New beat for Dow Jones reporter

Rob Wells, the Washington bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires, made the following announcement to the staff on Friday afternoon:

I am pleased to announce a new beat and promotion for Mike Crittenden. He is now reporting full-time on foreign exchange-related and economic issues as a member of the economy team. He will work closely with international finance reporter Ian Talley, Federal Reserve reporter Luca Di Leo, trade reporter Tom Barkley and colleagues at The Wall Street Journal.

Crittenden joined Newswires in September 2007 and quickly moved to the bureau’s lead financial services reporter job. He led Newswires coverage of financial regulation during the 2008 financial crisis, the TARP bailout and the debate that led to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul bill. He scored many exclusives along the way. Crittenden and Maya Jackson Randall shared a Newswires Clabby Award and a Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award this year for breaking news on funding of the TARP program and the Federal Reserve Board’s internal deliberations about the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger.

Crittenden came to Newswires from Congressional Quarterly, where he had covered financial services and economic news in the Capitol. His knowledge of the banking industry was honed while at SNL Financial Inc., where he served as senior editor following banking and financial issues for professional clients.

He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., with a degree in print journalism and political science. He was a Robert E. Lee Honor Scholar at the school.

DISCLOSURE: Crittenden was a student of mine at Washington and Lee. I also hired him to work for me at SNL Financial.