Christoph Riess named WAN-IFRA chief executive

WAN-IFRA, the merged global organisation for newspapers, has appointed Christoph Riess as group chief executive. Riess, 53, joins the enlarged industry body, which was born from the July 2009 merger of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers and the Darmstadt-based IFRA from Mitsubishi Paper, the paper supplier. His appointment, effective from 1 February, means that Timothy Balding, the former WAN chief executive, becomes director general of WAN-IFRA Global Affairs, based in Paris. No new position has been announced for Reiner Mittelbach, the chief executive of the former IFRA. Riess has also worked for the German media group Bertelsmann AG and the companies Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and PaperlinX. WAN-IFRA is the global organisation of the world's newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and more than 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".