The Atlantic.com has promoted John Gould to editor. John (he goes by J.J.) joined The Atlantic four years ago and has been “shaping our presence on the site as executive editor,” the company said in a statement today.
Bob Cohn, now co-president and chief operating officer, was formerly digital editor. Bob and his co-president, Editor-in-Chief James Bennet, announced the news today.
They praised J.J. for “a deep appreciation of The Atlantic’s core mission, a grasp of how we were trying to perform that mission on the Web, and a vision for how we could do it better. You have all seen those qualities on vibrant display for some years now. …John has poured not just his intelligence but his heart and soul into the site, and he has been central to all our success. We look forward to a new era of even greater awesomeness for The Atlantic as he takes on the job he is meant to do.”
Some fun facts on J.J.: He hails from Nova Scotia. Publications he has worked for include The Washington Monthly, The American Prospect, The Moscow Times,The Chronicle Herald, and The European Journal of Political Theory. According to a company bio, Gould was previously an editor at the Journal of Democracy. A real smartypants, he graduated from McGill, the London School of Economics and Yale, a B.A., Masters and PH.D. respectively.