06/16/2008

AP Press Release

Hal Ritter named business editor of The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Hal Ritter, a founding editor of USA Today who helped launch the newspaper’s Money section, has been named business editor of The Associated Press, responsible for global coverage of financial news.

Ritter, who has been acting business editor for three months, succeeds Kevin Noblet, who resigned.

His appointment was announced Monday by Kristin Gazlay, AP’s managing editor for financial news and global training.

Ritter, 56, began working for AP as a business-side consultant in February 2006, and became director of special projects in April 2007. He was one of the architects of AP’s Money & Markets service.

"Hal's considerable expertise, smarts and high standards are just what we need to raise even higher the level of our journalism in the increasingly crucial area of business news," Gazlay said. "He is both innovative and determined."

Ritter joined USA Today three months before its 1982 launch as deputy managing editor of the Money section. He became managing editor of Money in 1985 and moved to the News section as managing editor in 1995. He left the paper in 2004.

Before USA Today, he was business editor and assistant city editor at the now-defunct Times-Union newspaper in Rochester, N.Y.

He has a journalism degree from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Stanford Business School.

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