Xconomy Seattle is adding a lot more journalistic horsepower to serve the Northwest innovation community, starting today.
I’m searching for the right word here—ecstatic pretty much nails it—to say how I feel about Curt Woodward joining us as the new senior editor here in Seattle. Curt’s job will be to cover the people and companies making things happen in Northwest infotech, venture capital, and cleantech. He and I will work closely together, as I will remain based here as the editor of this bureau, and as the national biotech editor for Xconomy’s growing network.
Curt is simply one of the best all-around journalists in our state, having distinguished himself over the past five years at the Associated Press bureau in Olympia. He has reported on some high-profile, pressure-packed stories over the years—state budget crises, gubernatorial campaigns, and U.S. Senate races. He also covered some technology issues at the state level, and has pinch-hit on occasion to cover big companies like Amazon, Nintendo, Microsoft. He’s a forward thinker, having pushed for increased use of Twitter and Facebook over at AP. While firing away with breaking news on deadline, he has retained a great touch for feature writing. He works hard, he works fast, and he has real creative juice that enables him to break away from the journalistic pack. Plus, he’s an all-around great guy with a sense of humor, charm, and wit.
“I was the dean of the Olympia press corps for about 25 years, and I saw lots of bright young reporters come and go, and Curt is definitely one of the brightest I’ve seen. He’s a star in the making,” says Dave Ammons, the former AP capitol correspondent who mentored Curt for about three years. Ammons is now communications director and senior policy advisor to Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed.
Curt is one of those rare people you meet around here—a true Northwest native. He grew up in Cle Elum, WA, on the east side of the Cascades, and got his journalism degree from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. The guy even wears a funny Seahawks hat in the picture he posted on Twitter, which says something, although I’m not sure what. I’ll be sure to razz him about that—including how the Seahawks let Ted Thompson go to my team, the Green Bay Packers, where he proceeded to build a Super Bowl championship team. Way to go, Seahawks!
Anyway, I’ll schedule an informal meetup event in the next a couple weeks so that you can come meet Curt in person, and bring him up to speed on all the ups and downs, trends, and comings and goings you see in the local tech scene. For now, if you’d like to get in touch, you can send him a note at [email protected] or start following him on Twitter at @curtwoodward.
One last thing. Thanks to all of you in the community who have supported a new media company like Xconomy. Our vision is to make this a must-read for the local innovation community. I want to thank you for helping put us in a position to hire someone of Curt’s caliber, which enables us to take an important step ahead in that journey.
