New Asia biz editor at International Herald Tribune

The International Herald Tribune announced Tuesday that Tom Sims was named Asia business editor and will be based at the newspaper’s Hong Kong news bureau.

Sims, currently the editor of Marketplace, the European finance section in the IHT, is an experienced business writer having come to the IHT from the Wall Street Journal in Frankfurt. As Asia business editor Sims will supervise all of the IHT’s coverage of business in Asia. He will also co-ordinate between the business desks in Asia, Paris and New York.

Michael Oreskes, the IHT’s executive editor, said: “This is a crucial job. You only have to look at the business growth rates in China, India and elsewhere in Asia, and the increase in business coverage in the IHT, to appreciate the importance of the role. Tom has made such a mark as editor of Marketplace impressing us all with his knowledge, judgement and editing skills. It’s a big task, but Tom is the right editor for the job.”

The IHT, which is owned by the New York Times, has invested significantly in its Asia edition: it expanded its Asian business content with the ‘Business Asia’ section and opened a newsroom in Hong Kong in 2005, when it also appointed numerous high-profile correspondents and editors across the region.

Sims was a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal on its international and online editions, writing under the byline G. Thomas Sims for nearly six years. Based in Frankfurt, he wrote extensively from across the continent about the young European Central Bank, the birth of the euro and its effect on currency and bond markets, the challenges of European integration, and macroeconomic trends.