New editor of Wall Street Journal Europe

The Wall Street Journal has named Michael Williams as the editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe, effective June 1.

Williams, 43, will succeed Raju Narisetti, 39, who is moving to a new role with the Hindustan Times Media group in India. A 14-year veteran of the Journal, Williams is currently based in Paris where he is the Journal’s Southern Europe bureau chief — a role he has held for the past three years. Williams, who will be responsible for coverage of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for all editions of the Journal, will report to Paul Steiger, managing editor, The Wall Street Journal. He will also continue to lead the Journal’s global energy coverage.

“Mike’s proven leadership skills and extensive international journalism experience makes him ideally suited to the editor’s role�, said Steiger in a release. “His mission will be to produce the best coverage possible of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for our readers everywhere. As one of the key architects of the major format changes we made to the international editions late last year, Raju was instrumental in making the Journal Europe a more relevant, accessible publication to suit the changing needs of our busy, mobile readers. I’m confident Mike will continue the role with the same enterprise and initiative.�

A Harvard graduate, Williams joined the Journal’s Tokyo bureau in 1992 as news editor and later became Japanese economy and political correspondent. In 1996, he moved to New York as assistant foreign editor for the Journal, returning to Japan as Tokyo bureau chief in 1999.

Prior to joining Dow Jones, Williams worked as a copy editor for the Japan Times and the Asahi News Service in Tokyo. He was a senior editor for Business Tokyo magazine in New York in 1991 and 1992.

In 1997, Williams was a member of a team of Journal reporters who received the Overseas Press Club’s Bob Considine Award for best interpretation of foreign affairs. The team’s articles examined the failure of Japan’s bureaucracy to deal with key crises in the country.

Williams will be replaced in his current role by Alessandra Galloni, currently deputy chief of the Journal’s Southern Europe bureau. Ms. Galloni, 32, will be responsible for leading the paper’s coverage of French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese business, politics and the economy and will have additional responsibility for guiding pan-European coverage of the luxury goods and technology industries. Galloni was previously based in Rome, where she covered the European luxury sector and Italian business and politics. She led the paper’s coverage of the Parmalat corporate scandal, which received an Overseas Press Club award in 2004 and a Business Journalist of the Year award in the U.K. in 2005.

Read the release here.