Lou Ferrara, vice president and managing editor of The Associated Press, is leaving the newswire for a job that will be announced later this month, he said Monday in a post on LinkedIn.
After 10 years, I’m leaving the AP for a new gig. Announcement about the job coming later this month.
In an email to Poynter, Ferrara called his current employer “a fabulous place to innovate” with a “bright future.”
“I have been presented an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Ferrara said.
During his tenure at the AP, Ferrara (a member of Poynter’s National Advisory Board) has been a champion of the news cooperative’s effort to automate various aspects of its operations. On his watch, the AP used software from Automated Insights to produce recaps of earnings reports and collegiate sports. While Ferrara was managing editor, the AP also hired a news automation editor and invested in Automated Insights, a move that paid dividends when the company was purchased by STATS LLC.
Before Ferrara joined the AP in 2005, he was general manager of electronic and digital media at Herald-Tribune Media Group, according to his LinkedIn bio. He has also held jobs at the Salisbury (North Carolina) Post, the (Hagerstown, Maryland) Herald-Mail, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Baltimore Sun.
Ferrara didn’t say where he’s headed but noted he’s not leaving to work for a competitor.
