The Associated Press (AP) has announced that president and chief executive Tom Curley will step down from his position later this year.
The AP board has now formed a committee to search for a successor to Curley, who will stay on until a successor is in place to assure a smooth transition.
Curley was the 12th person to lead AP since it was founded 166 years ago and was previously president and publisher of USA Today.
Under his leadership AP expanded its news footprint into ‘critical hotspots’including North Korea and Pakistan and won two Pulitzer Prizes for its photography.
When he arrived at AP in 2003 he set about transforming the company into a multimedia digital news organisation and later introduced AP’s first historical archive
‘I told the board some time ago when I would be retiring, but it is hard to think about leaving this special organisation,’said Curley
‘There is this passion, this commitment to journalism in its purest form that makes it unique on the planet.
‘Nowhere else does anyone have such a direct opportunity to commit journalism and have as much impact as they do here.
‘I got to be a part of it, and play a role in its mission to break news first from around the world. I’ve been honoured to work for AP.”
AP board chairman William Dean Singleton said Curley was the ‘perfect leader to guide AP through the roughest times the media industry has ever seen”.
‘He was a visionary who understood the need for AP to quickly adapt to new digital times, a transformative leader who created innovative new business opportunities for our industry and an indefatigable newsman who made sure AP remained the definitive trusted source for breaking news,’he said.
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