AP losing mutual fund writer to mutual fund company

Associated Press business editor Hal Ritter sent out the following staff departure on Monday:

Sorry to report that Mark Jewell is leaving AP after 23 years to join John Hancock in Boston to write about the company’s mutual funds. As a senior financial writer, Mark will report on Hancock’s international stock funds. He’ll be writing for financial advisers and institutional investors, as well as individual investors in Hancock’s funds.

Mark joined AP in 1990 in his home state of Washington and has worked his way ever eastward: temporary stints in Seattle and Olympia, 10 years as a newsman in Spokane, three years in Indianapolis as a business reporter and the last five years in Boston as a personal finance writer.

Mark has done a great job for us since 2008 covering the mutual funds industry and personal investing. Since early 2009, he has written the highly regarded Of Mutual Interest column, which appears in major newspapers like The Washington Post and is part of the weekly Money & Markets Extra product. He also writes for the daily M&M product and has produced many strong centerpieces on fund trends.

Mark has been a good colleague to all of us in Business News, and we’ll miss him. Please join me in wishing him much success in his new job. He’ll be with us through most of next week.