03/09/06

Williams appointed AP assistant chief of bureau for Texas

DALLAS -- Michelle Williams, news editor for The Associated Press in Texas, has been named assistant chief of bureau in Dallas.

The appointment, effective April 1, was announced March 9 by Texas Chief of Bureau Dale Leach. Williams replaces Jim Baltzelle, who was appointed AP chief of bureau for Florida.

Williams has directed news coverage in Texas since 2003. She helped supervise a broad range of stories, from the indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Texas.

Williams began her AP career in 1989 as an editorial assistant in the Nashville bureau. She advanced to a reporting position and in 1991 moved to the Milwaukee bureau, where she covered the arrest and trial of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

She later served as correspondent in Chattanooga, Tenn., supervisory correspondent in San Diego and news editor in Tennessee before moving to Texas as news editor. Before joining the AP, Williams worked as a reporter at The Tennessean in Nashville.

Williams is a 1989 graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, where she serves on the New Century Journalism Advisory Board.

In 2005, she served as co-chair of The Press Club of Dallas' Katie Awards, a regional contest honoring excellence in journalism.

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720