1776 has picked Politico executive Peter Cherukuri to be president and chief innovation officer according to a report in the The Huffington Post.
Cherukuri joined Politico in 2013, where he runs the Politico Focus brand journalism studio and serves as executive vice president for audience solutions. Before that he was the D.C. general manager for The Huffington Post and publisher at Roll Call. Additionally, Cherukuri is on the 1776 board and co-founded of K Street Capital, one of the investors in 1776's recent $7.2 million funding round.
Cherukuri is only the latest executive scooped up by 1776. The incubator hired Margaret Shepard from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a managing director in May, CNN's Erin McPike as communications director in March and started the year by hiring former New York City and State chief digital officer Rachel Haot as a managing director who will run the upcoming New York branch of 1776.
Cherukuri is leaving Politico as part of a wave of changes at the company. Co-founder Jim VandeHei and Playbook's Mike Allen are starting a new venture together while newsroom editor Susan Glasser is moving to Israel to be with her husband and New York Times Jerusalem chief Peter Baker after the election.
We've reached out to 1776 and Politico and will update when we have more details.
