Forbes chief content officer Randall Lane sent out the following to his staff on Friday:
Team,
Hope everyone had a healthy and interesting week. Our production continues to amaze, as we approach near-record level amounts of articles and audience on pretty much a daily basis. It’s of course a paradox of journalism – history’s first-draft – that times of great upheaval also offer some of the most momentous opportunities of our careers. When communication and accuracy have never been more essential, what you do in informing and inspiring and entertaining, at scale, serves the world. Like the military or first-responders, stars and heroes will emerge.
With that in mind, I’d like to formally welcome a few new hires and announce some promotions that have occurred over the past few weeks.
As there is no more important beat in the world than healthcare, we are thrilled to welcome Katie Jennings to the team as a staff writer. Katie is finishing her Knight-Bagehot fellowship at Columbia, and before that skillfully covered healthcare policy across the world for Politico.
Similarly, the entire world of work is changing before our eyes, with enterprise tech companies driving it. To help cover it all, we now have David Jeans, also a staff writer, who comes to us from the Real Deal and who has also done terrific investigative stories for The New York Times.
David will report to Alex Konrad, who has been elevated to Senior Editor. As the gatekeeper to the Midas List and our point person on everything venture capital and cloud, Alex has been doing exceptional journalism, as evidenced by the double Zoom and Softbank cover stories in the current print issue.
Katie, meanwhile, will report to Alex Knapp, who is also being elevated to Senior Editor. (It’s a good week to be an Alex K.) This is the epitome of a battlefield promotion – Alex has been absolutely crushing it in terms of directing our science and healthcare coverage, and demonstrates how challenging times also present the opportunity to display greatness.
Several other promotions have been in the works. Jeremy Bogaisky is now a Senior Editor. He’s been generating scoops on the aerospace beat and is also a key asset for Breaking News.
Michael del Castillo has quickly become our in-house force for all things blockchain and crypto, forging all sorts of new products and ways to cover this ascendant beat. He’s now an Associate Editor, as is Antoine Gara, who covers Wall Street and banking with depth and flair.
Sergei Klebnikov and Giacomo Tognini have officially joined as full-time reporters, on the Breaking News and Wealth teams, respectively. Well-deserved — both were already doing exceptional work here.
And great journalism gets noticed. Over in London, Tom Brewster has been named a “Journalist of the Year” finalist in the Online Media Awards there for his in-depth investigative coverage of the 21st Century cyberthreats we face. Bring home the hardware, Tom!
Finally, Justin Conklin and Katherine Love have now been promoted to Managers of Editorial Operations. Our lightning-fast, amazingly-seamless transition to a virtual newsroom fell heavily on their shoulders, and they demonstrated incredible skill and grace. They serve as good role models. Yes, this period in history is very challenging. But it also pushes us to become greater, and if we come out of this stronger, personally and as a team, than when we went in, we will have mitigated this virus in ways more than physical.
Please enjoy this holiday weekend, a fitting moment to reflect on renewal and the better times to come.
