Jodi Schneider, the economics and finance editor of Congressional Quarterly, is becoming the media outlet’s first training director, according to a memo from editor Mike Riley.
Riley wrote, “I’m pleased to announce that Jodi Schneider, our economics and finance editor, has accepted an offer to become the first Training Director for Congressional Quarterly’s news operation. Jodi’s primary charge will be to help us become a world-class learning news organization, and one of her key goals will be to develop a broad-based program for developing and coaching CQ’s many talented journalists.
“This newly created position, part of our ongoing initiative to strengthen the newsroom, will focus on expanding recent orientation efforts, developing a meaningful training curriculum, and fostering career development and advancement across the newsroom. To that end, Jodi will put together a variety of training programs, including brown bag sessions, seminars, specialized trainers, career counseling and long-range development plans for staffers.
“Jodi shares our vision for innovative training as well as a crucial understanding of the vital linkage between excellent training and journalistic excellence. She brings a heartfelt enthusiasm, tons of energy and a contagious optimism to the job, and she’s already proven herself an accomplished trainer during previous stints at The Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report. During the first few months on the new job, Jodi, who will report to me, will solicit everyone’s input to make sure we design a program that meets our diversity of needs. She’ll work in close partnership with managers and staffers to make good things happen.
“Four years ago, Jodi joined CQ as deputy economics and finance editor, and she’s been in her current job since August 2004. Previously, she was an assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report and before that a local business editor at The Washington Post.
“Earlier in her career, Jodi had been a deputy managing editor at The Orlando Sentinel as well as an editor and reporter at newspapers in Wisconsin, Colorado and Florida. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. A past president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, Jodi lives in Bethesda, Md., with her husband, Andy Klafter, a manager at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, and their three teen-age children.
“Please welcome me in congratulating Jodi on her new job. She’ll move into the post as soon as we hire a successor as economics and finance editor.”
