NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press is announcing two appointments designed to strengthen its global entertainment photo coverage and its photo report in the Midwest and Texas.
Allison Kaufman, director of operations and production for Invision, the AP’s wholly owned entertainment photo agency, is joining the AP’s photo team as assistant director of photography for entertainment. Kim Johnson Flodin, who has been the Central region’s interim photo editor since July, will become the region’s deputy news director/photos and newsgathering in a 14-state territory that stretches from the Upper Midwest to Texas.
Kaufman has more than 16 years of experience in the entertainment photography industry. Before joining Invision in the summer of 2013, she worked at Getty Images and WireImage, developing picture desks, photo editing, and overseeing production and event coverage.
“Ali is uniquely qualified for the task,” said J. David Ake, who announced Kaufman’s appointment Wednesday.
While at Invision, Kaufman has organized both editorial and commercial operations, established Invision product practices, and managed entertainment photo coverage for North America. Her entertainment credits include the Academy Awards, Emmys, Grammy Awards and Golden Globes, among numerous other events and premieres.
Kaufman has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts in Boston.
Kaufman, whose appointment is effective Nov. 1, will report jointly to Ake and Nekesa Mumbi Moody, the AP’s global entertainment and lifestyles editor. Currently based in Atlanta, Kaufman will begin working from the AP’s New York headquarters in the spring.
In her new role, Flodin will partner with other managers to drive standout cross-format spot and enterprise reporting in the AP’s Central region. Included in her portfolio will be managing the region’s prize-winning photo staff.
“Kim’s sharp news judgment and deep management experience will be enormous assets to our coverage throughout the region, in all formats,” said Tom Berman, the AP’s Central region news director.
Before taking on the interim photo role, Flodin served for three years as news editor for Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. In that role, she worked with AP journalists throughout the three states to break news on the biggest stories of the day as well as produce deeply reported enterprise that set the news agenda. Coverage during that time included the funeral of George H.W. Bush, Hurricane Harvey and the 2018 elections.
Flodin previously was the Texas-Arkansas-Oklahoma news editor for photos for six years. Before joining the AP in 2000 as a photographer in the Los Angeles bureau, Flodin worked as a staff photographer at The Wichita Eagle in Kansas, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans and The Sacramento Bee, where she covered sports and news features in Asia and Europe, as well as northern California. She is a graduate of Santa Clara University and did post-graduate work at San Francisco State University.
Flodin, who is currently based in Dallas and recently started her new assignment, will move to Chicago, where the Central region’s hub is based, in 2020.
Related articles
