Mike Riley, editor of The Roanoke Times since 1998 and a key player in its growing online presence, will take on similar challenges in the nation's capital with Congressional Quarterly.

Riley, 47, said Wednesday that he will leave The Roanoke Times on Feb. 16 and begin duties March 5 as editor and senior vice president of the company with the largest news team covering Capitol Hill.

Riley has directed newsroom operations at The Roanoke Times with a goal he described as "becoming the destination paper for online journalism" through roanoke.com.

"It has become that industry leader," Riley said, citing three national awards within the online news industry in 2006 and Internet revenues that have increased about 50 percent yearly.

Twice, in 2002 and 2006, The Roanoke Times was ranked No. 1 in the country in readership, defined by Scarborough Research as the percentage of adults in its Metropolitan Statistical Area who read the paper in some form.

In his move to Congressional Quarterly, Riley returns to the same company he left eight years ago when he served as an online editorial consultant.

Since then, CQ has evolved from mostly print publications into a company that earns much of its revenue from online operations such as subscriptions to its news content.

CQ, owned by Times Publishing Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla., plans to add more journalists in the next several years to its staff of 125 reporters, editors and researchers in Washington, Riley said.

CQ has about the same number of journalists as The Roanoke Times.

Riley said online growth is a challenge awaiting future Roanoke Times publisher Debbie Meade, who succeeds outgoing publisher Wendy Zomparelli in February.

"The industry has a lot of challenges, but this newspaper has dealt well with those challenges and is one of the best-positioned papers to head into the future" and a continuing shift to Internet use, Riley said.

Zomparelli said Riley was "an excellent editor, and we're always sorry to see talented people leave."

"When one of our staff members is courted by larger organizations, it is a great testimonial to the company's excellence as a news organization and its commitment to developing people," Zomparelli said.

CQ had been in touch with Riley since last year, he said, and this month made an offer he couldn't refuse.

"The opportunity at Congressional Quarterly is a fabulous one, because it combines two of my prime passions: political journalism and the ongoing digital transformation," Riley said.

Bob Merry, president and publisher of CQ, said that while in Roanoke, Riley "has developed a national reputation in our industry as a highly competent and highly creative executive with particular skills at bringing together traditional and Web-based media."

Previous jobs held by Riley focused on political journalism, including stints as correspondent and bureau chief at Time magazine, and executive producer of Time's political Web site, allpolitics.com.

He has degrees from Wake Forest University and Harvard.

Riley's eight years in Roanoke is the longest he's lived in one community in his professional career. He said he has loved Roanoke and also loves Washington.

"Right now, this is the right next chapter to write."