08.10.16

In a piece in The Atlantic, senior political columnist Ron Fournier bid farewell to his longtime residence of D.C., announcing that he is returning to his Detroit roots to serve as associate publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business.

In his new role, Fournier will lead editorial content strategy and work to capture new business and audience opportunities, Crain’s Detroit Business announced. Fournier wrote that his move is spurred on by the potential of action “at the local level, where innovation isn’t a talking point; it’s a way of life.”

Coincidentally, Crain’s Detroit Business was established in 1985, the same year that Fournier, a fresh-faced college graduate, left Detroit to report for The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Over the years, as Fournier took on larger and larger editorial roles at The Associated Press (Washington bureau chief), National Journal (Editor-in-Chief) and The Atlantic, his hometown publication also grew. It is now a “media brand devoted to telling the story of southeast Michigan’s economic trails and transformations,” as Fournier described in his column.

Though Fournier will continue to periodically contribute his veteran political insights to The Atlantic for the remainder of the election season, he will do so from his hometown, which is going through exciting times of its own. “For the first time in my lifetime, my hometown has a chance to rebound from decades of decline,” Fournier wrote. “You can go home again. We will go home again, knowing the life we left behind 30 years ago is gone, but that we can help build anew.”