The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Michael Riley, the Editorial Director of Bloomberg Government, as it’s new CEO.

He replaces Philip Semas, who is retiring after 44 years at The Chronicle.

Riley, 54, has worked for a variety of publications. They include: TIME, CNN, The Roanoke Times, CQ, a consultant to Politico in its early days and most recently, Bloomberg Government, which has undergone a lot of changes and growing pains, to say the least, since its inception.

In a note to staff, Corbin Gwaitney, owner and publisher of The Chronicle, wrote, “I am delighted to announce that Mike Riley, editorial director of Bloomberg Government, will be our new CEO and editor in chief. Mike has the journalistic leadership, business acumen, and digital savvy that we need to guide us into the future. He has run news organizations that cater to sophisticated and influential audiences like those the Chronicles serve, and has created innovative digital products that enhance strong print publications.”

Bloomberg Government’s Managing Editor Mike Riley released a memo Monday announcing the new hire of Michael Nelson, whom he describes as “one of Washington’s leading technology experts” as a BGOV analyst. Nelson teaches at Georgetown University. In addition to heading a team at IBM, he also worked with then-Veep Al Gore on “information infrastructure” issues at the White House — does this mean he helped invent the Internet? Nelson’s hire comes on the heels of a slew of departures and firings last week in the sales and multimedia departments.

Nelson is coming on board fast. He started in New York Monday and come Wednesday he’ll be in Washington.

See the internal memo… Read more

Sources tell FishbowlDC that an underground project, slated to put a hurtin’ on NJ, CQ-Roll Call, The Hill and Politico is underway at the Washington bureau of Bloomberg News. Rumor has it that the project’s aim is to specifically report and track Cap Hill news using a dashboard site similar to Bloomberg’s existing technology.

Few details about the initiative have surfaced but the competition has already begun in the HR department. Reportedly led by former CQ Editor and VP Mike Riley, we hear that recruiting efforts have already snagged several CQ folks including top salesperson Joanna Matthews.

At the time of this post, Bloomberg could not comment on the project or specific hires but a rep tells FishbowlDC, “We are hiring globally and Washington is increasingly important to our subscribers, readers, listeners and viewers. Naturally we are adding staff in the DC bureau.”

Thursday wasn’t just another day in the life of CQ CEO Bob Merry whose departure from his home of 22 years is imminent, it was party central.

Part One: Cocktail reception on the rooftop of The Hay Adams with colleagues Mike Riley, Bruce Drake, Ken Sands and Loesje Troglia.

As happens at these events, the tributes were plentiful, but the crowd favorite was from Victoria Monroe of the advertising department. “Actually, I’m very glad Bob could join us tonight. He initially said he couldn’t make it because he was going to be hiking the Appalachian Trail… Before speaking tonight I had two thoughts. First, how do you toast a charismatic, popular, visionary and successful leader? And, second, I am so glad that that is not at all relevant tonight.”

And, “Bob, we were hoping to get President Obama to call in and wish you well. We requested just 5 minutes of the President’s time, but the White House said he couldn’t do it. But Joe Biden did say he’d be glad to call in for about 3 hours,” Monroe went on.

Part Two: Dinner with friends and colleagues at Teatro Goldoni hosted by publicist Janet Donovan, who is also a publicist for CQ.

That portion of the evening was “off the record,” but we managed to snag this one photo from them. In attendance: Al Hunt, Jeff Stein, Craig Crawford, Mort Kondracke, Myra McPherson, David Rapp, Bruce Drake, Margaret Warner, Keith White, Jerome Cramer, and Judy Woodruff.

Who doesn’t enjoy a little good news now and then…

CQ editor Mike Riley has been working his team hard lately, but it certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. He took a moment today to thank his staff for their long hours, late nights and stakeouts.

I want to applaud our efforts on the night before last and salute those who were involved. Yes, it is an uncertain and anxious time at CQ, but the fact that these folks were focused fully on doing their work well reinforces the immense value we bring to our readers every day. And for that I am immensely grateful, as are our subscribers.

There’s an excerpt; check out his full memo after the jump.

Read more

CQ Editor Mike Riley has a few new hires to announce this afternoon. Maura Reynolds joins CQ as a senior editor from the Washington bureau of the LA Times and Dayo Akinwande, previously at Morningside Partners, was named CQ Transcripts editor today.

Riley’s internal email announcing a few more future changes after the jump…

Read more

President Obama sat down with reporters from regional newspapers yesterday. From Politico the list of lucky reporters involved in the roundtable interviews:

Albuquerque Journal – Michael Coleman

Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Bob Keefe

Cleveland Plain Dealer – Stephen Koff

Dallas Morning News – Todd Gillman

Denver Post – Mike Riley

Des Moines Register – Philip Brasher

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette – Sylvia Smith

Kansas City Star – David Goldstein

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Craig Gilbert

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Kevin Diaz

New Orleans Times-Picayune – Bruce Alpert

Orlando Sentinel – Mark Matthews

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – James O’Toole

Richmond Times-Dispatch – Neil Simon

The Birmingham News – Mary Orndo

From an internal CQ email:

From: New Exec. Editor Mike Riley
To: CQ Newsroom

I need your help. Would you please set aside a few minutes during the next week to give me some assistance? As you know, I’m spending my first weeks at Congressional Quarterly trying to gain an understanding of our news operation, looking at our strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities. So far, I’ve been most impressed with the depth of talent and your commitment to our vast range of journalistic efforts, and that makes me quite optimistic about our future. Still, I need your input to help us realize the full potential of this enterprise as we move forward. While I’m talking with many of you to get your insights, I’d also like to give everyone an opportunity to weigh in on these matters by casting my net more widely and capturing the broadest range possible of thoughts and ideas. So, if you’re willing, I’d like you to answer the items below and then either email me your response or drop it in the box outside my office. All I ask for is your candor; I’ll treat all answers confidentially.

Name:

Job:

Number of years at CQ:

What are the three best solutions you’d suggest to resolve what you see as the major challenges facing our news operation?

Please limit your response to one page.

Deadline: March 20, 2007

Thanks. Mike