Minneapolis daily names new business editor

Minneapolis Star Tribune editor Rene Sanchez sent out the following announcement to the staff on Thursday:

We are delighted to announce that THOM KUPPER will be our new Assistant Managing Editor for Business, succeeding Todd Stone.

Thom joined the Star Tribune as senior business editor in 2010, and he has distinguished himself with his high standards for writing and reporting. Shortly after he arrived, Thom played a pivotal role in the coordination and execution of a major redesign of the Sunday business section. Since then, he has continued to direct the content and production of the section.

Thom has supervised some of our most ambitious enterprise efforts, including the “Left Behind” (2014), “Land Rush” (2012) and “Fallen Timber” (2012) series. His teams have distinguished themselves as mainstays on page one. He has also directed several major developing news stories, including the Target data breach, a massive reorganization at Supervalu and the MNsure mess.

Thom possesses a calm, professional demeanor, even amid chaos. His reporters respect his acumen, his engagement and his dry wit. Before coming to the Star Tribune, Thom spent 13 years as a business reporter and editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune. As a reporter, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award, which honors the best work in the country by journalists under 35.

As deputy business editor, he oversaw a real estate section that was named the best in the country by the National Association of Real Estate Editors. He started his career as a reporter in metro and later business at the Allentown Morning Call in Pennsylvania. Thom annually serves as a judge for the prestigious Gerald Loeb awards.

He earned an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and an undergraduate degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Stone is becoming deputy managing editor for sports/business at the Houston Chronicle.