Former LAT reporter Michael Flagg has joined public relations firm Manning Selvage & Lee in D.C.:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- March 26, 2008 -- Michael Flagg, a veteran business reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and the Washington Post, has joined the Washington, D.C. office of Manning Selvage & Lee (MS&L) as senior vice president. His appointment is effective immediately.

Flagg is an expert in crisis communications, public relations, government relations and international business and economics. At MS&L, he will specialize in finance and public affairs, working with clients including the Renewable Fuels Now coalition, Philips, the American Public Power Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In addition to his journalism positions, Flagg also led communications for the D.C. office of the Center for Responsible Lending, a non-profit advocacy group that fights predatory lenders. It was among the first and most visible organizations to warn of the danger of subprime mortgages several years ago.

"Mike's media acumen, relationships and experience managing high-profile public affairs campaigns is a tremendous asset to our clients. With almost three decades of experience writing and developing stories, Mike is a unique and exciting addition to our team," said Sheila Gruber McLean, senior vice president and director of corporate affairs at MS&L.

At the Los Angeles Times, he reported on developers during one of Los Angeles' busiest booms in the 1980s, and later wrote about white-collar crime; was a senior editor at the Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong and then a correspondent covering marketing and media across Asia; helped supervise Bloomberg Business News' large, far-flung Asian news operation during the currency crisis of 1997; and was an assistant business editor at the Washington Post.

Flagg has a degree in history from Columbia University and lives in the District of Columbia.