TIME Announces Editorial New Hires and Promotions

TIME Editor-in-Chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal sent the following note to staff on Wednesday:

Team TIME,

Please join me in congratulating our colleagues on the 18 promotions below and in welcoming 11 new editorial staffers. You may have met some of these new arrivals within your groups already. But with so many of us working remotely these days, we thought it important to introduce them to the full team.

These moves will enable us to more effectively achieve our goals of delivering world-class journalism, growing audience and the immediacy and urgency of our digital report, and continuing to innovate to support our business.

This is a time of expansion and innovation for us across all platforms, and we’re thrilled to have such remarkable people at TIME.

Best,

Edward

Executive Editor Naina Bajekal takes on the additional role of International Editor. Naina, who moved to New York in February, continues to lead special projects and expand newsroom development. In recent months, Naina has spearheaded our coverage of the Russian invasion, delivered a string of world-leader interviews and, with Lucy Feldman, helped launch the latest extension of our now-annual Women of the Year franchise.

Vera Bergengruen becomes Senior Correspondent. A versatile and enterprising reporter, Vera has consistently broken new ground with her coverage of disinformation and online extremism, producing agenda-setting stories about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, QAnon-linked officials running for office, far-right streamers exploiting the pandemic, and many others. Her investigation into a right-wing group profiting off the ivermectin craze helped spur a Congressional probe.

Judy Berman becomes Senior Correspondent. Judy is one of the sharpest, funniest, and most prescient TV critics, correctly predicting the ascendance of shows like The White Lotus and Yellowjackets. She’s also expanded into features and cultural criticism, profiling Shonda Rhimes, writing incisive takes on streaming and smug comedians, and giving a name to peak redundancy.

Stacy Bien becomes Head of Curriculum and Digital at TIME for Kids. Since she joined the team in 2017, Stacy has accelerated TFK’s digital experience for students and teachers and guided our leap to a digital product in 2020. Stacy will now oversee all educational and digital work, including TFK’s eight newsletters and new brand, Your Job, which launches in May. Stacy will also continue to work with the business side, serving as a primary partner in consumer marketing efforts.

Jenna Caldwell becomes Associate Producer. Jenna joined TIME in the summer of 2020 to contribute to our coverage of recent college graduates. Jenna became essential to the production of TIME100 Talks and has contributed stories about Lauren Smith-Fields and Afro-Latino representation in Hollywood. She’s also played a major role in Person of the Year, TIME100, and Next Generation Leaders. In her new role she will continue to work on a revamped version of Talks and Summits as well as on other tentpole projects.

Madeleine Carlisle becomes Staff Writer. In the last year, Maddie has chronicled Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation to the Supreme Court, covered an avalanche of recent legislation in Florida and Texas, and written a powerful feature on the rising threats against doctors serving trans youth. A compassionate writer and energetic reporter, she will continue to cover national legal issues, with a focus on the U.S. Supreme Court and the LGBTQ community.

Andrew Chow becomes Correspondent. Andrew is one of TIME’s most dogged and versatile reporters, jumping on stories ranging from NFTs to hate speech on Reddit to the Oscars. A sensitive interviewer as well as a keen observer of trends, Andrew has written a profile of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, launched the “Into the Metaverse” newsletter and interviewed a variety of cultural leaders. With this promotion, Andrew will join the business and technology team, reporting to Lindsay Muscato.

Eliana Dockterman becomes Correspondent. With a focus on culture, society, and gender, Eliana is an idea machine, writing in-depth features, insightful essays, and quick stories off the news. Over the past year, she has profiled figures like producer Mindy Kaling and podcaster Alexandra Cooper, written about the pandemic’s impact on women, and maintained her role as our in-house Superhero Expert.

Phil Elliott becomes Senior Correspondent. A mainstay of our political coverage since he joined TIME in 2015, Phil seized the initiative during the COVID-19 crisis to remake our politics newsletter, The D.C. Brief. There he has found a perfect fit for his deep sourcing and seasoned analysis, winning loyal and engaged readers at the top of government and across the country. Generous with sources and insight, Phil has been a ready and collegial guide to the halls of power for a succession of D.C. Bureau reporters.

