I have some pretty big news: I’m leaving Lee Enterprises to work for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Office of Digital and Design Innovation as their Mobile Products Manager in Washington D.C.

I know what you’re thinking, “Did he say the BBC?”

Nope.

So who are they and what do they do? The BBG‘s mission is, “To inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.” It’s an independent agency of the federal government focusing specifically on delivering journalism to countries who don’t have a free press or who have governments that control information access. Some of the properties include: The Voice of America, Radio and TV Martí, Middle East Broadcast Network, Radio Free Asia and Europe. The gig will be executing products and partnerships across mobile and emerging platforms — from the complete spectrum of tools like SMS through the mobile/tablet device array to broadcast and ‘second screen’ social experiences. It’s very tech focused and will offer an amazing array of opportunities to learn, grow and tackle very unique challenges from low bandwidth, low tech countries to places where the leadership is actively jamming your signals and blocking your satellites. It’s going to require a lot of creativity, a lot of learning, experimenting and a whole lot of innovation.

Leaving Lee and the Midwest is going to be tough; we’ve made a lot of progress and had some good times, but this new adventure is going to be amazing. A multi-platform, multi-media, multi-national, multi-talented team and I can’t wait to get started at the beginning of June.