FT names new global editor for Lex

The Financial Times announced Thursday the appointment of Stuart Kirk as its global editor of Lex, the FT’s well-known business and financial column.

Kirk assumes this role immediately and will lead the team from New York until he relocates to London on Feb. 1, 2012. He replaces John Authers, who will become the FT’s senior investment columnist.

Kirk has written for and edited the column since 2006, serving most recently as deputy Lex editor. Prior to joining the FT, Kirk worked as a management consultant for Mercer Oliver Wyman and as a senior portfolio manager at Deutsche Asset Management. He read economics at the University of Cambridge where he was president of the Union.

“Stuart’s contributions to the Lex column have been consistently clear and insightful,” said Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, in a statement. “He brings a deep, practical understanding of companies and markets to the role and has helped strengthen Lex’s reputation as the premier financial column in the world. He is well-suited to lead its next phase of development across print and digital formats.”

Lex, the flagship daily opinion column that fills the back page of the FT and is available to premium subscribers online, first appeared in 1945. Its columnists are stationed in London, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo.