Alessandra Galloni has been named editor-in-chief of Reuters and is the first woman to head the news agency in its 170-year history, the agency said in a statement.

The Rome-born Galloni will succeed American journalist Stephen Adler, who, after 10 years as editor-in-chief, is retiring this year. Under the leadership of 47-year-old Galloni, there will be nearly 2,500 journalists around the world.

The Harvard and London School of Economics graduate has 13 years of experience at The Wall Street Journal: first as a business correspondent in London, then as a political and economic correspondent in Rome and Paris, and finally as head of the South European Bureau.

In 2013, Galloni moved to Thomson Reuters, where she initially worked as an editor for the already well-known region of Southern Europe and a columnist on business-related issues. After that, she became the chief editor of world news.