AP financial markets editor leaving wire service

Associated Press business editor Hal Ritter sent out the following staff announcement:

It’s with much sadness that I report that Erin McClam is leaving us for a job as a writer at NBCNews.com.

Erin joined AP fresh out of the University of Georgia in December 1999 as a reporter in the Atlanta bureau. He moved to New York in August 2002 as a bureau reporter and became a federal courts reporter in February 2003. He was promoted to national writer in September 2005. When the Top Stories Desk was established in January 2008, Erin was one of its original editors. He took up residence in Business News two years later, while still a TSD editor. He joined our department in January as markets editor.

That’s the official bio, and, of course, it says little about what Erin has meant to the AP. Erin is an editor par excellence. Many days, I’ve marveled how he has teamed with a reporter to elevate good work to great. Most of you have had the great fortune to work with him on these stories. Afterward, I invariably hear praise for the experience.

Erin is also a wonderful colleague; all of us have enjoyed our associations with him. So we’ll miss his editing skills – and his presence.

Erin’s last day will be Friday, Dec. 21. Please join me in wishing him the best in all that lies ahead in his career.