Niddal Salah-Eldin to take over as dpa’s deputy editor-in-chief and head of innovation and product

Niddal Salah-Eldin will take over as deputy editor-in-chief and head of innovation and product at the German Press Agency (dpa) in Berlin starting May 1st 2019. In this role her primary task will be to drive the digital transformation of the agency. The 33-year old journalist is joining from “Welt,” where she currently holds the position of Director of Digital Innovation within the editorial management team. She is taking over from Roland Freund (50), who is moving for family reasons to Munich and will take over as regional bureau chief there.

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“With Niddal Salah-Eldin a digital visionary of the German media landscape is joining dpa, in order to lead the transformation from a news agency to a media intelligence company from a key position. She has a great personality and is a team player, knows the needs of dpa’s clients and has a demonstrated sense for trends and developments. And Niddal Salah-Eldin puts things into practise. All these qualities make her perfect for the job, dpa and our clients in the media and society,” Sven Gösmann, dpa’s editor-in-chief said.

Gösmann stressed that in her future role she “will be able to build on the good foundation that Roland Freund has established over the last three years. We thank him for his spirit and his energy and are looking forward to working with him in his new role in Bavaria”.

“Technological development is the driver of all journalistic development,” dpa’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Kropsch stressed. “With Niddal Salah-Eldin a journalist is joining the editorial leadership of dpa, who lives this understanding professionally and personally. We are looking forward to the many impulses she will give dpa and its shareholders.”

“I am very much looking forward to this special opportunity to take on responsibility within dpa’s editorial management team for all things related to product and innovation,” Niddal Salah-Edin said. “It’s my mission to future proof journalism. I am looking forward to think editorial, tech and product comprehensively and in an international context, and shape it together with a great team. I thank the editorial management team at “Welt,” the board of Axel-Springer and all colleagues at ‘Welt’, SPRING and Springer for the fantastic and successful time together, the trust and the opportunities.”

As deputy editor-in-chief for innovation and product (head of innovation) Niddal Salah-Eldin will be in charge of important sectors of the future such as the development of dpa’s editorial strategy and products for media as well as business clients, and innovation and change within the company. She will also lead a growing team of dpa product managers, who are in charge of developing media and content intelligence, diaries and services, sport data and data analysis. In addition to that she will be in charge of the development of editorial products and tools, and an ambassador of change for the agency globally, as well as towards dpa’s clients and shareholders.

Niddal Salah-Eldin studied Politics and Journalism in Mainz and Washington, and is a trained social-media manager. After working at Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg and Ketchum Pleon, she joined “Welt” as a social-media-journalist in 2014, where she was promoted to Head of Social Media, and later on Director of Digital Innovation. In 2010 she was part of the Bertelsmann Talent Pool, 2011 she was selected to participate in the Emerald leadership program of Boston Consulting, in 2014 she was elected to the “Top 30 Young Professionals under 30.” In 2015 she was among the “Top 30 under 30” of Medium Magazin. 2018 she was selected by the editorial team of Kress Pro as one of the top 25 media managers under 30 shaping the media landscape in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

From May 2019 the editorial management team at dpa will be made up of editor-in-chief Sven Gösmann (52), and his deputies Niddal Salah-Eldin (33), head of innovation and product, Antje Homburger (55), head of news and Jutta Steinhoff (51), head of staff. Change manager Susanne Goldstein (45) is also part of the leadership team.

About dpa

The German News Agency (dpa) was founded in 1949 and is one of the world's leading independent news agencies. dpa supplies media outlets, businesses and other organizations with editorial content, including text, photos, videos, graphics, audio and other formats. As an international agency, dpa reports in four languages: German, English, Spanish and Arabic. The company has around 1,000 journalists in 160 locations in Germany and abroad. Its shareholders are 180 German media companies. Staff work according to the principles outlined in the dpa statute: independently from ideologies, businesses and governments. The central editing desk, under the leadership of editor-in-chief Sven Gösmann, is located in Berlin. The management team, headed by chairman Peter Kropsch, is based in Hamburg. The chairman of the Supervisory Board is David Brandstätter (Main-Post GmbH, Würzburg).

Internet: www.dpa.com (German, English, Spanish, Arabic)