December 20, 2016
This week, Bloomberg Washington bureau chief and senior executive editor Wes Kosova, senior executive editor Marty Schenker and executive editor Craig Gordon sent the following memo to Bloomberg’s DC bureau announcing our expanded White House teams, Congressional teams and other promotions and staff changes:
Everyone,
First, thank you all for the extraordinary journalism you’ve done during this wild post-election period. Working together under a lot of pressure (and without a lot of sleep), this bureau has broken a ton of news and helped our many different audiences make sense of a tumultuous time.
We all know the demands on us will only increase with the start of the new administration, and that’s a good thing. In a noisy news market where fake is often louder than real and facts can be hard to come by, our bureau’s strengths – deep reporting and clear thinking about government policy, regulation, agencies, the White House, Congress and courts – have never been more valuable, or valued. While some news organizations are regrettably cutting back, our bureau, and Bloomberg’s commitment to covering the serious work of government, is growing.
To get ready for what’s to come and welcome some new faces, we’re going to rearrange things a bit.
Covering a new president is always an unpredictable challenge, and that goes triple for Trump. So we’re happy to add four reporters to our already strong and experienced White House team: Jennifer Jacobs, Kevin Cirilli and Jennifer Epstein, who did outstanding work covering the campaign, and Shannon Pettypiece. Shannon currently reports on Walmart but before that was immersed in healthcare–an issue we might hear a thing or two about in the coming months. Mike Dorning becomes deputy White House editor, helping Alex Wayne shape stories and lending his remarkable composure under pressure.
After a long slumber, Congress will come roaring back next month with an ambitious legislative agenda. So we’re expanding our unbeatable Hill team, led by Kevin Whitelaw and Laurie Asseo. Campaign reporter Arit John comes to D.C. from New York. Terry Dopp, a veteran of New Jersey politics, joins us from the Trenton bureau. And Anna Edgerton, who’s spent the past few years covering the ups and downs of Dilma Rousseff, will return to the U.S. from Brazil to put her sharp eye on House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Trump’s big proposals mean a lot of money will be up for grabs in Washington. We’re delighted to announce that John Voskuhl becomes managing editor to lead two critical teams that will work closely together.
The campaign finance team, led by Josh Gallu and renamed Money and Influence, will widen its aperture under John’s guidance to include lobbying and government contracting. From his perch in Columbus, Mark Niquette will join the team to report on Trump’s nationwide infrastructure plans and will make frequent visits to D.C., as will John McCormick, based in Chicago, who will cover money and politics with a focus on using data to tell stories about who ultimately gets the billions flowing into and out of Washington. Ben Brody joins as lobbying reporter, exploring the capital’s ever-growing influence industry.
John will also oversee the Tax team. Taxation in all its forms will be a major story in the new administration, and it’s an issue of great interest to our audience. We’re very pleased to announce that Alexis Leondis, who has distinguished herself as deputy editor on the Financial Regulation team, becomes Tax team leader. Sahil Kapur joins the team as a reporter, allowing him to get back in touch with his inner policy nerd.
John and Ben will coordinate with our recently formed Trump Organization team, based in New York, that’s dedicated to reporting on Trump’s worldwide business interests and where they may collide with his duties as president. Led by Ethan Bronner, the group includes reporters Caleb Melby and David Kocieniewski in New York and Stephanie Baker in London, and collaborates with our journalists across the globe.
As we take further steps to infuse our Bloomberg News offerings with the nitty-gritty, on-the-ground reporting and analysis of Bloomberg Government, we’re going to make some moves to bulk up our critical energy coverage. Editor Mark Drajem and reporter Ari Natter will move under Regulations Team Leader Jon Morgan, where they will continue to produce their daily BGov Energy newsletter. In addition, Chris Flavelle of Bloomberg View will join the team to bring his expertise to our climate and environmental coverage.
Justin Blum, our bureau’s steady hand and keen eye at night, returns to the daylight as senior editor on the Financial Regulation team, led by Jesse Westbrook. Justin’s experience and talent as a story shaper will help this group of expert reporters and editor Greg Mott illuminate the all-important work of the alphabet agencies.
Mike Marois, based in Sacramento, and Chris Thompson, in Wilmington, become our night editors. Together, they’ll take on the increasing number of late-breaking news stories and lend a hand editing international copy as needed.
Ellie Titus, who kept the Bloomberg Politics website humming day and night during the campaign, will join from New York in a hybrid editing role that will apply her talents to several key parts of the newsroom. In daylight U.S. hours, she’ll helm the revamped global politics website being put together by Craig Gordon and John Fraher, set for launch in mid-January. She’ll continue to help Elizabeth Wasserman with breaking news on the early morning shift. And she’ll pitch in to help our crack BFW team.
The volume of stories we produce will increase dramatically in the new year. To make sure we stay on top of it all, we are very glad to announce that Joe Sobczyk becomes senior editor, assisting Mike Shepard in assigning stories and working to shape and elevate our coverage in the fascinating and challenging time ahead.
Thanks and Best,
Marty, Wes and Craig
– December 20, 2016