Arkansas Business editor Moritz taking a step back

Gwen Moritz

Gwen Moritz, the editor in chief of Arkansas Business, is taking a step back after being the top editorial person at the publication for more than 20 years.

The change will occur when a new editor in chief is hired. Moritz anticipates that will be in the second half of the year.

Moritz said she plans to do projects for Arkansas Business Publishing Group and maybe some outside projects.

“I’ll be 60 in July, and I’d like to try some other things that don’t involve producing another product every week,” she wrote in a message. She called the editor position the “best journalism job in this state.”

Moritz has been editor in chief since August 1999. She previously was the chief communications officer of the Nashville Bar Association and a reporter for the Nashville Business Journal.

She is a graduate of Harding University.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.