Interim named permanent Houston biz editor

Laura Goldberg, who has been interim business editor at the Houston Chronicle since last summer, has had the “interim” removed from her title, according to an announcement in the paper.

Goldberg replaced George Haj, who became deputy managing editor/news last June. Haj is a SABEW board member.

“Laura already is a forceful advocate for expanding and improving the section’s reach and for owning the franchise on important local beats from energy to health care to Latin America,” editor Jeff Cohen said in making the announcement.

In eight years at the Chronicle, Goldberg covered airlines and energy as a reporter. As an editor since December 2004, she has directed coverage of the economic consequences of last fall’s hurricanes, as well as leading the Chronicle’s Enron trial coverage.

Goldberg is a graduate of Northwestern University and worked at the Cincinnati Enquirer and the News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., before joining the Chronicle in 1998.

Read the announcement here.