08/25/2008

AP Press Release

The Associated Press appoints Kurt Rossi as vice president of Global Technology Operations

NEW YORK -- Kurt Rossi, who has been acting head of Global Technology Operations since May, has been named vice president of Global Technology Operations for The Associated Press.

"Kurt's broad and deep experience supporting all AP media types and journalists, his intimate knowledge of AP processes and people and his customer focus combine to make him a unique leader for AP global operations in this period of media and AP transformation," said Senior Vice President Lorraine Cichowski of AP Technology, who announced the appointment. He succeeds Nick Evansky, who resigned.

In his new role, Rossi will oversee U.S. and international field support of AP journalists and events; global desktop support; support of the main AP multimedia news production centers of New York, London and Washington, D.C.; broadcast technology operations, and technology business operations, which includes, among other things, disaster recovery processes, Cichowski said.

Rossi started his career at AP in 1979 as a technician in New York. In 1982, he was promoted to operations manager, handling domestic technology operations. He moved into the position of international operations manager in 1984 and in 1988 became a communications project manager at the Cranbury Technical Center in New Jersey, handling AdSAT and Broadcast Services projects. In 1996, Rossi transferred to AP Television News in London, where he was promoted to director of engineering and communication. In that role, he won a 1999 Oliver S. Gramling Achievement Award -- part of AP's annual program honoring staff excellence -- for successfully managing the technical integration of APTV and WTN, which became APTN.

In 2000, Rossi moved back to the U.S. to become director of technology for AP Digital. When AP Digital's technology staff merged with what was then called Services and Technology, he became the director of systems support. In that role he was responsible for support and implementation of all systems and servers in AP's data centers. In 2006, he moved into the role of director of business operations for the newly reorganized Technology department, where he led the implementation of Technology special projects, cost-containment initiatives, disaster recovery implementation, vendor management and process improvements.

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Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720 or jstokes@ap.org