Lev named AME biz at Chicago Tribune

Michael Lev has been named the associate managing editor for business at the Chicago Tribune, reports Phil Rosenthal of the paper.

Rosenthal writes, “Jane Hirt, the Tribune’s managing editor, told staff of the appointment in a memo today.

“Lev succeeds Jim Kirk, who left the Tribune at the end of last year to join Bloomberg News’ Washington bureau, overseeing coverage of the White House and Congress as its government team leader. Lev worked in tandem with Kirk, who brought him in as his No. 2 in July 2005, five months after getting the job top.Â

“‘Michael has done a superb job leading change as interim leader of the business department since the beginning of the year,’ Hirt wrote. ‘It’s been a time of great economic upheaval for Chicago and the country, and he and his team have worked hard to explain the complicated issues surrounding a story very personal to our audience.’

“Lev joined the Tribune in 1992 as a metro reporter. A graduate of Northwestern University, he previously worked as a reporter in California, including a hitch as a full-time free-lance reporter for the New York Times out of its Los Angeles bureau.”

Read more here.