Reach appoints Wellman and Holbrook editors of Mirror US and Express US

Reach has appointed Alex Wellman and Karl Holbrook as editors of the Mirror US and Express US, respectively.

The duo are the first senior hires announced as part of Reach’s expansion into the US market.

Wellman most recently worked as group deputy head of Showbiz at Reach for the past three years; prior to that, he worked at the Sunday Mirror, Daily Mirror, Mirror Online, and also as deputy news editor at The Sun.

Holbrook, meanwhile, currently serves as executive editor at the Express, and previously worked as editor of the Northern Echo and led the digital transformation projects of titles The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News, and Lancashire Post.

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Zoe Forsey and Joshua Taylor will work as deputy editors for Mirror US. The team has further appointed Rosaleen Fenton as news editor, Chloe Stewart as showbiz editor, and Kyle O’Sullivan as deputy showbiz editor.

In addition, Callum Hoare and Emily Hodgkin will join the Express US team as head of news and assistant editor, respectively. They will be accompanied by Claire Anderson as deputy news editor, Alex Davies as showbiz editor, and Harry Rutter as assistant showbiz editor.

Though the appointments are comprised of British journalists and editors, Reach expects to launch a US-based recruitment drive “over the coming weeks” with the intention of appointing Americans to its editorial teams at the Mirror and Express.