CNBC.com hires four new reporters

CNBC.com managing editor Jeff McCracken sent out the following announcement on Wednesday:

I want to let everyone know about a few recent additions to the CNBC.com newsroom.

First, Michelle Fox has joined the markets team as a reporter, writing mostly for our PRO subscribers about investing trends and personal finance angles for investors. Michelle is moving over after spending three years with Invest in You, where she wrote about topics such as financial wellness and careers. She has been with CNBC for 11 years. She got her start in local TV news at CBS and won an Emmy for breaking news there.

She grew up in Parsippany, New Jersey, and went to Rutgers University, where she studied political science and communication. She considered attending law school until she got an internship at a TV station and got hooked on journalism.

When not working, she is driving her son and daughter to practices or cheering on the sidelines of sporting events. Her hobbies include travel (Hawaii this year), photography and skiing — and her Peloton.

I am also happy to announce the hiring of Stefan Sykes as a reporter covering companies in the beverages, tobacco and firearms space. He comes to us from NBC, where he started as a news associate. In that role and others with NBC he wrote articles for the company’s digital breaking news, investigations and social newsgathering teams. In his final rotation with NBC News, he wrote scripts, headlines and chyrons for live broadcasts, as well as edited video.

Stefan has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Cornell University and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. He has interned with the District of Columbia’s Office of the Attorney General and New York City’s Office of the Mayor.

Reared in Rockland County, New York, Stefan now lives in Harlem. His hobbies include fitness, cooking and traveling. Befitting a beverages reporter, he is also good at conversation over a cold beer.

Also joining CNBC.com as a reporter is Lillian Rizzo, who will cover everything from media to sports to troubled companies. Previously, she spent nearly nine years as a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she most recently covered the media industry and focused on cable, streaming and sports media. She took part in the coverage of the rise and fall of the streaming service Quibi. Previously, she covered private-equity deals and restructurings in the retail sector and breaking news on bankruptcy filings at Sears and Toys ‘R’ Us. Before that, Lillian covered bankruptcy for Debtwire.

She studied journalism at Baruch College in Manhattan and earned a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was born and raised in Brooklyn and now lives in Staten Island with her fiancé.

She’s happiest when eating pizza and listening to the Beatles, having been to Liverpool three times. (“Help!” has been her favorite song since she was little.) She loves watching sports and is a loyal fan of the Mets, Jets and Rangers.

Also, Emma Kinery has been hired as a politics reporter covering the White House and the Biden administration. She joins us from Bloomberg, where she spent four years reporting on national politics. There she covered the 2020 presidential race while embedded with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. She also worked on the investigations into and resignation of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Her first internships were with northern Michigan’s NBC affiliate station and on the NBC digital politics team in Washington, D.C.

Emma is originally from rural northern Michigan and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. She majored in history and English and served as the editor of the student newspaper.

Outside of work, she enjoys biking, knitting and pestering her black cat, Spooky. She is also a crossword fiend, so be forewarned.

Please join me in welcoming them all to the CNBC.com newsroom.