Ex-NYT senior editor Larry Ingrassia to join the Los Angeles Times
Business journalist Larry Ingrassia, a former New York Times and Wall Street Journal senior editor, is joining the Los Angeles Times as associate editor focusing on new ventures.
Ingrassia, 62, will work to boost digital readership and convert it into revenue.
“Larry will help us unlock the revenue potential in our digital audience, which is growing and influential,” Times Editor Davan Maharaj said. “He has navigated that world with great results at his previous employer, and we are looking to him to repeat that success and push us into new areas here.”
As deputy managing editor at the New York Times, Ingrassia helped shepherd projects including the premium Times Insider feature and the NYT Now and NYT Cooking apps. He said he will consider “a little bit of anything and everything as long as it fits in with our mission to inform readers.”
Options include more special events, email newsletters and editorial products targeted at niche audiences.
“Part of it is packaging and part of it is rethinking, coming up with new types of ways to approach news and redefine news,” Ingrassia said. He will also help craft the Los Angeles Times’ print and online strategy, and aid in high-level recruiting and organizational planning.
Ingrassia said he hopes to nurture an “entrepreneurial” mind-set that will keep The Times innovative.
“Larry is going to help us create new products, new ideas, new ventures at an editorial standard that is consistent with all our brand stands for,” said Austin Beutner, publisher and chief executive of the Los Angeles Times. “He’ll take his set of experiences across all forms of journalism.”
Ingrassia led the New York Times’ Business Day section from 2004 until 2012, overseeing a staff of more than 100 reporters and editors. He helped guide coverage that won five Pulitzer Prizes and built the successful financial news portal DealBook and technology blog Bits. Before he retired from the New York Times last month, Ingrassia served as deputy managing editor, collaborating with the publication’s business side on digital products and initiatives.
Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, described Ingrassia as the kind of editor “reporters were dying to work for.”
“The jury is still out” on whether his digital initiatives will generate meaningful revenue, Abramson said.
“But in terms of being an effective manager and actually achieving liftoff on these new products, Larry was key to that,” she said. “He’s very good at motivating the people who work for him, and he’s very clear about which targets he expects people to hit.”
Ingrassia spent 25 years in a variety of roles at the Wall Street Journal. He was assistant managing editor of new initiatives in online content, Money & Investing editor, bureau chief in London and Boston, and a reporter in multiple cities.
Ingrassia began his career at the Chicago Sun-Times. He began working there immediately after graduating with honors from the University of Illinois in 1974 with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism. He has two children with his wife, Vicki.
Twitter: @tiffhsulatimes
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
