Quartz hires Smalera from NYT

Quartz editor in chief Kevin Delaney sent out the following announcement on Wednesday morning:

I’m happy to announce that Paul Smalera will join us as Quartz’s Ideas editor as of November 5.

Paul comes from the New York Times, where he was the founding editor of its Op-Talk site and led the editorial team for the NYT Opinion iPhone app.

Paul is an entrepreneurial, tech-savvy journalist with hands-on experience editing the sort of global commentary that is the core fare of Quartz’s Ideas section. One former colleague describes him as “the real deal” and “very astute about reader platforms and social media, very curious about the world, very savvy as to what readers want.” Since before the launch of Quartz, I’ve hoped for an opening to bring him on to join us.

Paul earlier worked at Reuters, where he was technology editor, product manager for a new content management system, and deputy opinion editor. He also was a senior editor for technology coverage at Fortune and spent seven years as a professional web developer.

Paul’s mandate is to be bold and creative in approaching Ideas, experimenting with the form, approach, and outside contributors we work with. His efforts will build on the work that Mitra, Lauren, and Annalisa have done to make Ideas pieces among the most lively, impactful, and well-read content that we publish.

Please join me in welcoming Paul.