Lisa Marie Pane appointed South editor for The Associated Press

Pane named AP regional editor for the South

ATLANTA — The Associated Press has named Lisa Marie Pane as South regional editor, leading news coverage for the AP in a territory that stretches from Maryland to Florida and west to Louisiana.

The appointment was announced Monday by Senior Managing Editor Mike Oreskes.

“Lisa is a leader,” Oreskes said, “and she is equally at home leading great local and state coverage as she is guiding journalists on stories of global importance. A perfect blend for the leadership of this crucial and newsy region.”

Pane, the AP’s deputy South editor, was part of the team that in 2008 launched the first of AP’s four domestic regional desks under a reorganization of AP’s U.S. news operation. The South desk, based in Atlanta, coordinates, edits and oversees coverage across formats throughout the South region, which encompasses 13 states and the District of Columbia.

During her time as deputy regional editor, Pane was involved in directing coverage of the West Virginia mine explosion, the scandal involving South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and the Gulf oil spill, and also was involved in overseeing coverage from Alaska of Sarah Palin during her 2008 run for vice president.

Oreskes said a search for a new deputy South Editor would begin immediately. Steve Gutkin, the former Jerusalem bureau chief recently appointed to oversee the AP’s Gulf oil spill coverage, will become interim deputy.

“Steve is a top-notch newsman who has excelled at continuing to drive the AP’s coverage of an important story in the Gulf oil spill,” Pane said. “We’re looking forward to him bringing those talents to a wide variety of our coverage out of the South.”

Before moving to Atlanta, Pane had been a supervisory editor in New York for a year, coordinating coverage with AP bureaus and media platforms on the top stories of the day. From 2002 to 2007, she was the news editor for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, overseeing such coverage as the nation’s first legal same-sex marriages, the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the Big Dig tunnel collapse, the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese, the Rhode Island nightclub fire, and the Red Sox’ historic 2004 World Series win.

Pane was the correspondent in Providence, R.I., from 2001-2002. She also worked for the AP in Hartford, Conn., from 1991 to 1996, covering Connecticut state government. She left the AP in 1996 and became an equities reporter for Reuters in New York, and later director of press and policy for the Connecticut attorney general. She returned to the AP in 2000 as the night supervisor in Boston.

Pane, 48, also has worked for the Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer and The Hartford Courant. She is a native of West Hartford, Conn., and a graduate of Northeastern University.

Pane succeeds Brian Carovillano, who was recently named the AP’s top Asia/Pacific editor.