ESPN senior vice president Rob King joins NLP’s board

“NLP’s commitment to education and empowerment underscores the best that journalism can offer our society,” King said. “I’m excited to learn more, share what I’ve learned and engage my colleagues and peers with the project.”

In May 2014, he was named by Fast Company as one of the “Most Creative People 2014.”

King has been in his current position, overseeing ESPN’s flagship program and the company’s newsgathering operations, since January 2014. He previously served as senior vice president for Content, ESPN Digital & Print Media, where he was responsible for all content — text, audio, video and multimedia — and the overall editorial direction of ESPN’s portfolio of digital and print sports properties. He also oversaw management of more than 200 editors, writers and designers across ESPN.com and its network of related sites, ESPN The Magazine and espnW. He joined ESPN in 2004 as a senior coordinating producer.

A graduate of Wesleyan University, King began his journalism career as a general assignment reporter and graphic artist at the Commercial-News in Danville, Illinois. He then spent five years as a graphic artist and cartoonist at the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, before moving to The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, as presentation editor, directing the photography and graphics departments. In 1997 he joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as a graphic artist; in his seven years there he rose to become deputy sports editor, assistant managing editor and deputy managing editor.

King is also a member of the Associated Press board and is chairman of the Poynter Institute’s National Advisory Board.