Daisy Veerasingham is appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Associated Press(AP), effective from January 1, 2022. She is set to become the 14th leader of the AP in its 175-year history. Being the first generation British national of Srilankan descent, she is the first woman of colour and international citizen to lead the Associated Press. She will be succeeding retiring AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt. Currently, Veerasingham is the executive vice president and chief operating officer, spearheading all AP departments including the company’s news, business, and technology operations. 

Prior to this, Veerasingham served as Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at AP. In this role, she was heading the AP’s division which encompassed its sales, product, marketing, and customer operations worldwide. She was also responsible for managing AP’s global revenue operations through the Covid-19 pandemic. Veerasingham has an impeccable track record in business; driving P&L improvement, customer-focused sales growth, strategic development, value creation, operational efficiency, planning, and implementation. She donned various roles at AP and played a crucial role in its revenue growth, diversification of the news agency’s customer base on an international level, and introduced path breaking business models. She was the visionary behind the transformation of AP’s video business, making it fully digital-capable and market competitive,  focused on multichannel live video delivery.

She had also been the Vice President of international revenue at AP where she was entrusted with handling content licensing and marketing across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia, along with AP Global Media Services and AP’s video business. She started her 17-year long career at AP as a sales director for AP Television News in London. With her towering skill-set and extensive experience of multiple revenue models, she became the Vice President of Sales for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia, supervising revenue from clients across all formats and business units. Before she joined AP, Veerasingham had also been Group sales and Marketing Director at LexisNexis and held sales and marketing roles at the Financial Times. She holds a degree in law.

Veerasingham is thrilled to take on the new role and work with her colleagues to carry forward the legacy and prestige of AP. Gary Pruitt also showed faith in her judgment, experience, and value in leading AP towards new heights. Steven R. Swartz, chairman of the AP Board of Directors and president and CEO of Hearst, on Veerasingham’s appointment, stated that she is a proven leader with a profound understanding of how AP operates and a clear, futuristic vision.