First Woman to Lead The Associated Press, Who is Daisy Veerasingham?

Veerasingham is also the first South Asian to lead the news organisation in 175 years.

British National Daisy Veerasingham will take charge as the CEO and President of the Associated Press in January 2022.

(Photo Courtesy: AP/Twitter)

The Associated Press recently announced appointment of Daisy Veerasingham as the President and CEO of the news wire. She will replace Gary Pruitt and take charge in January 2022.

Veeransigham will serve as the 14th President of the 175-year-old company. However, she will be the first woman, first person of colour and the first South Asian to hold this office of the New York-based news wire.

There is no better person to lead AP into its next chapter than Daisy, with whom I’ve worked closely over the past decade. With her experience, judgment and values, Daisy will be a terrific leader of the AP.

Current CEO and President Gary Pruitt, AP Press release.

Who is Daisy Veerasingham?

Daisy Veerasingham, 51, is currently serving as the Executive Vice President and COO of the Associated Press Inc. She is a first generation British National whose roots can be traced back to Sri Lanka.

Veerasingham joined the AP in 2004 as a sales director for the AP Television news in London. She has served roles as the Chief Revenue Officer and head of Global Sales for the company.

"During her 17 years at AP, Veerasingham has grown revenue, diversified the news agency’s customer base – especially internationally – and introduced new business models. She also led the transformation of AP’s video business, making it fully digital-capable and market competitive, with a focus on multichannel live video delivery," an AP press release read.

Daisy Veerasingham has previously worked as a Group Sales Director for the Lexis Nexis Group for three years before which she worked at the Financial Times Group. In her eight years at the Financial Times, she was responsible as Sales and Marketing manager for emerging markets and was then promoted to Sales and Marketing director for FT Information.

I am thrilled to take the helm of this deeply respected news organisation and work with colleagues who do extraordinary work every day in support of our mission.

Daisy Veerasingham, AP Press Release

(With inputs from AP)