WSJ names Johnson its professional products editor

Stephen Wisnefski, deputy managing editor of professional news at The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following announcement on Monday:

I am pleased to announce Kimberly S. Johnson has been appointed Professional Products Editor, a role that’s central to The Wall Street Journal’s efforts to provide business and financial professionals specialized content that helps them understand their industries, grow their businesses and advance their careers.

Kimberly, who most recently served as editor of CFO Journal, will be the senior editor responsible for a dozen professional verticals, leading a team of more than 60 journalists generating news, analysis and data for those products. Kimberly will also help set strategy for professional products, enhancing existing offerings and working with other senior editors and commercial colleagues to chart a course for new ones.

The products under Kimberly’s watch include the suite of WSJ Pro Products launched in recent years – Cybersecurity, Private Equity, Bankruptcy, Venture Capital, Financial Regulation and Central Banking – as well as CFO Journal, CIO Journal, CMO Today, Risk & Compliance Journal and Logistics Report. The Frontiers newsletter will also come under Kimberly’s umbrella, as will future professional verticals.

Kimberly will coordinate with editors throughout the newsroom to ensure our professional products are taking full advantage of the news and insights of the WSJ’s global staff. She will also collaborate with colleagues on the product, sales, technology, data strategy, events and customer knowledge teams to identify opportunities to better serve professional subscribers with essential content and membership experiences.

Kimberly, who grew up in Flushing, Queens, has worked as a journalist for two decades and brings ample relevant experience to this important new assignment.

Prior to joining The Wall Street Journal in 2014, as news editor for CFO Journal, Kimberly spent five years covering financial activity in sub-Saharan Africa for various publications including Mergermarket, The Financial Times, Global Post, and The Africa Report magazine. She also helped launch financial intelligence services focused on Africa’s construction sector and Nigeria’s business environment.

Before moving overseas Kimberly wrote about the auto industry for The Associated Press in Detroit, where she covered the bankruptcy protection filings of General Motors and Chrysler. Prior to Detroit, Kimberly was a business reporter at the Denver Post, where she covered retail, technology, telecommunications and biotech. She also worked at the New Haven Register, The Boston Globe and CNN.

Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism and a Master of Science in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University’s College of Communication. She currently lives in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side with her wife and their two Maine Coon kittens.

Please join me in wishing Kimberly much success as she takes on this critical newsroom leadership role role.