Reuters in DC appoints new editors, hires new reporter

This memo from Reuters Washington bureau chief Marilyn Thompson was sent to the staff on Monday evening:

We are excited to announce several editing appointments and a new reporter in the Washington bureau, part of our effort to add depth and speed to the file.

Bruce Wallace joins us as Global Energy/Environmental Policy Editor on January 12. Working with bureaus around the world, Bruce will direct our Washington energy team toward agenda-setting news and initiative stories. A master of good writing and smart ideas, Bruce also will work closely with Jonathan Leff and our New York energy team.

A longtime foreign correspondent, Bruce has reported from around the globe for the Los Angeles Times and other news organizations. He spent a decade with the Times in London, Tokyo, and finally as the paper’s foreign editor. He joined the Times after a long career in Canadian daily and magazine journalism.

In addition to reporting throughout North America, Bruce has worked across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, with extensive experience in conflict and crisis zones.
He joins Reuters from Policy Options, Canada’s leading policy journal, where he has been editor since 2012.

Assigned to Bruce’s team will be Yeganeh (June) Torbati, who first joined Reuters in 2011 in London as a graduate trainee, and covered Iran in 2012 and 2013 from Dubai. She reported on negotiations on Iran’s disputed nuclear program, the effect of sanctions on Iran’s economy, and Iranian politics, and helped lead Reuters’ coverage of the 2013 Iranian presidential election.

June was also part of the reporting team that produced “Assets of the Ayatollah,” Reuters’ 2013 investigation on Setad, an organization controlled by Iran’s Supreme Leader. June and her co-authors, Steve Stecklow and Babak Dehghanpisheh, were recognized with a Gerald Loeb Award, an Overseas Press Club Award, a SABEW award, and several other prizes.

June will return to Reuters in mid-February after working for a multinational media company based in Dubai. She has previously reported for The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun, and received her undergraduate degree from Yale University in 2010.

Our new spot news team is taking shape with the reassignment early year of two key EICs, who will work with Deputy Bureau Chief Karey Van Hall to lead the team.

Caren Bohan will take on a role as EIC handling domestic and foreign spot news, working closely with Van Hall to shape and win daily coverage.

Caren has been editor-in-charge for domestic policy since February of this year, overseeing Congress, the White House and other domestic policy stories. She also ran our coverage of the 2014 midterm elections. Caren spent nine years as a White House and politics correspondent for Reuters. Before covering the White House, Caren covered the U.S. economic policy and the Federal Reserve.

Tim Ahmann assumes the role of EIC in charge of daily economics coverage with oversight of data and speed.

Tim has been the Washington economics editor since 2006. Previously, he covered the economy and the Federal Reserve. He has also worked as an alerts and financial filer in the bureau. He spent several years in television, both at Reuters and Dow Jones, and has interviewed numerous top cabinet officials, congressional leaders, Fed policymakers and corporate executives. He joined Reuters in the mid-1980s as a copy boy.

Please join us in congratulating these fine additions to the staff and the new roles for some of our key editors.