Fortune hires senior writer from NYT

Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer sent out the following announcement to the staff on Monday afternoon:

I’m very happy to share the news that Miguel Helft is joining FORTUNE as a Senior Writer based in San Francisco covering all manner of tech stories and other goings on in Silicon Valley. He will also write for Fortune.com contributing to our site’s steady flow of breaking news, deep access, and regular insights.

Miguel joins us from The New York Times, where he’s made a name for himself over the past five years, covering technology companies including Google, Apple, and Facebook on the Business Desk. Miguel is a finalist for the 2011 Loeb Award in the Breaking News category for “Google in China,” which chronicled Google’s abrupt decision to pare down its operations in the world’s largest Internet market.

Previously, Miguel worked at The San Jose Mercury News, The Industry Standard and The LA Times. Miguel was born and raised in Argentina and has a B.A. in philosophy and a masters degree in computer science from Stanford. He’s also worked as a professional mountain guide, a skill of which I am determined to find some use for in his new role at FORTUNE.

Miguel joins our star-studded Tech team of Stephanie Mehta, Adam Lashinsky, Jessi Hempel, Michal Lev-Ram and J.P. Mangalindan. We look forward to Miguel joining us in Aspen for our annual FORTUNE Brainstorm Tech Summit. Please join me in welcoming Miguel to FORTUNE.