Bordeleau named as Providence Journal top editor

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The Providence Journal has a new top editor, the first woman to hold the post in the daily's 183-year history, the newspaper reported Thursday.

Karen A. Bordeleau will succeed Thomas E. Heslin as executive editor and senior vice president after Heslin steps down later this month following an extended medical leave, according to the paper. Bordeleau served previously as deputy executive editor and, since June, as acting executive editor.

"Over the last year as acting executive editor, Karen has admirably navigated The Journal's news staff through uncharted waters created by a challenging economic environment and a very dynamic digital-media landscape," Publisher Howard G. Sutton said. "Under her leadership, The Journal has delivered, on all platforms, the most comprehensive coverage of breaking news, politics, sports, arts and entertainment, lifestyles and long-term issues in southeastern New England."

Bordeleau, 54, joined The Journal as a copy editor and special sections reporter in 1996. Earlier, she served as editor of The Kent County Daily Times in West Warwick and The Call in Woonsocket. A native of Rhode Island, she got her start in the field at 17: The Kent paper paid her to write a column about life as a student at the Prout School.

Bordeleau is an adjunct professor of journalism at Emerson College in Boston. She has also taught at the University of Rhode Island, Bryant University and Northeastern University.

Her appointment is effective April 29. Heslin is retiring after 41 years in journalism, 32 of them at The Journal.

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Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com