“Marketplace” hires executive editor, executive director for “On Demand”

Deborah Clark, senior vice president and general manager for “Marketplace,” sent out the following announcement to the staff:

All,

I’m so pleased to announce two big hires for Marketplace.

Evelyn Larrubia will be our first Executive Editor of News. She comes to us from SCPR, where she’s worked most recently as their Managing Editor. During her time there, she redesigned their beat system, pioneered the use of extensive data analysis in reporting and oversaw numerous investigations including one about LAUSD’s iPad program, which ultimately lead to the school superintendent’s resignation. Evelyn has the nose for a good story and before KPCC spent many years as an investigative reporter for both the Investigative News Network and the Los Angeles Times. Oh, and did I mention that just this week she was named Latina Journalist of the Year by the California Chicano News Media Association?

Evelyn stood out in this search for a number of reasons. Her journalistic rigor. Her passion and drive. Her experience with multi-platform storytelling. Her sense of humour and wit. She also brought great coverage ideas to the table for Marketplace as we expand our ambition to raise the economic intelligence of the country. And I was impressed with how she talked about building a team and creating a collaborative environment. In short, she’s the perfect fit for us and I look forward to welcoming her to the Marketplace team when she starts November 6th.

She will be joined by our new Executive Director of On Demand. You know her as our interim Executive Producer and before that as the Senior Producer of the afternoon program. I am thrilled that Sitara Nieves will inhabit this new role, building an infrastructure as we expand our audio and video production in the on demand space. You’re of course all familiar with her work with us, but you may not know that she has a strong background in multi-platform storytelling, both as one of the launching producers of The Takeaway at WNYC and as a multimedia journalist at The Economist, where she was working in podcasts and video as long ago as 2007. A pioneer by today’s standards.

You hardly need me to tell you how much Sitara brings to the table – she understands the Marketplace voice and sensibility to her very core, she always strives to achieve the highest standards in her work and the work of others, and she cares a lot about her colleagues. I’ve marveled at how much she’s taken on in the EP role over the last 18 months – including hiring a sizable number of you! – and how much energy she continues to bring. When I asked her why she was interested in this role, she explained she wanted the challenge of building something new, and something that she believes in. I am pleased that she wants to do that at Marketplace.

Sitara will also start her new role on November 6th.

This week I’m in the final interview stage for our new Executive Director of Digital. The pool – as was the case with the other two positions – is very impressive. And I’m gratified at how passionate each of the candidates so far has been about joining the Marketplace team and expanding our digital footprint. It’s one of the privileges of my job that I wish you could all experience – these interviews allow me to experience how excited people are by our mission to connect the economic dots. And to a person, every candidate has commented on how impressed they’ve been with the Marketplace team and your smarts and creativity. You are all a great selling point for coming here and I thank you for that.

Deborah