ABC News has appointed AOL's Joe Ruffolo to head up digital at the company.
Ruffolo was most recently vice president of AOL.com, where he ran both operations and editorial for the company's homepage. He replaces Paul Slavin, an lauded former reporter, who left ABC News last week after 33 years.
Ruffolo worked at AOL in two separate periods. The first tenure was from 2000 to 2005, when he was a senior manager and director of corporate strategy. After a two-year stint at MTV Networks, he rejoined AOL in 2007 as a vice president in business development.
In a statement, ABC News notes that Ruffolo has "roots in journalism," working at ABC-6 in Providence, R.I., while completing his undergraduate degree at Brown University.
"A news and media junkie, Joe is an avid runner, swimmer, and boxer -- pursuits in which he has honed skills that will surely help him lead ABC News Digital into the future," the company wrote.
Ruffolo also holds an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The company also made two other appointments this week: Susan Mercandetti, as vice president of business development and Barbara Fedida as senior vice president of talent. Both used to work in production at ABC before leaving for stints at the New Yorker and CBS News, respectively.
Write to Shareen Pathak
