WSJ names Rose its print editor

Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker sent out the following announcement:

I’m delighted to announce that Bob Rose will be taking on a vital new role in our newsroom restructuring: print editor.

Bob will run a newly created team that edits, produces and assembles our print papers around the world, with a mandate to keep the print paper, which remains central to the Journal’s future, strong and vibrant even as we deepen our commitment to digital news. By better organizing our resources and focus, Bob and his team will be positioned to build on the work that’s been done to improve the paper in recent years and further enhance the print product with stronger designs and visuals, a better mix of stories and a streamlined production process that both allows for cleaner lockups and better management of breaking news.

Bob will be directly accountable to me — and to our readers — for ensuring that the print Journal, the nation’s largest, remains indispensable. And even as we drive The Journal further into the digital age, we need a print paper that is an engaging, informative — and increasingly complementary — daily digest of the most important news to our readers.

I will have more to say in coming weeks about the print team and newsroom architecture but it’s fair to say that both will be much more successful with Bob in this role. Bob will work closely with News Editor Alex Martin in building and running our new newsroom in a way that ensures The Journal excels on every platform. Bob will report to Matt Murray.

Bob brings extensive experience and expertise to his new job. For the past 2 1/2 years, he has served as New York bureau chief, working with reporters and editors to produce the Journal’s Greater New York section. Before that he was a member of the Journal’s Standards & Ethics team, and previously served as Markets Desk editor for the Money & Investing section.

Bob joined The Journal as a personal finance reporter in New York. He then moved to Chicago, tackling the beats of financial futures, airlines and manufacturing before serving as deputy bureau chief in Chicago, a news desk editor in New York, and bureau chief in Atlanta. He left to work as business editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and executive editor at SmartMoney magazine before returning to The Journal in 2011.

Bob is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He met his wife at their first newspaper job in Toledo, Ohio. They have two daughters.

Please join me in congratulating Bob on his new role.