SF Chronicle hires Galbraith as assistant biz editor

Kate Galbraith has been hired as an assistant business editor at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Previously, Galbraith reported on energy for the Texas Tribune, CALmatters and the New York Times. She began her career at Let’s Go and Lonely Planet travel guides and can probably still advise on the best Oregon youth hostels from 20 years ago.

She spent a number of years with the Economist in London and Austin and is co-author of “The Great Texas Wind Rush,” a book about how the oil and gas state came to lead the nation in wind power.

A native of Washington, D.C., Galbraith has a bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard University and a master’s degree from The London School of Economics; she also spent a year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

She joined the staff of The Economist in London in 2000 and served as the magazine’s Southwest correspondent, based in Austin, from 2005 to 2007. In 2008 and 2009, she reported on and blogged about renewable energy and energy efficiency for the Times.