past three years, will cover regional commercial real estate and economic development, as well as downtowns, FedEx and Krispy Kreme. He replaces Lane Harvey Brown, who left in early June in order to spend more time with her children…Ashley London, who wrote the Table Talk column for the Charlotte Business Journal for five years, leaves to attend law school. Longtime staffer Erik Spanberg returns to write the column…Ryan Underwood becomes assistant biz editor at The Tennessean, the Gannett-owned daily in Nashville. Ryan had been national editor at the Tennessean before taking the job of assistant business editor. Prior to that he had covered the music industry as a business writer.

MIDWEST MOVES

Christine Lasek joins Crain’s Detroit Business as Web editor. Lasek, 27, was previously an online news producer for mlive.com in Ann Arbor, where she was responsible for managing Web content for several Michigan newspapers. Also, Nancy Kaffer (right) joined Crain’s Detroit Business as the reporter covering small business and retail. Kaffer, 32, was a freelance writer covering innovation and jobs, culture and business for the Model D and Metromode Web sites…Longtime business reporter Avi Lank leaves the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel...The Holland Sentinel in Michigan hires Ashley Teffer as its new business reporter. Teffer had worked at the Alpena News as a general assignment reporter.

WEST COAST WAVES

Claire Cain Miller joins the New York Times to cover start-ups and venture capital in its San Francisco bureau. She had been a senior reporter for Forbes.

AT THE GLOSSIES

Steve Rosenbush joins Institutional Investor as an assistant managing editor in charge of covering capital markets. Rosenbush had been a senior writer and telecom editor for BusinessWeek and also worked at USAToday.

ON CAMPUS

Andrea Gabor, (right) longtime Baruch College journalism professor, has been named the Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism. The endowed professorship was established with a gift from Bloomberg LP in 2001. Gabor is the second holder of the chair. Sarah Bartlett, now with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, was the first.

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Posted August 16,, 2008