11/07/05

Dorothy Abernathy named AP bureau chief for Virginia and West Virginia

NEW YORK -- Dorothy Abernathy, chief of bureau for The Associated Press in Virginia, is adding West Virginia to her responsibilities under a regional restructuring of the news agency's management.

Abernathy, who is based in Richmond, Va., has overseen AP operations in Virginia since 1989. In West Virginia, Abernathy succeeds John Bolt, who has left the company.

The appointment was announced Nov. 17 by John O. Lumpkin, vice president of business operations for the AP's Newspaper & New Media Markets department.

Abernathy, a native of St. Henry, Ohio, joined the AP in 1982 in Little Rock, Ark. Two years later she was named correspondent in Roanoke, Va., where she worked for four years. She was supervisory correspondent in Cleveland for two years before being named bureau chief in Richmond.

Abernathy serves on the board of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. She is vice president of the Virginia Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and is active on the FOI, professional development and news committees of the Virginia Press Association.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Abernathy began her career as a reporter for the Kansas City Star in 1978.

Bolt became bureau chief in Charleston, W.Va., in 1997. He joined the AP in Atlanta in 1983. He was appointed to the new position of Texas business editor in 1989 and became Dallas news editor the following year. He was named assistant chief of bureau there in 1993.

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720