Warren Watson is executive director of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Watson is a veteran newspaper editor, the former vice president and acting co-president of the American Press Institute and, most recently, the director of J-Ideas, at Ball State University.

While at API, Watson led workshops on newsroom issues, management and leadership, marketing and and advertising. In 2001, Watson edited “Crisis Journalism, A Handbook for Media Response,” an API handbook published in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Watson has been active in the Society for News Design, and in 2003, was the president of the society, an international organization of 2,700 members.

Watson has held reporting, editing, art and management positions at various newspapers, from the tiny Somersworth-Berwicks (Maine) Free Press to the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. The New Hampshire native earned a bachelor’s degree from University of New Hampshire in 1973.