Rob Curley Bio

Rob Curley joined WPNI to accept the new position of vice president, product development, in October 2006. He leads a team committed to the development and deployment of new tools for journalists and viewers. Working across all WPNI properties, Curley and his team guide WPNI’s industry-leading innovation in online news and technology. A recognized interactive pioneer, Curley brings a unique perspective and ground-breaking development expertise to WPNI’s online content, tools and strategies that facilitate the direct participation of washingtonpost.com readers.

Before joining WPNI, Curley was director of new media and convergence for the Naples Daily News and its sister publications along Florida’s Gulf Coast. From 2002 to 2004, Curley held management positions in the interactive operations and editorial departments for the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World. During that time, Curley gained national attention when he became one of the first online editors in the nation chosen to lead a news organization’s entire print and broadcast news operations. In 2004, Editor & Publisher magazine named the Lawrence Journal-World as one the 10 newspapers in the United States that does “it right.” Focusing on the newspaper’s innovative approaches to hyper-local media convergence, the cover story noted that “the paper’s Web innovations are far too numerous to list here.”

From 2000 to 2002, Curley was new media director for the Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal. His contributions in that capacity were recognized in 2001 when the Newspaper Association of America named Curley the industry’s New Media Pioneer of the Year, making him the youngest person to win the award. Curley’s journalism career began in 1996 when he was a political reporter for the Topeka newspaper, and education reporter and online editor for the Ottawa (Kansas) Herald.

Over the last several years, Curley’s first-of-its-kind work has been documented in media that range from college journalism textbooks to industry and mainstream magazines and white papers. Curley also has been featured on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and in the New York Times. In December 2006, he was named by the National Newspaper of Association’s PRESSTIME magazine as one of the top “20 Under 40,” a feature designed to recognize those who have proven themselves as “change agents within their companies and the industry, providing much needed leadership and vision.”

Curley earned a bachelor of arts degree in integrated studies from Emporia (Kansas) State University in 2001. He lives in the Washington, DC, area with his wife, Betsy, and their three children.

While a student at Emporia State, Curley was a freelance writer for various newspapers across Kansas, but also wrote for the ESU student newspaper, The Bulletin. In 1994, while writing for The Bulletin, Curley was named the Kansas Collegiate Sports Writer of the Year by the Kansas Associated Collegiate Press.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>