Welcome Tage Kene-Okafor, Mary Ann Azevedo, Sophie Burkholder and a guy named Drew

There are some additions to the TechCrunch team that I’m happy to announce.

First, Kirsten Korosec, who has been with us for more than two years, was promoted to Transportation Editor. Kirsten has done amazing work, helping to elevate our foothold in the transportation space and making our Mobility events some of the most successful we’ve produced. This means that not only will she continue to hunt for scoops, but she’ll also be bringing on some fresh voices in transportation. Look for them on TechCrunch and Extra Crunch soon.

We’re also happy to say that Jon Shieber will become our new Climate Editor, focused on the startups and funding being put behind renewables, environmental technology and green businesses. More on this soon.

Next, we’d like to welcome some new contract writers who will be joining our small but mighty team of reporters covering the startup ecosystem:

  • Tage Kene-Okafor, who is based in Lagos, will be covering Western Africa for us. He comes to us from TechPoint Africa where he covered startups and venture capital.
  • Mary Ann Azevedo will be covering startups and investing. She is coming to us from FinLedger, where she was charged with getting the fintech-focused site launched. Before that, she worked for our very own Alex Wilhelm at Crunchbase News.
  • Sophie Burkholder will be covering startups from health and biotech to enterprise.

Rounding out our fresh lineup of writers are some other contributors. Mark Harris, who has already broken several great scoops for us, Leigh Cuen who will be covering crypto and Marcella McCarthy, who will be all over the startup scene in Miami, as well as contribute to Extra Crunch.

Finally, we are welcoming back Drew Olanoff who has taken on our community-building project, something we’re extremely excited about. Drew will help us to identify the global TechCrunch community and will serve as the connective tissue between Extra Crunch and TechCrunch, as well as our events, like Disrupt, where all of our content comes alive.

It’s going to be a big year at TechCrunch and we’re excited to have them all a part of the team. Welcome them aboard if you get a chance.