Brian Williams is seen by more U.S. television viewers on a daily basis than any other individual. Since taking over as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News in 2004, he has strengthened the broadcast's position as the most-watched newscast in all of television and has become the most highly decorated evening news anchor of the modern era. He has received eleven Edward R. Murrow Awards, twelve Emmy Awards, the duPont-Columbia University Award, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and the industry’s highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award.
Williams began his broadcasting career in 1981 at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kan. He worked at several local stations in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City before joining NBC News in 1993. He became NBC’s chief White House correspondent and then anchor and managing editor of The News With Brian Williams on MSNBC and CNBC.
In 2004, he took over as anchor of NBC Nightly News, the nation’s top-rated nightly news program, a distinction it has maintained throughout Williams’ tenure in the anchor chair. Two years later, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In 2011, NBC News launched Rock Center with Brian Williams, the network’s first new primetime newsmagazine in nearly two decades.
Williams’ coverage of world events has earned him high praise and several citations for journalistic excellence, many of which were awarded for his work covering Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The New York Times said his reporting of Katrina was “a defining moment,” and Vanity Fair later called his work “Murrow-worthy” and reported that during the crisis he became “a nation’s anchor.” He has covered numerous presidential campaigns, nominating conventions, and elections, and has moderated eight presidential debates.
Williams is a native of Middletown, NJ where he was a firefighter for several years. Before his start in broadcasting, Williams worked in the White House during the Carter administration, beginning as an intern. He later worked as assistant administrator of the political action committee of the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington. He attended Brookdale Community College, Catholic University and George Washington University, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.
