Expanded digital media roles for Thomson Reuters executives

Alisa Bowen, who as global head of consumer publishing had a leading role in the redesign of the Reuters.com website and development of mobile applications for the BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad platforms, was made global head of business operations. She joined Reuters in 2001 as a business analyst for media strategy.

Keith McAllister, former global editor of Thomson Reuters' online projects, becomes editor and publisher of consumer media. Before joining Reuters in April 2009 he was chief executive of an online syndicator and also worked for CNN where he was senior executive in charge of newsgathering. His new role will consolidate management of Reuters’ editorial and business teams. 

Christoph Pleitgen, managing director of Reuters news agency, is appointed head of client operations.

The appointments follow the creation of a new team of managing editors for five editorial regions. “The new team structure reflects the growth of our news organisation, and the increasing demand we’re seeing from our customers for news and information from emerging markets,” said global managing editor Betty Wong.

In the past year Reuters has added columnists with its acquisition of commentary website Breakingviews, invested in enterprise journalism, and launched Reuters Insider, a video service for financial professionals. 

A key task of the new managing editors will be to ensure Reuters makes the best use of its new investments and technologies while supporting collaboration across the various platforms. 

The new managing editors, who will report directly to Wong, are:

• Caroline Drees, Middle East editor since late 2008, becomes managing editor, Middle East and Africa in mid-July and will remain based in Dubai. Drees joined Reuters in 1994. On secondment to the Reuters Foundation in 2006/7 she ran a project to help set up Iraq's first independent news agency.
• Sarah Edmonds, continental Europe editor since 2008 and deputy EMEA managing editor, becomes managing editor, Europe in mid-July and will be based in Frankfurt. She was previously bureau chief of the Nordics and Baltics, based in Stockholm. Edmonds began her Reuters career 18 years ago in her native Toronto as a financial markets and telecommunications reporter.
• Saul Hudson, Latin America editor since April 2009, becomes managing editor, Latin America in mid-July and will remain based in Sao Paulo. He previously worked with Reuters for 13 years in The Americas.
• Jack Reerink, global company news editor, becomes managing editor, United States and Canada in September and will remain based in New York. He led coverage of company news and stock markets in the Asia Pacific region from 2002 to 2007 with a short stint as Asia treasury editor. Reerink joined Reuters in 1997.
• Brian Rhoads, Americas managing editor based in New York since September 2008, will move to Hong Kong in July to become managing editor, Asia. Previously, he worked for Reuters in Asia for 12 years, eight of them in China.