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FALL/WINTER 2021
Hot Off the Press: Roula Khalaf is taking the Finacial Times to new heights After graduating from IC, Khalaf spent a year at AUB before transferring to Syracuse University in New York State, where she completed her BA at the P.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. She received an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University before launching her journalism career with Forbes Magazine in New York. As she recounts, “I began my career at Forbes. I started off as a fact checker, then wrote a column about accounting, finding stories where there was fraud or other accounting games played. Then we moved to the UK, so I applied for a job at the FT and I was hired as a North Africa Correspondent.” News travels fast. So does Roula Khalaf’s ‘83 schedule. True to character, she has approximately 15 minutes to discuss her life and career before dropping her son off at school and beginning what will likely be a very busy work day.
What Khalaf omits, however, is that her stint on the accounting column included one of the first public takedowns of the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street,” stockbroker Jordan Belfort. Her article was so impactful that a fictionalized Khalaf is portrayed in Martin Scorsce’s popular 2013 film of the same name.
In the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, pandemic, and the compounding effects of these major world affairs on global markets, as the Editor of the Financial Times, it is a miracle Ms. Khalaf has any time to speak at all.
Beyond securing her legacy in popular culture, Khalaf’s 27-year career at the FT has been incredibly rich and rewarding - for both her and the publication.
Yup. The Financial Times. Whether or not scanning its pinkpages is synonymous with your morning coffee, most are familiar with this leading newspaper. Not only is the publication considered the world’s most important business read consulted by senior financial decision makers - but it has also gained increased recognition for its internationally-minded politicaleconomic analysis, data-driven journalism, and rich cultural coverage. And, since January 2020, Roula Khalaf is in charge of it all.
After joining the FT in 1995, Khalaf was sent to cover the Algerian Civil War, “a big story at the time, especially for European audiences,” she notes. Over the years, her sharp coverage of socio-political and economic developments in Algeria, Iraq, Iran, and the Arab Spring, catapulted her up the ladder. She rose through the paper’s ranks - from a regional correspondent to Middle East Editor, to Foreign Editor.
“If you are interested in the
world, if you are interested in public service, if you are interested in making a difference, this is a great path.
”
Growing up in Beirut with a view of the iconic Le Commodore Hotel, the preferred outpost of the wayfaring journalists covering the country’s Civil War, Khalaf was exposed, and drawn, to the enigmatic and adventurous life of a foreign correspondent. Despite the instability around her, she remembers her time at IC fondly, stating, “I still think of high school at IC as some of my favorite memories.”
Her work has also garnered her much acclaim and global recognition. In 2009, Khalaf was awarded the International Media Awards “Peace Through Media’’ Award for her high quality news reporting and analysis. Her 2013 series, Qatar: From Emirate to Empire, won the Foriegn Press Association’s Feature Story of the Year, and in 2016, she was named the Foreign Commentator of the Year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards. 2016 was also the year Khalaf was promoted to deputy editor of the FT by her predecessor, Lionel Barber. The
