New biz editor named at Washington state paper

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Gordon Oliver, a business reporter at The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash., has been named the paper’s business editor.

He replaces Courtney Sherwood, who had acted as the paper’s features and business editor. Sherwood is leaving the paper on March 1 to launch a freelance business writing career.

“I’ve already got some contracts to work about business and legal issues, including for the Lexis Nexis-run website lawyers.com, and I’m looking for more business journalism freelance opportunities,” said Sherwood.

Oliver has been with the paper since November 2010. His beat topic areas include technology, software developers, banking, and businesses in north Clark County, Wash.

When contacted by Talking Biz News, Oliver said, “Today, I’m still a reporter and I actually face three deadlines.”

Oliver worked at The Oregonian in Portland for 26 years as a metro reporter and editor and as an assistant business editor. He accepted a buyout offer at the end of 2009 and came to work as a business reporter for The Columbian in November 2010. He will begin work as the business editor of The Columbian on March 11.

In between working for The Oregonian and The Columbian, Oliver did contract writing and editing for business organizations, non-profits, and individual clients.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.