CNNMoney hires three as part of global expansion

CNNMoney.com has announced the hiring of three additional staffers in locations around the globe.

They are:

Rishi Iyengar

Iyengar is joining CNNMoney as India editor, succeeding Charles Riley who is moving to London to lead our Europe team.

Iyengar spent the last two years with Time in Hong Kong, where he covered a full range of news, business, politics and sport for the website and magazine.

He grew up in Pune, India, where he studied politics before getting his masters in journalism from Columbia University.

He joins as India’s rapid growth offers a rare bright spot in the global economy, offering new opportunities for local and international business. He will spend a few days with the Hong Kong bureau from Sept. 29 before taking up his post in New Delhi in the middle of October.

Zahraa Alkhalisi

Alkhalisi will blaze a trail for CNNMoney in the Middle East, becoming its first digital reporter in Dubai.

Alkhalisi has deep knowledge of the region, and CNN, from her years working on Connect The World and Marketplace Middle East. She also spent two years with Bloomberg in Abu Dhabi and began her career as an intern with CNN Arabic.

She will work closely with emerging markets editor John Defterios, and the CNN Arabic team, to tell the fascinating story of a region going through economic and social upheaval yet still generating huge wealth and amazing success stories.

Alkhalisi will start on Oct. 16.

Marian Liu

Liu is joining as the senior multiplatform editor for all premium businesses based in Hong Kong. She will oversee the programming of all verticals — from Style and Travel to Tech and Money — across all platforms in the Asia time zone.

Marian currently runs the entertainment site SouthFlorida.com and has covered everything from music to medicine for The Seattle Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, Oakland Tribune, Detroit Free Press and Source Magazine. She believes in mentoring the next generation of journalists and serves on the board of the Society of Features Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association.

She’s also rebooting the South Florida chapter of the Online News Association. She is dedicated to communicating the needs of the communities she represents: young, immigrant and female.

For fun she designs jewelry, plays video games and kick boxes. Her start date is to be determined.