Bloomberg’s Kassenaar, who led effort to get more women in stories, is leaving

Lisa Kassenaar, an editor-at-large for Bloomberg News who led an effort to get more women quoted in its stories, is leaving the news organization.

In an email to the staff, Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait said:

Lisa Kassenaar is leaving Bloomberg after putting us on the map with her reporting and editing on issues that show the business consequences of the gender gap. Before leading the Managing Diversity team, Lisa wrote about markets and banking for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Markets, and then initiated our newsroom-wide effort to increase coverage of women in the global economy. Janet Paskin succeeds Lisa as leader of Managing Diversity and our plan is to add another reporter to the team. Janet also will continue to oversee the Sports Business team.

Kassenaar is a former senior feature writer for Bloomberg Markets magazine. Her cover stories on Wall Street firms throughout the financial crisis detailed the inner workings of the world’s biggest banks. She previously was an editor and reporter covering banks and the U.S. and Canadian bond markets. Kassenaar joined Bloomberg in 1995.

In 2006, she won a Newswoman’s Club of New York Front Page award for a story on families moving into the historic bank towers of Lower Manhattan.

A native of Winnipeg, Canada, Kassenaar earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba and a masters in journalism from Northwestern University.

Kassenaar said, “”I’m so proud of the work I’ve done here for 22 years, but it’s time to move on to the next thing. Leaving the place, but not the friends.”