AP business editor Shinkle quits for Delta PR job

Kevin Shinkle, the business editor of the Associated Press, has resigned to accept a position as senior vice president of corporate communications at Delta Air Lines.

Shinkle’s staff was told of his resignation on Friday morning.

In an email to Talking Biz News, Shinkle called the decision to leave business journalism “excruciating” but called it a “once-in-a-lifetime offer.”

Th email sent to the AP business news desk stated:

Kevin has been a great leader at the AP and has helped, in a very short time, further transform AP’s business coverage. We’ve had more big breaks, as noted in the Beat of the Week mentions, in the first quarter than all of last year. Because Kevin is going to work for a company we cover, his last day in the office will be today (Friday).

Make no doubt we will continue with our efforts and transformation in business news. I’ve asked Deputy Business Editor Brad Foss to oversee day to day operations from Washington and Philana Patterson will be working with me to finalize some operational changes we’ve all discussed in recent months. I will be moving my desk to the business department next week, and we should be posting the business editor job shortly. I am sure we will have splendid candidates, as it is one of the best jobs in business journalism.

Shinkle, a board member of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, was named AP business editor in 2013. Shinkle joined The Associated Press as an assistant business editor at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and directed AP’s coverage of the global markets.

Before joining the AP in November 2008, Shinkle was business editor of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. He joined the newspaper in 2000 as deputy business editor. Before that, he was a reporter for Bloomberg News for seven years and The Tampa Tribune for three years. He also worked for The Chapel Hill Newspaper in North Carolina.

A native of Tucson, Ariz., Shinkle graduated with honors from Hillsdale College in Michigan with majors in political theory and history.

During Shinkle’s tenure at the AP, the business staff has been honored by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers with awards for breaking news coverage and explanatory and feature writing. The Star-Ledger business section was honored by SABEW with its top award for general excellence during his tenure and won a National Headliners Award.