Alejandro de la Garza becomes Staff Writer. Since joining TIME as a fact-checker and reporter, Alejandro has established himself as one of the key journalists contributing to our climate coverage. He’s become a leading voice in the space, with conversation-moving stories like how U.S. civil engineers bent federal rules in a way that may have saved New Orleans during Hurricane Ida; the first offshore wind farm in the U.S.; and U.S. military efforts to go green.

Sean Gregory becomes Senior Correspondent. As our lead sports writer, Sean has consistently delivered scoops, prescient features, and high-impact profiles. His highlights over the last year include insightful cover profiles of Chloe Kim, Shohei Ohtani, Sue Bird and more, to pieces exploring the future of professional sports like his feature on Overtime Elite, and exclusives on Allyson Felix’s shoe brand.

Amy Gunia becomes Staff Writer. Since joining TIME’s Hong Kong bureau in 2019, Amy has been a linchpin of our Asia-Pacific coverage, reporting on everything from the Myanmar coup to the Tokyo Olympics. She has developed engaging beats covering business and sustainability, regional social justice movements, and Australasia. In her new role, she will continue to report to Aidyn Fitzpatrick and focus on regional coverage of equality and climate.

Senior Editor Cate Matthews takes on the additional title of Programming Director, TIME Events. In addition to her work producing our TIME100 franchises, Cate has been instrumental in booking speakers and creating programming for TIME100 Talks and the TIME100 broadcast special, as well as for in-person events such as the TIME100 Gala and Summit, the Women of the Year Gala, and the TIME100 Impact Awards. In her expanded role, Cate will oversee booking and programming for all TIME events, and work closely with Executive Editor Dan Macsai to help TIME’s overall event business reach new heights.

Dilys Ng becomes a supervising Senior Photo Editor. Dilys has led the photography direction of many of TIME’s most ambitious projects, including TIME100, and elevated TIME’s visual enterprise—from digital to the cover—through creative and compelling photography. In her new role, Dilys will manage Kara Milstein and Whitney Matewe and play a crucial role in rethinking the role of visuals across TIME’s digital presence.

Nik Popli becomes Reporter. Since joining TIME as an Emma Bowen fellow in 2021, Nik has become an integral member of the newsroom. Skilled at juggling fact checking and quick reporting, Nik is a significant contributor to our daily report. In his new role, Nik will cover technology and business news, reporting to Lindsay Muscato, and continue helping Phil Elliott with the D.C. Brief newsletter.

Justine Simons becomes Executive Producer, TIME Video. As a talented producer and leader, Justine’s creative impact has been profound since joining TIME in 2016. Her work has directly resulted in the critical acclaim of TIME’s video journalism including an Emmy win. As Executive Producer of TIME Video, Justine will continue to lead our talented team at TIME Video collaborating across the company, focusing on growing overall viewership and continuing to push the boundaries of world-class video production.

Francesca Trianni becomes Supervising Producer. In her nearly 10 years at TIME, Francesca has worked across the newsroom on everything from breaking news to a feature documentary. Her strong reporting skills, narrative abilities, and visual approach will be instrumental in expanding our production of engaging and award-winning short documentaries. Francesca will lead a team to create videos for our new TIME Reports series and will help with the creation of new digital series.

Lucas Wittmann becomes Editorial Director, TIME Ideas. A gifted story editor and enthusiastic newsroom collaborator, Lucas has deftly balanced daily opinion editing on an impressive variety of topics while commissioning and editing high-impact features. Through that work, Lucas pushes our readers to think differently and newly about everything from the pandemic to democracy to air conditioning. Lucas is currently recruiting an associate editor to expand the Ideas team.

We also welcome the following journalists to TIME.

Aman Batheja joins TIME in Washington as Senior Editor to lead our political report, driving coverage of the White House, Congress, and campaigns. Aman came from the New York Times, where he served for nearly three years as a Deputy Weekend Editor. Previously, Aman was the political editor at the Texas Tribune. He started his career with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Eli Cohen joins the photo department as Assistant Photo Editor. Before TIME, Eli was at Aperture, The New Yorker, and MOMA. He will be focusing on research and assignments for quick-turn news stories for digital and print.

