Simon becomes audience strategy editor for Washington Post biz news

Washington Post financial editor Lori Montgomery, deputy financial editor Damian Paletta and technology editor Christina Passariello sent out the following on Friday:

We are thrilled to announce that Maite Fernández Simon is joining the Business team as audience strategy editor, a new leadership role that will help chart the trajectory of our expanding technology and business coverage.

Maite brings more than a decade of experience and a deep understanding of both The Post and its audience to this important position. Working closely with Erika Allen and the Audience Strategy and Growth team, Maite will tap all available disciplines — including tactics for reaching new readers, building loyalty and exploiting social and search — to identify strategies for putting readers at the center of our work and to help guide decisions on what gets covered and how.

Currently working as a Breaking News reporter in Foreign as part of the newsroom’s Opportunity Year program, Maite joined The Post in 2018 as operations editor for the Foreign and National Security teams, optimizing stories for search, analyzing traffic data and leading training on digital best practices. She was promoted to senior operations editor in April 2021, an elevated position in which she took a pivotal role in live coverage strategies, partnering with assignment editors for the first German elections after Angela Merkel announced her retirement and for the funeral of Prince Philip in Britain.

Before joining the Post, Maite worked at CQ Roll Call, where she was responsible for audience engagement strategy. Previously, she worked at the International Center for Journalists, where she served as communications director and managing editor of IJNet.org, a website for journalists published in seven languages. She started her career as a general assignment reporter for El Observador national newspaper in Montevideo, Uruguay.

A native of Uruguay, Maite earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at ORT University before earning a master’s degree in multimedia journalism at the University of Maryland. In 2020, she was selected for the Women’s Leadership Accelerator, a yearlong mentoring program conducted by the Online News Association. She lives in Gaithersburg, Md., with her husband, Justin, their two kids and the family dog, Uzi. A native Spanish speaker and an avid runner, Maite enjoys cooking in her free time.

Please join us in congratulating Maite on her exciting new role. She starts Nov. 1.