Stephen Koepp was named deputy managing editor of TIME, effective January 1, 2001.

As one of TIME's top editors, Koepp, a two-decade TIME veteran, helps to set overall direction for the magazine, often oversees the weekly editorial close, and supervises many special projects. Among those have been TIME's annual cover story on American history, which last year featured Lewis and Clark; the magazine's 80th anniversary special, called 80 Days That Changed the World; and the 176-page book version of TIME's Iraq War coverage, titled 21 Days to Baghdad. Koepp also takes a hand in the magazine's science and health coverage, including the annual "Your Mind, Your Body" issue

Koepp, 47, a Wisconsin native, received a B.A. degree (journalism major, German minor) from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1978. After graduation he joined the Waukesha Freeman, a daily newspaper in Wisconsin, where he worked as a news reporter and city editor. At the Freeman, he won a statewide wire-service award for investigative reporting.

Koepp joined TIME magazine in 1981 as a correspondent in the magazine's Letters Department, where he answered letters from readers. He became a reporter-researcher in the business section later in the year and was promoted to staff writer in 1983; associate editor in 1986; senior editor in 1988 and assistant managing editor in 1994. During his tenure in the Business section in the 1980s, he wrote and edited cover stories on Ralph Lauren, the Walt Disney company, the buyout of RJR-Nabisco, the Simple Life, the Church of Scientology and B.C.C.I. As editor of the Nation section and later its top-editor, Koepp helped oversee coverage of the Clinton Administration, the rise and fall of Newt Gingrich, and the 2000 Presidential election.

He also co-wrote, with his brother David, the 1994 motion picture The Paper.