Houston Chronicle hires finance and economics reporter

Houston Chronicle business editor Al Lewis sent out the following announcement on Friday:

Hello everyone:

Please welcome John Roper who will be joining the business news staff on Monday as our new finance and economics reporter.

John worked for the Chronicle in the mid-2000s and fondly recalls covering the Enron trial. He’s been a bureau chief for Fox News, a senior pentagon correspondent for UPI, a managing editor for Hart Energy Publications and an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia College in Chicago. He’s also done a lot of corporate communications work for some of Houston’s largest companies, including Hess Corp., Apache Corp. and ConocoPhillips.

His breadth of experience, business acumen and local connections made him an obvious choice for the job.

Meantime, we continue seeking and interviewing candidates to fill three other reporting positions – an energy reporter and two more business reporters to help with our plans to expand our Monday business section. Your recommendations are valued as we continue our searches.