Little Rock daily names new business editor

Jim Kordsmeier

Rachel O’Neal has been named editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Sunday High Profile section, and Jim Kordsmeier has replaced O’Neal as the newspaper’s business editor.

Jake Sandin of the Democrat-Gazette reports, “Kordsmeier came to the Democrat-Gazette in 1994, first working on the news copy desk, then as a police reporter before being named night city editor, then assistant city editor prior to joining the business staff. A 1987 graduate of Little Rock Catholic High, he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s degree in mass communications from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

“‘Other than the Clay County Courier, this is the only newspaper where I’ve worked,’ Kordsmeier said. ‘That was my first job out of college.’

“As business editor, Kordsmeier will oversee coverage of the state’s companies, energy industry and agriculture. He will supervise a staff of three reporters in Little Rock and four others at the paper’s Northwest Arkansas office.

“‘I’ve had great mentors on the business desk, including Rachel and former Business Editor Roger Hedges,’ Kordsmeier said. ‘We have a good team of business reporters right now, including some veteran journalists who make my job easy, most days.'”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.