San Antonio daily names deputy biz editor, makes other changes
San Antonio Express-News business editor Dawn Kopecki sent out the following to her staff on Friday:
We have some exciting changes coming in the new year on the Biz team. First, I would like to congratulate Jennifer Hiller on her promotion to Deputy Business Editor (in what has to be one of the worst-kept secrets in the newsroom). As everyone knows, Jennifer is an outstanding reporter and writer. She’s won more awards than most anyone else at the paper —the paper’s first Loeb finalist (two of them) ever, the paper’s first SABEW award in more than two decades and too many others to count. She’ll help elevate our already strong team to new heights in 2018, and you’ll still get to see her byline from time to time. Her promotion is effective Monday.
David Hendricks
David Hendricks will be retiring from the paper early next year just shy of his 42nd anniversary with the Express-News, which was called the San Antonio Express when he joined on Feb. 17, 1976. David knows, and is trusted by, all of San Antonio’s most powerful executives. He’s a workhorse with, quite literally, a couple hundred bylines a year and is our go-to whenever we need to reach a local billionaire (because they return all of his calls). And he’s woven some wonderful narratives since I’ve been here on the city’s troubled symphony, financial woes at iHeartMedia, the death of Howard Butt and long career of Red McCombs. He’ll be finishing up in the office next month with an official retirement date early next year.
Lynn Brezosky – who’s entertained readers with wonderful tales of fruit flies and cartel violence, fever ticks and nilgai – will be taking over David’s duties covering economics and workplace issues. The beat should pair perfectly with her Mexico trade coverage. And since agriculture is Texas’ No. 1 export, she’ll still be able to write about the occasional organic cattle rancher or hydroponic pot farmer. The combination of her skill as a masterful storyteller with a beat rich in economic disparities, workplace harassment and disgruntled labor is the killer combination for some real high-impact journalism. Her work will be worth watching.
Josh Fechter is also taking on a bigger role covering growth and transportation for the paper. This is a beat that knows no team bounds and we expect to work heavily with the metro editors and writers on a regular basis. He’ll be focused, along with Richard Webner, on the city’s major growth projects and tax incentives as well as the airport and other growing pains as the city’s population continues to challenge urban planners. Josh has been a standout since joining the team last year. He was the lead reporter (in the state) in covering the economic impact of the Texas transgender bill. Every major tourism office in Texas called Josh first as papers in much bigger towns struggled to catch up to his coverage. And he’s covered the digital revolution in retail with the sophistication of any seasoned reporter at any large paper in the nation.
With all of that, we are hiring to fill the BIG holes Jennifer and Josh will leave on their beats. The postings are on Journalism Jobs below and on SABEW.
Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.