WSJ senior reporter Bannon departing after 31 years

Lisa Bannon, a senior reporter at The Wall Street Journal in New York, is leaving after 31 years.

She has been writing feature articles about consumer behavior, higher education, demographics and the impact of technology on humans.

She started as Italy correspondent in Milan in 1992. She covered the “Tangentopoli” political corruption scandals, the 1990s crackdown on the Sicilian Mafia, and Italian culture and society. She became a senior special writer in Los Angeles in 1995 covering entertainment, wealth, and California lifestyle before moving to New York in 2004 to become bureau chief for the retail and fashion group.

After several years as a page one editor, she was named coverage chief of the Journal’s Life & Arts section where she oversaw a team of editors and reporters covering health, travel, careers, personal technology and the arts. In that role, she launched new columns, newsletters and digital projects including Grapevine, Family & Tech, Work & Life, Anatomy of a Workout and Fitness Challenge.

Her work as a reporter and editor has been recognized by the New York Press Club, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and The Deadline Club. A series she edited on the causes of the European debt crisis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting in 2011.