Longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt has announced he is stepping down after a decade at the helm of the esteemed position.
Holt, who served in the dual role of anchor and managing editor, will end his illustrious decade-long tenure at the beginning of the summer, NBC News reports.
Lester Holt will remain at NBC after stepping down
The news station did not immediately name Holt’s successor. But Holt will not leave the station entirely; he will continue to serve full-time as principal anchor of the hit news show “NBC Dateline.”
Lester Holt worked in multiple capacities at NBC
Holt’s rise at the network began after steering weekend editions of the news broadcast for eight years and co-anchoring “Weekend TODAY” for 12 years. He has served as principal anchor of “Dateline” since September 2011.
As the anchor for “NBC Nightly News” beginning in 2015, Holt’s role accorded him one-on-one audiences with American and world leaders including President Trump, former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many others.
Lester Holt smells the flowers as he reminisces over his iconic career
Holt’s era at NBC also included covering the political emergence and success of Trump, the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the attack in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
“A smile comes to my face when I think that with ‘Nightly News,’ and ‘Dateline,’ I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,” Holt wrote in a note Monday to ‘Nightly’ and “Dateline” staffers. “As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has. What an amazing ride.”
