Tom Berman named deputy for AP's Central Region

CHICAGO (AP) — Tom Berman, a veteran editor and leader at The Associated Press who has directed coverage of stories ranging from air disasters, terror attacks and the ongoing unrest in Ukraine, has been named the cooperative's new deputy editor for the U.S. Central Region, overseeing the AP's journalism in 14 states in middle America.

The appointment was announced Thursday by Central Region Editor David Scott.

Berman comes to the AP's Chicago-based Central Region from London, where for the past two years he has served as the cooperative's deputy editor for Europe. In that role, he helped lead journalists in more than 50 nations in Europe and North Africa, working with reporters and editors in all formats to conceive coverage and see it through to publication from the AP's editing center in the British capital.

"Tom is smart and decisive, and he's one of our most innovative editors," said Brian Carovillano, the AP's managing editor for U.S. news. "He'll be a terrific addition to our team in the Central Region and will help take our journalism there to even higher heights."

The AP's Central Region includes 14 states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

"There are few journalists with the range of experiences as an editor and leader at the AP as Tom, and we couldn't be more excited to welcome him to Chicago," Scott said. "The story of the American heartland is one that challenges and excites us each day, and in Tom, we're adding a leader to our team who shares our enthusiasm for telling that story, in all its forms, to all of our customers, both here and around the world."

A native of New York City and a 1994 graduate of New York University, Berman joined the AP in 1997 as a supervising editor in the Boston bureau after working for several years as a reporter at newspapers in New York and Massachusetts. In Boston, he helped direct coverage of the EgyptAir 990 crash and death of John F. Kennedy Jr.

Berman, 48, later served as Pennsylvania news editor and, from 2003 to 2010, was the AP's director of state news for the eastern United States, a role in which he worked with bureau chiefs and news editors in 14 states to shape the cooperative's state news reports. He was the overall state news leader for two years before moving to London in 2012.