Bloomberg names Ward as exec editor, Frier as ME in tech

Bloomberg News technology executive editor Tom Giles sent out the following:

I am pleased to share news of some promotions and moves on the Global Technology Team.

Jillian Ward, who has served as a managing editor since 2020, will become executive editor for North America technology coverage. One of my earliest hires after I returned to Bloomberg with the Businessweek acquisition, Jillian has deftly shaped how we report on some of the world’s biggest companies, played a key role in hiring and mentoring many members of the team and helped lead us into new and expanding areas of coverage, including artificial intelligence. Jillian co-edited our groundbreaking Big Take on bias in AI image generation, a finalist for a Loeb Award, and helped lead our award-winning coverage of misinformation in the post-Roe era. In her new role, Jillian will also manage the features team led by Josh Brustein.

Sarah Frier, big tech team leader, will become managing editor for big tech, AI and venture capital/startups. She will relocate midyear to New York City, returning to where she got her start with the tech team after joining Bloomberg in 2011. During her tenure, Sarah has done it all, from Businessweek covers to a critically acclaimed book. Starting with Facebook’s IPO more than a decade ago, she pioneered how we write about social media and big tech power, positioning us well for the AI race. Sarah wrote No Filter, the definitive account of the rise of Instagram and winner of the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award in 2020. A consummate player-coach, Sarah became team leader in 2021 and has continued to report and write her own stories. In recent years, she has led the team’s data journalism efforts, editing our analysis of YouTube podcasters and the 2024 election and co-leading our Big Take on Uber and Lyft driver lockouts, winner of multiple awards.

Lynn Doan, who has served with distinction as a New York-based managing editor since joining the tech team in 2023, will relocate to San Francisco, where she previously worked for Bloomberg for more than a decade. Lynn’s background in energy and commodities news, including as a managing editor, has served her well as global data center czar. Highlights include her Markets Magazine piece on data center chip and energy needs and the Big Take she helped edit on global AI energy consumption, winner of the Loeb and other awards. Lynn will retain that role and keep managing the team focused on cybersecurity, surveillance and misinformation; she will also assume oversight of chips and enterprise technology. Lynn will move at midyear and report to Jillian.

Sarah will report jointly to Jillian and Peter Elstrom, our executive editor for Asia and EMEA. The dual-reporting line will further infuse a global perspective into key coverage areas, including the tech giants and AI, ensure a smooth handoff from one region to the next and bolster leadership during the critical East Coast morning as North American markets open.

Reporting to Sarah in her new role: Seth Fiegerman and Anne Vandermey and their teams, as well as Robin Ajello, Kurt Wagner and their pods. She will continue to oversee data investigations. We will conduct a search for Sarah’s replacement as big tech team leader. Lynn’s reports will be Andy Martin, Andy Pollack, Jeff Stone and Nick Turner and the teams and pods under them. Amy Thomson, team leader for EMEA tech, will report to Peter.

The managers will phase in new reporting lines and coverage areas starting in March, and responsibility for cross-time zone handoffs will shift when Sarah and Lynn move midyear.

Tom