The Washington Post named Kevin Merida its new managing editor in charge of news and features coverage on Monday.

Merida, 56, who has been The Post’s national editor for the past four years, will be the paper’s first African American managing editor.

He has worked at The Post for 20 years, starting off covering Congress and the 1994 Gingrich Revolution. After contributing to election coverage in 1996, he moved to the Style section. Later, he coordinated The Post’s year-long award-winning series “Being a Black Man.” He covered the 2008 presidential campaign as a roving feature writer.