Apcar named NYT economics editor

Len Apcar, the editor of the Asian edition of the International Herald Tribune, is joining the New York Times‘ Washington bureau as its economics editor.

In a memo obtained by Politico’s Michael Calderone, executive editor Bill Keller and Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet write:

“Len is a terrific enterprise leader who has run big investigations and coverage for Bizday and the foreign desk. He is great at talking through stories and running breaking news. He has become a strong advocate for the Web and has forged a close relationship with Larry Ingrassia and his Bizday team. As for his most recent run at the IHT, we’ll quote Marty Gottlieb’s announcement from early this morning:

“‘It is hard to overstate Len Apcar’s impact on the IHT. Since arriving in the fledgling Hong Kong newsroom nearly four years ago, he has been instrumental in securing the IHT’s place as the leading international newspaper in Asia.’

“Under Len’s stewardship, the Asian IHT won numerous awards, including the Osborn Elliott Prize last year for reporting on the cyclone in Myanmar. Before moving to Hong Kong, he was editor of NYTimes.com. He has also been enterprise editor on foreign, and chief of business correspondents on Bizday. Previously, at the Wall Street Journal he was a reporter in Detroit, Dallas and Washington covering Congress, the budget, tax policy and labor.

“At a time when many newspapers are retreating from Washington, the appointment of an editor of Len’s stature is another sign of the bureau’s importance to The New York Times. It is our goal to build an economic team that can run as hard as our powerhouse political, national security and investigative groups.”

Read more here. The memo does not mention that Apcar was the business editor of the St. Petersburg Times in the early 1990s.