Chicago Trib reorganization affects biz/tech coverage leaders

A reorganization at the Chicago Tribune means additional assignments to the editors overseeing business and technology coverage.

Mary Ellen Podmolik will lead the City at Work group, taking on expanded responsibilities, including a group reporting on the physical transformation of the city.

“The team is still being shaped,” said Podmolik. “We will continue to aggressively report on the Chicago businesses and topics that are of interest to our readers. Going forward, that coverage will also include the tech sector.”

Podmolik has been associate managing editor/business since early 2016. She joined the Tribune in 2008 as a business reporter and columnist specializing in housing and real estate, and was promoted in 2015 to deputy business editor.

A graduate of Marquette University, she previously worked for the Sun-Times, Daily Southtown and the Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune.

In addition, Andrea Hanis, editor of Blue Sky Innovation, the paper’s tech and entrepreneur-oriented site, will take on the new position of marketplace editor.

The marketplace editor will guide enhanced efforts to find new content, audience and revenue opportunities that support the paper’s work, including partnerships with not-for-profit organizations. Other newsroom leaders will continue to be involved in these efforts.

Hanis will continue to oversee Blue Sky Innovation.

As the Tribune reorganizes the newsroom, the business news section has picked up more of the daily tech coverage, said Hanis. “I imagine the picture for Blue Sky will become more clear in the coming months,” she said.

On Thursday, Blue Sky added 25 new profiles to the Blue Network, its guide to Chicago innovators and entrepreneurs, and hosted a networking event with 140 guests.