WaPo’s Managing Editor Kevin Merida Moves to ESPN

The Washington Post Managing Editor Kevin Merida is leaving his job at the end of the month and heading for ESPN, where he will become senior vice president and editor-in-chief of The Undefeated, a digital site that will explore the intersection of sports, race and culture, reports NPR, which added that the announcement was made by The Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron in a memo sent to staff and later posted to the paper’s website.

In the memo, continued the NPR story, Baron said “he was “sad” about Merida’s departure and that it would be “hard to imagine our newsroom without him.” He added:

“”I expect there is not a person in our newsroom, or in our entire organization, who is not heartbroken over this decision, even as we wish Kevin the very best in his new position and know that he will perform brilliantly.”
According to a February 2014 announcement of his promotion to be the Post’s managing editor, Merida has covered Congress, presidential campaigns “as well as stories that called upon his great strengths as a long-form feature writer” among other jobs, the memo said.”

As managing editor, he oversaw the paper’s many sections, including national, foreign, metro, business, sports, investigations and The Washington Post Magazine.

Merida has been at The Washington Post for 22 years.