FT names associate editor, investigations editor, executive editor

The Financial Times announced Tuesday four editorial appointments, including an associate editor, an investigations editor and an executive editor.

“It’s been a momentous year for the disruptive global news stories the FT was made to cover,” said editor Lionel Barber in a statement. “Our reporters, production teams and digital delivery specialists have risen to the challenge to produce more award-winning journalism across platforms, and these appointments further reinforce our focus on developing new types of digital storytelling for the modern reader.”

Pilita Clark is appointed business columnist and associate editor. She will write a weekly column focusing on the interesting, contentious or amusing aspects of modern corporate life. Publishing every Monday, it made its first appearance on Sept. 11, covering the myth of mentoring.

Clark’s work as the FT’s environmental correspondent has been globally recognised. This year she was named 2016 Environment Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. She also was part of a team which earned the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) award for Energy/Natural Resources, and received the award for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) for her multimedia piece on Indonesia’s rainforests, The Great Land Rush.

Lyndsey Jones is appointed an executive editor. Jones will play a key role in defining the newsroom and publishing processes that underpin the FT’s digital transformation. In her current role as section chief of the day production, she has reshaped the editing process to focus on digital output, while simplifying the print operation.

Robin Kwong is appointed head of digital delivery under editorial director Robert Shrimsley. He is charged with pushing the boundaries of digital storytelling and making imaginative project planning routine across the FT’s editorial operations.

Kwong is a recipient of the inaugural Nikkei-FT fellowship in San Francisco and co-produced the first interactive storytelling collaboration between the FT and Nikkei, “Can a Robot Do Your Job?” Kwong’s work has been awarded several prestigious prizes, including a Press Award for Innovation for “When Rates Rise” and a European Newspaper Award for “Seven Robots You Need to Know.”

Paul Murphy is appointed investigations editor. Murphy will lead a team focused both on traditional long-form investigations and shorter examinations of current news stories. Prior to this role, Murphy was the long-time editor of award-winning financial markets blog Alphaville, which he founded in 2006.