Ron Allen is an NBC News correspondent based in New York. His reports appear on all of NBC’s platforms including, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” and MSNBC.
He joined NBC News in 1996. Since then he has covered a wide range of national and international stories. Most recently, his assignments have included the Trayvon Martin shooting, the abuse scandal at Penn State, the historic Arab Spring from Cairo, Egypt, the devastating earth in Haiti, and the 2012 election campaign.
Allen covered the historic 2008 Presidential election campaign. He reported from Chicago’s Grant Park the night of President Barack Obama’s victory, the culmination of a year spent traveling the country, following the campaigns of Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton and the general election campaign of Vice President Joe Biden. He also reported from the floor of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
Allen moved to New York in 2003 after 11 years as a foreign correspondent based in London. He has traveled to more than 75 countries, spending a considerable amount of time in hotspots such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Balkans, Israel and the Palestinian territories, and across Africa, in countries such as Rwanda, South Africa and Somalia to name just a few.
Prior to joining NBC, Allen was a London based correspondent for ABC News, and before that a CBS News correspondent, based in Washington, D.C., and in Los Angeles.
Allen covered local news for WCVB-TV, (ABC) Boston, WFSB-TV, (CBS) Hartford, and WBTV, (CBS) Charlotte. He began his career at CBS News in New York as a desk assistant.
Allen’s work with reporting teams has earned many of journalism’s highest honors, including six Overseas Press Club Awards, five Emmys, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards, and two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards. The National Association of Black Journalists named him journalist of the year in 1996.
Allen has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the University’s Board of Overseers, the Board of the Overseas Press Club, the Leadership Council of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has participated in the Woodrow Wilson Fellows program.
Allen lives in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area with his wife and daughter.
