Former biz editor leaving Philly Inquirer

Tony Gnoffo, who has been the business editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer for most of the past 15 months, is leaving the paper to become managing editor of the Knowledge@Wharton web site for the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I’m thrilled about it,” says Gnoffo in an e-mail confirming his departure from the paper.

Roberta Shell, the editorial director at Knowledge@Wharton, told Talking Biz News, “Everyone I have talked to speaks very highly of him. We are thrilled that he is joining us.”

The web site is Wharton’s online journal of business research and analysis. In addition to the main site at Wharton, it has Chinese, Indian, Portuguese and Spanish editions, with close to 1.18 million subscribers overall. Gnoffo will have major responsibility for determining the editorial content of the main Knowledge@Wharton issue, including assigning and editing stories, and managing our many freelance writers.

Gnoffo became the Inquirer’s business editor in January 2007, and he presided over some dramatic changes. The paper’s business section is now running ads from a local bank in its masthead, and the bank also sponsors a column on the front page of the business section.

The move has been criticized by some in business journalism, but the revenue brought in additional staff members to the business desk.

Gnoffo stepped down as business editor last month and was replaced by Brian Toolan, the national editor for the Associated Press, who has been on the job now for a couple of weeks.

Before, Gnoffo had been deputy business editor and editor of the paper’s tech section. He also covered the cable/telecom beat as a reporter with primary responsibility for covering Comcast Corp. He also volunteered for hurricane duty, roughing it in the Katrina zone. He previously held other jobs at the Inquirer, reporting from Trenton, editing in Cherry Hill, and running the Chester County Bureau.