WASHINGTON--Christopher Ma has been named vice president of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO), the company announced today.

He will focus on business development opportunities, including joint ventures, new products, and acquisitions company-wide.

Mr. Ma is currently senior vice president of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the new media and electronic publishing subsidiary of The Washington Post Company, and executive editor of washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com. In this capacity he has overseen editorial development of both sites.

In a statement, Donald Graham, chairman and C.E.O., and Alan Spoon, president, of The Washington Post Company, said: "Chris Ma is an accomplished executive with broad new media experience. He helped make washingtonpost.com the best local news and information site in the country and also played a key role in developing The Washington Post Company's recently announced alliance with MSNBC and NBC News. Chris will further our progress by evaluating potential new editorial products, helping to enhance and extend our existing brands, and facilitating coordination among our business units."

Prior to joining Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive in 1997, Mr. Ma was at U.S. News and World Report for 11 years, where he was deputy editor. From 1979 to 1985, he worked for Newsweek as a correspondent in the Washington bureau, covering both foreign affairs and economics.

In 1995 he co-authored, with Peter Bernstein, "The Practical Guide to Practically Everything," a major new consumer almanac.

Mr. Ma is a graduate of Harvard College, where he received the Michael Clark Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship in 1972. He has a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Ma is married to Nathalie Gilfoyle.