AP names US South Editor Brian Carovillano as top editor in Asia/Pacific region

AP names Brian Carovillano as top editor in Asia

NEW YORK — The Associated Press has named Brian Carovillano as its top Asia/Pacific editor, overseeing news operations over a broad swath of the world stretching from India to Japan and including Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

Carovillano is currently the South regional editor in the United States, where in 2008 he launched the first of four domestic regional desks under a sweeping reorganization of AP’s U.S. news operation.

As South editor, he has directed ongoing coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as well as the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, Gulf hurricanes, the saga of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, and many other top stories. He led a team of journalists who created the AP Economic Stress Map, an interactive indicator of economic health that has won several national awards.

He succeeds Asia Editor Patrick McDowell, now assistant chief of bureau for Illinois. The appointment was announced Monday by Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski, who oversees international news coverage for the AP.

“The Asia-Pacific region encompasses about half of the world’s population and generates top stories of global importance every day,” said Daniszewski. “In Brian Carovillano, the AP will have an energetic, decisive news leader well-versed in today’s challenges who will drive coverage of these stories for both regional and worldwide audiences.”

“Brian is a journalist’s journalist. He has passion for the news and a leader’s touch with everyone he works with,” said Senior Managing Editor Mike Oreskes, who heads AP coverage in the United States. “He will be missed in the South. But he leaves a great legacy and a fine team.” Oreskes said a search for a new South Editor would begin immediately and that Lisa Marie Pane, deputy south editor, will become interim South Editor.

Carovillano, who will be based at the AP’s Asia-Pacific editorial headquarters in Bangkok, joined the AP in Providence, R.I., in 2001. He was lead reporter for the federal corruption trial of longtime Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci and was involved in coverage of the West Warwick, R.I., nightclub fire that killed 100 people.

In 2003, he transferred to Boston, where he helped run the AP’s coverage of the first legal gay marriages in America, the Democratic National Convention and the Boston Red Sox’s historic 2004 World Series win.

In 2006, he became news editor in San Francisco, where he oversaw investigations into the death of ex-NFL star Pat Tillman and food safety. He also coordinated coverage of Barry Bonds and the BALCO steroids case and the Hewlett-Packard boardroom spying scandal before transferring to Atlanta in 2008 to launch the South Desk.

Carovillano, 37, is a native of Westfield, N.J., and a graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He is married with a son and daughter.