Changes at WSJ editorial page

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot sent out the following announcements on Tuesday:

Here is the first:

“As some of you already know, Ken DeWitt has decided to retire after 39 years at Dow Jones, effective at the end of this month. He is one of those colleagues who is less publicly known than those who have bylines but has been invaluable to the daily publication of the WSJ over four decades of rapid change.

“Ken joined the Journal in 1970 as a copyboy in college, became a full-time copyreader in 1971 in Chicopee, Mass., moved to the monitor desk a year later, then on to page one, and in 1980 was part of the team that launched the Journal’s ‘second front’ section. He joined the editorial page as production manager in 1984, and in the early 1990s supervised the pagination of the editorial pages that were the first to be produced electronically in New York. During 1999 and 2000, Ken was part of the team that vetted and then launched the Hermes production system.

“Since May 2000, he has been technology and production director for the opinion pages, supervising our expansion into Web publishing and most recently Methode. On September 11, 2001, Ken was one of three editpage staff members who made it to South Brunswick to produce our pages that harrowing day. It’s not too much to say that we could never have published our section of the paper that day without Ken’s expertise and dedication. With global and Web publishing, Ken has had to respond at all hours to the queries from Hong Kong, London and elsewhere, and he has always been there when we’ve needed him.

“Please join me in saluting and thanking Ken for his many contributions to Dow Jones and the Journal, and wishing him all good wishes in his well-earned retirement.”

And the second:

“I’m delighted to report that Kate LaVoie will become the new production and art editor for the editorial page, effective Jan. 1.

“Kate takes over from Ken DeWitt, who is retiring, and will supervise the production of the opinion pages across all three print editions and the Web. This includes pagination in Methode, arts and graphics production, as well as managing the staff’s technology needs. She’ll report to me.

“Since 2004, Kate has been the editorial page arts and graphics editor, doing our charts, selecting photos and art, and working with free-lance artists, as well as assisting with daily pagination. Kate joined the Journal in 1996 as a news assistant for the Leisure & Arts page and became part of the production team in 1999.

“Kate is a graduate of Syracuse.

“Please join me in congratulating Kate on her new responsibilities.”