Schwartz to join NYTimes economics reporting team

New York Times business editor Larry Ingrassia and deputy business editor Winnie O’Kelley sent out the following staff announcement on Friday:

We are happy to announce that Nelson Schwartz will join our team of economics reporters.

Nelson, who came to The Times in 2007 from Fortune magazine, brings a wealth of knowledge to the economics beat. Since joining us as a Sunday Business reporter, he also has served as European economics correspondent for two years starting in mid-2008 and as one of our finance reporters since returning from Paris in 2010.

He replaces Motoko Rich, who moved to the National desk to cover education. Nelson has been an ace at every job he has held at The Times, writing great yarns for Sunday Business on variety of topics; helping to cover the financial crisis as it spread to Europe in the fall of 2008; and enhancing our coverage of banks and Wall Street since returning to the states.

Among other things, Nelson has been a major contributor to our first-rate coverage of the JP MorganChase trading debacle, and he was among a team of Times reporters who were finalists for a Loeb this year for their coverage of MF Global. With Europe’s debt crisis still unresolved, and its banks increasingly troubled, Nelson’s international experience and his understanding of finance makes him an especially valuable addition to our already strong economics team.

He will work closely with reporters Catherine Rampell and Shaila Dewan, and columnist Eduardo Porter, under the direction of deputy business editor Winnie O’Kelley.

Congratulations to Nelson on his new assignment.