Quartz names new biz editor, new tech editor, hires travel writer

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

Hello Quartz –

I’m happy to share some editorial staffing updates:

Leslie Josephs joins Quartz in NYC as our travel reporter, starting today. Leslie was most recently a reporter covering exchange-traded funds and markets at the Wall Street Journal, where she also covered small business and agricultural commodities. Leslie was earlier a reporter for Reuters in Costa Rica, and for Dow Jones and the Associated Press in Peru.

At Quartz, Leslie will cover travel globally, with a focus that includes the airline industry and hotels, aerospace technology, travel hacks, adventure travel, business travel, and consumer technology used by travelers. Among her background for this beat: prior to becoming a reporter, Leslie actually worked as a travel agent at student-focused agencies Council Travel and STA Travel. She has a bachelor’s from Emerson College and speaks Spanish. You can follow her @lesliejosephs

Kabir Chibber is moving to New York this summer to be Quartz’s business editor. Kabir has been deputy news editor in London, having initially started with Quartz as our weekend writer and editor. Kabir will lead our corporate and management coverage, including our reporting on the food and travel industries. Kabir’s responsibilities as business editor include continuing oversight of the business of sport obsession that he got off the ground for us and has been coordinating since its launch nearly two years ago. From London, Kabir has played a critical utility role, sending the Daily Brief for the Americas and editing reporters on several continents, while guiding the coverage of Aamna and others. Gideon will likely take on some of Kabir’s editing responsibilities when he moves to London in August, but we also expect to eventually hire at least one more editor there.

Matt Quinn is now Quartz’s technology editor. Matt has been deputy news editor for technology and finance since arriving at Quartz from Advertising Age last year. With the growth of our global technology team and ambitions for its coverage, he has shifted to focus solely on this important area. Matt has played a major role in Quartz’s business coverage since his arrival and our efforts to deepen our staffing and reporting in that area. He’s brought structure and initiative, and played a direct role in some of our most distinctive coverage, include Deena’s Mast Bros. chocolate piece and Ali’s Uber and Instacart features. We expect to continue expanding our tech coverage under Matt’s leadership.

Thu-Huong Ha is joining Quartz as a reporter. Thu has been a fellow for most of the past year, having joined Quartz from TED.com. Thu is covering books, the publishing industry, and other topics in the culture area, and will continue reporting to Caitlin. She’s recently done some cutting analysis of the adult-coloring-book trend and connected the story of her parents’ arrival in the US from Vietnam to the outlook for Syrian immigrants today. Thu is the author of a young-adult novel, speaks Vietnamese, and you can follow her on Twitter @thuhuongha and on Instagram @tdha.

Amy Wang is joining Quartz as a reporter. Amy has been a fellow with Quartz since last September, having joined us from Slate. Amy’s central coverage focuses are music, media, and the business of education, and she’ll continue reporting to Kabir. One recent piece by Amy cleverly tapped into consumer frustration with iTunes, and another one outlined the question parents should ask their college-bound kids. Amy speaks Mandarin and French, and you can follow her @AmyXWang

Please join me in welcoming Leslie and congratulating our other colleagues.