SABEW president Wolk to join NerdWallet

Marty Wolk, the president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers who left as managing editor of MSN Money last fall, is joining the personal finance website NerdWallet.

In a note to SABEW board members, Wolk wrote:

I’m happy to let you know that I have a new job and will be starting Monday as an assigning editor at NerdWallet, a San Francisco-based company that aims to help consumers make informed decisions about all the financial transactions in their lives.

This is an exciting opportunity for me to join a growing company that, in true Silicon Valley style, intends to disrupt the financial services industry by making more information available to consumers on the Web and other digital platforms.

While I was definitely surprised by my layoff at Microsoft, in the end I’m glad that it opened the path to new opportunities, including this one. In the end I think NerdWallet is a great fit, giving me the chance to get back to service journalism, producing original content to help consumers make good decisions.

The mantra I keep hearing from my new NerdWallet colleagues is to put consumers first by creating a good user experience with unbiased, authoritative content that is not influenced by financial service providers. (NerdWallet does not accept traditional advertising but gets compensated by referral fees.)

It’s definitely a tough time in our industry, but there is demand out there for people with the skills we have developed. I credit my years of SABEW involvement with creating a great network that made it relatively easy for me to reach a quick and successful conclusion to my job search.

My job will be based out of my home office in Seattle, but I will begin my new job by spending three weeks in the San Francisco home office beginning Monday. Finally, a foothold for SABEW in Silicon Valley!