As POLITICO’s new global technology team takes shape on multiple fronts, we’re pleased to announce two exciting moves — the first of several you’ll see in the coming months as we build on our dominant standing in core tech policy coverage while also expanding our global ambitions.

The first note here is long overdue: Benton Ives has taken on a new role as deputy technology editor. Many of you know Benton from his time as a POLITICO Congress editor from 2015 to 2017, or from his part-time editing stints on the night desk after he returned to the U.S. after a few years traipsing through world capitals. With a deep, under-the-fingernails grasp of Hill dynamics, a truly collegial mindset and a driving intellectual curiosity about the new dynamics of power in

I’m thrilled to introduce NPR’s new tech reporter, Dara Kerr, who starts with us on Jan. 9. Along with our intrepid Bobby Allyn, Dara will examine the choices tech companies make and the influence they wield over our lives.

Dara comes to NPR from The Markup, where she covered labor at tech companies. She produced gripping investigations of the risks that Uber and Lyft drivers take—and the lack of protection the tech companies provide them. Dara also reported on big tech lobbying and the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation on Facebook.

Before The Markup, Dara reported for CNET News. Her daily coverage ranged from Airbnb’s regulatory battles to self-driving cars to the proliferation of lab-grown meat. While at CNET, Dara traveled the length of the Texas-Mexico border to report on how surveillance technology