International Business Times names new enterprise editor, new business editor

International Business Times global editor in chief Peter Goodman and managing editors Nancy Cooper and Mark Bonner sent out the following announcement on Thursday:

Thanks to all of you, the IBTimes is no less than a juggernaut when it comes to breaking news — fast, furious, relentless. Now, it’s time to bring that same intensity to upping our game on the enterprise front. We need start crystallizing what we used to call the second-day story in the second minute of major breaking news; to conceptualize and execute high-impact and illuminating series on the biggest issues of concern; to extract as much narrative punch as we can out of the story-telling possibilities the world delivers. Every team in the newsroom is doing some of this already, but now it’s time to aim for the next level. Pulling this off requires that we put the appropriate leader in charge: John Simons is stepping into the critical new role of Enterprise Editor, effective late November.

Since joining our newsroom as Business editor in the fall of 2014 following a distinguished career at the Associated Press, Fortune and the Wall Street Journal, John has substantially elevated our business report while winning the loyalty and respect of the writers under his tutelage. An advocate for deep reporting and critical thinking, John is at once a terrific shaper of stories, a deft line editor, and an all-around excellent colleague. He has conceived of and guided some of our more memorable work, from Catherine Dunn‘s riveting dissection of the insurance scam perpetrated by Dollar Rent-A-Car to Amy Nordrum‘s sensitive and intimate exploration of the issues around so-called “female Viagra.”

John has also demonstrated his own considerable writing chops. All of these talents will be needed in his new role: John will be working with the Money team as well as writers on other sections to forge enterprise stories — sometimes one-day projects closely pegged to the news; sometimes longer pieces that absorb weeks. Not least, John will be writing opportunistically. We are thrilled to see what comes of this significant step forward in our evolution.

John’s new adventure demands that we bring in a top-notch business editor to assume responsibility for the Money team: Please welcome Roland Jones, our new Business editor. He arrives on November 23.

Roland joins us from Fortune, where he has been Senior Editor for News, distinguishing himself as an eagle-eyed overseer of breaking news. He will bring a sense of urgency to our report, along with decorated experience as an assigning editor and shaper of beats. He will be looking to identify gaps in our coverage, exploit new opportunities for us to break out and add original value to our report and expand into promising new terrain.

A skilled practitioner of the multimedia arts, Roland was previously a Senior Editor at NBC News Digital. Before that, he covered technology and personal finance at TheStreet.com. He began his journalism career in the U.K. — yes, he’s a Brit — where he edited the official monthly magazine for Manchester United. (Which means we have gained yet another devotee of that game with the ball where you can’t use your hands.)

Roland is well grounded in markets, business and the economy, having earned an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from NYU’s Stern School of Business along with an MA in journalism from Columbia. He also completed a prestigious Knight-Bagehot fellowship in economics and business at Columbia. In short, Roland brings the ideal toolkit to expand and reshape our business coverage while thinking strategically about the workings of our newsroom.

Please join us in congratulating John on this vital new role while welcoming Roland to our growing ranks.