Maya Chung joins us as an Editor. Formerly a reporter and producer at CBS’s Inside Edition, she’ll be on Wednesdays through Sundays, continuing her weekend editing. During the week, she’ll serve as a swing editor and content strategist.

Eric Cortellessa joins the staff in Washington as Staff Writer, covering Congress with Abby Vesoulis and national politics. Eric was previously the Investigative Editor for the Washington Monthly, writing on voting rights, the postal service, and other issues ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Before that, he was the Washington Correspondent for the Times of Israel.

Cristina Fernandez joins us as Writer, TIME for Kids. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2021, and her debut YA novel will be published by Katherine Tegen Books this summer. Cristina writes news and feature stories for all editions of TFK.

Kyla Mandel joins us as a Senior Editor for climate. Kyla has nearly a decade of experience working as a journalist in London, New York, and now Washington, D.C., including as a deputy editor with Huffpost’s enterprise team. Most recently, she was the project manager for the Local Media Association’s Covering Climate Collaborative, partnering with 23 local news outlets across the country.

Carol Masiclat joins us as Associate Editor, Digital, TIME for Kids. With an eye for detail and keen instincts for building clear processes, Carol will focus on supporting our digital product and nurturing our communities through TFK’s eight newsletters.

Lindsay Muscato joins us as a Senior Editor for Technology. Lindsay was most recently an editor at MIT Technology Review, where she led the magazine’s Pandemic Technology Project, which focused on the ways emerging technology is used to fight the spread of COVID-19. Lindsay has worked in a variety of roles at the intersection of journalism and technology with initiatives at Vox, OpenNews, and New America.

Adam Rasmi joins the staff in London as a World Affairs Editor. He was previously Foreign Editor at Monocle and has held reporting and editing roles at various outlets and non-profits over the past decade, including Quartz and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Prior to moving to London in 2017, Adam was based in Toronto and got his start in journalism in Beirut.

Kari Sonde joins us as an Assistant Audience Editor in Washington. At The Washington Post Kari produced a project that highlighted rising TikTok food creators. In her new role, she will package and share content with TIME’s 50 million social followers across platforms, including TikTok and Instagram.

Juwayriah Wright joins us as an Editorial Producer. Formerly an intern for WNYC, Juwayriah will build digital packages, produce stories, and work with editors to coordinate story packaging and optimize pieces for search and social.

We’d also like to share these previously announced promotions for members of our Audience and Digital Strategy teams.

Sam Cooney becomes Senior Content Strategy Editor. In her new leadership role, she’ll be in charge of our on-site growth, overseeing SEO and packaging, which includes headlines, planning ahead, and story assigning. She’ll be responsible for defining and monitoring editorial audience goals and serve as the digital lead on major franchises and packages.

Caroline Olney becomes Senior Content Strategy Editor. In her new leadership role, she’ll focus on increasing engagement and building audience loyalty. She’ll continue to lead our newsletter strategy, and will also now oversee our editorial producers and manage our relationship with the Product and Engineering teams.

Annabel Gutterman becomes Content Strategy Editor. She will lead daily management of SEO strategy and provide strategy and optimization recommendations to the newsroom. She will report to Sam Cooney.

Maya Chung, who has spent the last year as our weekend editor, will join us full time as an Editor. She’ll be on Wednesdays through Sundays, continuing her weekend editing and working during the week as a swing editor and content strategist. She will report to Sam Cooney.

Nadia Suleman becomes Associate Content Strategy Editor. In her new role, she will coordinate and execute digital production for special projects, thematic packages, and high-impact stories. She’ll continue to update the homepage as well as lead conversations around best practices in site production and WordPress. She will also continue her work on TIME100 with the Accolades team. She will report to Caroline Olney.

Kim Tal continues to oversee our off-platform strategy, including our social platforms. Soo Jin Kim, Kitty Ruskin and two additional soon-to-be-hired audience editors will report to Kim.