N.Y. Times Names Two as Managing Editors

NEW YORK —  The New York Times appointed two managing editors Thursday, including the first woman in the paper’s history to supervise news-gathering operations.

Bill Keller, the Times’ newly appointed executive editor, announced that Washington bureau chief Jill Abramson and John M. Geddes, the paper’s deputy managing editor, would replace Gerald Boyd, who resigned in June over the Jayson Blair reporting scandal.

“In Jill and John, I will have two sidekicks who are superb journalists, genuine leaders, straight shooters, deeply committed to this paper and all it stands for,” Keller said in a news release.

Abramson will focus on the newsroom and reporting, and Geddes will be responsible for news operations such as training and career development, Keller said. The new managing editors will assume their posts Sept. 2, he said.

The appointments mark the first time that the newspaper will have two managing editors supervising day-to-day operations. Keller and his team take over the top editorial posts after the resignations of former Executive Editor Howell Raines and Boyd.

Abramson, 49, joined the Times’ Washington bureau in 1997 after nearly a decade at the Wall Street Journal and became bureau chief in 2000. She is the co-author of two books, “Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas,” on his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, and “Where Are They Now: The Story of the Women of Harvard Law, 1974.”

Geddes, 51, has been the paper’s deputy managing editor for operations since 1997. He was formerly its business editor. Geddes was bureau chief in Bonn for the Wall Street Journal and helped launch the Wall Street Journal Europe edition.