WSJ names new chief digital editors, audience growth and engagement heads

Wall Street Journal editor in chief Matt Murray sent out the following on Thursday afternoon:

Dear All:

We are pleased to announce several moves in the Hub around how we manage our digital day, deepen engagement with our audience and drive growth.

Darren Everson is named Chief Digital Editor of The Wall Street Journal, responsible for our digital report and ensuring we are urgent, lively and audience-focused every day. Darren will bring his considerable talents to bear to oversee our publishing and editing, platform and programming teams, and will work closely with coverage leaders to make sure our readers are well served with the news and information they need, delivered when and how they need it. He will lead the talented senior team that includes Programming Editor Sheila Courter, Publishing Chief Alexandra Kaptik and Platforms Chief Cynthia Lin, collectively charged with gatekeeping the quality and sharpening the resonance of what we put forward to our audience each day.

Darren is already well known as a newsroom leader whose exceptional news judgment and keen digital insights help shape our day from the center of the room. Darren has been Deputy Chief News Editor for the past three years, and was previously a leader on digital platforms. Before that, Darren was editor of Global Journal, leading the group that produced the Asia and Europe print editions of The Journal, and was also one of the original members of the Journal’s sports department, where he later became deputy. He joined the Journal in 2006 as a reporter covering the business of travel. Darren is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and he and his wife, WSJ sports reporter Rachel Bachman, live in Brooklyn.

Gráinne McCarthy is named Chief Digital Editor, International and, like Darren, will have broad responsibility for our daily digital report. Gráinne will remain based in London, where the London Hub team will report to her. She will focus on our efforts in EMEA and APAC and, critically, on setting up the U.S. digital day. Gráinne enters this expanded role as a dynamic and longtime newsroom leader who has been at the center of some of our most important coverage. She has been instrumental in our efforts to invigorate our approach to breaking news and has championed new ways of connecting with our audience, all while upholding the highest Journal standards.

Gráinne has been Deputy Chief News Editor for the past five years, and before that was our senior news editor for EMEA. Gráinne previously served as Paris Bureau Chief for five years, and has held other top jobs with WSJ.com and Dow Jones Newswires. She is a graduate of Dublin City University and the University of Limerick, and was a Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University in 2001. She joined Dow Jones in 1998. Gráinne lives in London with her husband and two sons.

Darren and Gráinne will continue to report to Jason.

Phil Izzo is named Head of Audience Engagement, and will lead our broad efforts across the newsroom to track and strengthen our connection with our audience and to expand the reach of our journalism. It is more important than ever that we make sure everything we do serves our growing audience, and no one is better equipped to marshal our work on this front. Phil has been a key architect of the modern digital Journal, and his many talents span coverage, platforms and product. He will continue to oversee our Audience Data team led by Tess Jeffers and SEO team led by Ed Hyatt, and collaborate with leaders across the newsroom.

Phil has been Deputy Chief News Editor for the past five years, demonstrating exceptional depth and judgment as he directed the action from the center of the Hub. His digital experience runs deep: He was the inaugural editor of our Real-Time Economics blog, ran our innovative What’s News app, was Mobile Editor and led the reimagining of our mobile app, among other senior positions. He joined the Journal in 1999 as a news assistant for the overseas copy desk. Phil is a graduate of Fordham University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Jennifer Hicks is named Head of Audience Growth. Jenn will lead our efforts to expand our work to new readers, viewers and listeners, particularly as we embrace different platforms and formats. Jenn is an innovator of the first order, and has been instrumental in initiatives as wide-ranging as our partnership with Apple News and the tappable stories that our readers can’t get enough of. She will continue to be the newsroom lead on our successful editorial partnerships and off-platform efforts, which now include Google, TikTok, Snap and others, while working across the newsroom on endeavors aimed at exposing our exceptional journalism to an ever-wider audience. The social and visual-storytelling teams under Patrick Hedlund will continue to report to her.

Jenn has been a digital leader at the Journal for many years. She has most recently been Deputy Chief News Editor, helping to direct our coverage and platforms. Previously she led the Journal’s product team, and held a series of senior editing posts in our New York and London newsrooms. Jenn joined the Journal in 2004 as an interactive news assistant. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Columbia University. She and her husband live in Brooklyn.

Phil and Jenn will continue to keep a hand in news, where they have been so effective.  They will report to Jason, and will work closely with Newsroom Head of Product Lydia Serota and others across the Journal to drive our digital success.

Please join us in congratulating Darren, Gráinne, Phil and Jenn on their new roles.