Bloomberg Businessweek deputy editor is leaving for environmental job

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Eric Pooley, the deputy editor of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, is leaving the publication to join an environmental group.

Pooley will become senior vice president for strategy and communications for the Environmental Defense Fund on April 25, he said in a telephone conversation on Friday afternoon. Pooley had joined the magazine’s staff in February 2010.

Pooley had nothing but good things to say about working at Bloomberg Businessweek and about the top people at Bloomberg, namely Matt Winkler and Norman Pearlstine.

“This is an opportunity to devote myself to this effort,” said Pooley. “At the same time, I’m going to miss my great friends at Bloomberg Businessweek. We’re putting out a hell of a good business magazine. It’s great to work at a place that is ambitious and growing.”

Formerly the managing editor of Fortune, Pooley had been a Bloomberg columnist and is author of the book “The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Eleventh-Hour Fight to Save the Earth.” Pooley noted he spent three years reporting and writing the book, and that much of his recent journalism has focused on sustainability issues.

Bloomberg Businessweek editor Josh Tyrangiel worked with Pooley during his stint as the editor of Time’s European edition.

Pooley’s tenure at the top of Fortune magazine was short as his management style rubbed some people the wrong way. He as its managing editor from April 2005 to October 2006, and is considered a strong advocate for long-form journalism and a rigorous if sometimes over-involved editor.

In 1996, as Time’s White House correspondent, Pooley won the Gerald Ford Prize for Excellence in Reporting for his coverage of the Clinton administration. Previously, Pooley had a 12-year career at New York magazine as columnist, writer and senior editor.