10/14/05

Mark Thiessen appointed AP's Alaska news editor

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Mark Thiessen, day supervisor of The Associated Press' Salt Lake City bureau, has been named the AP's news editor for Alaska.

The appointment was announced Aug. 15 by Larry Campbell, chief of bureau for Alaska.

Thiessen joined the Utah bureau in 2003 after spending four years as a reporter and supervisor in the Omaha, Neb., bureau. He joined the AP in Omaha as an editorial assistant in 1998 after spending 10 years as editor of the weekly Douglas County Post-Gazette of Elkhorn, Neb.

A native of Valley, Neb., Thiessen earned bachelor's degrees in English and journalism at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Neb.

He succeeds Linda Ashton, who was named news editor in Salt Lake City.

contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720