Three weeks after being named CEO of the Kyiv Post, James Brooke wrote in an email to newspaper employees that he has decided to move to New York to raise funds for the newspaper and pursue other career opportunities.
The development means that Ukraine’s English-language newspaper is searching for a CEO to replace Nataliya Bugayova, who officially leaves the position at the start of the New Year.
“Thanks for your support and friendship during my just completed three-week internship as CEO!” Brooke wrote to employees of the Kyiv Post on Dec. 25. “I enjoyed working with you. I was impressed by your dedication and teamwork to the newspaper — print and digital — a really key institution for the future of Ukraine!”
Brooke, a former New York Times, Voice of America and Bloomberg journalist, most recently worked since July 2014 as a top editor at the Khmer Times, an English-language newspaper in Cambodia.
Brooke said that he will move to New York in February to be closer to his three adult sons in Manhattan.
Kyiv Post publisher and owner Mohammad Zahoor instructed the staff to lead the search for a new CEO and to forward him “recommendations as soon as suitable candidates are found” to build on Bugayova’s success. In the meantime, commercial director Alyona Nevmerzhytska will serve as acting director.
Bugayova moved to Washington, D.C., in mid-December to become director of development at the Institute for the Study of War.
“Bugayova has been the most successful CEO of the newspaper since I purchased the Kyiv Post in 2009,” Zahoor said. “To offset declines in print advertising, she aggressively and successfully diversified revenue sources by increasing income from conferences, special events, supplements and digital subscriptions. Although the media business remains challenging, the Kyiv Post has a stronger global reach than ever before, a revamped website and some excellent digital specialists on staff.”
The Kyiv Post, winner of the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, was founded in 1995. The newspaper and its affiliated non-profit Media Development Foundation employ 35 people, including 23 journalists.
Applications for the Kyiv Post CEO position can be sent to chief editor Brian Bonner at [email protected]. Please include CV, motivation letter and three references.
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]
