Today The Atlantic is announcing that Michael Leibel will join as senior editor for community. Michael begins on Monday, and will lead efforts to engage with our readers more closely, including building a larger forum for conversation on the website and app. Michael spent the past eight years at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, leading audience, social-media, and video-curation strategy.

Below is the staff announcement from executive editor Adrienne LaFrance and managing editor Bhumika Tharoor:

Dear everyone, We’re happy to share the news that Michael Leibel is joining The Atlantic as a senior editor, leading our efforts to build comments and a larger forum for conversation on our site and app. We can’t imagine a better person to lead this important work: Michael brings enormous journalistic talent and a preternatural understanding of the social web in all of its complexity. He is curious, collaborative, and adept at driving ambitious projects forward. In addition to his work on our forthcoming conversation platform, Michael will work closely with the indefatigable Drew Goins as he develops a daily trivia game for our readers. And Michael will of course work closely with our partners on the product team. Michael is from North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Please join us in welcoming Michael to The Atlantic. Hooray, Adrienne and Bhumi

Recent editorial hires at The Atlantic include staff writers Tom Bartlett, Will Gottsegen, Tyler Austin Harper, Sally Jenkins, Quinta Jurecic, Idrees Kahloon, Jonathan Lemire, Jake Lundberg, Lily Meyer, Toluse Olorunnipa, Luis Parrales, Alexandra Petri, Alex Reisner, Missy Ryan, Vivian Salama, Simon Shuster, Jamie Thompson, Josh Tyrangiel, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, and Nancy Youssef; and senior editors Paul Beckett, Emily Bobrow, Drew Goins, Jenna Johnson, Adam Kirsch, Dan Zak, and Katie Zezima.

Press Contacts: Anna Bross and Paul Jackson | The Atlantic press@theatlantic.com