12/28/05

Frank Bajak, veteran foreign correspondent, named AP's first chief of Andean news

MEXICO CITY -- Frank Bajak, the New York-based technology editor for The Associated Press, has been named to the new post of chief of Andean news.

The appointment was announced Dec. 23 by Niko Price, AP's Latin America editor.

Bajak will be based in Bogota, Colombia, where he oversaw news operations for that country as bureau chief in 1996-2000 before moving to AP headquarters to become the cooperative's first technology editor.

As chief of Andean news, Bajak will run AP operations in Colombia and Bolivia and provide editorial oversight for Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru in coordination with the chiefs of bureau in Caracas and Lima.

The new role is a part of a reorganization and expansion intended to strengthen AP coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Bajak joined the AP in Warsaw, Poland, in 1982 and worked in the Albany, N.Y., and Newark, N.J., bureaus before moving to the AP's International Desk in 1987. He was posted to Berlin, Germany, in 1993, and promoted three years later to the Bogota post.

A native of Bronxville, N.Y., Bajak is a graduate of Oberlin College.

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720