Memphis daily hires deputy business editor

Sara Clarke, a business reporter at the Orlando Sentinel, has been hired as deputy business editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

She starts June 30. This is her last week at the Sentinel.

Business editor Ted Evanoff wrote in an announcement, “Sara interviewed here several weeks ago and impressed reporters and editors with her intelligence, energy and accomplishments.I think she’ll be a big addition to our newsroom. Sara’s arrival will mark the final step in the recent reorganization of the business department.”

As a business reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, Clarke tracks the companies and entities that serve locals and tourists alike in Central Florida. Her job includes writing about retail businesses in Orlando, from the Apple stores jammed with international travelers to up-and-coming local shops.

Clarke joined the Sentinel in 2006 to help establish an online newsletter for business news. She took on the tourism beat in 2008, and has also worked as a general assignment and cops reporter for Orlando Sentinel and OrlandoSentinel.com. Prior to joining the Sentinel, she worked at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., and wrote for news outlets including the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun.

She graduated from the University of Maryland, where she studied journalism and Spanish.