“NBC Nightly News” will soon have its first new anchor in roughly a decade after Lester Holt confirmed last month that he plans to step down this summer.
Holt — who will continue to anchor NBC’s “Dateline,” a position he has held since 2011 — succeeded former anchor Brian Williams, who left NBC News amid controversy in 2015.
On Wednesday, NBC News announced journalist Tom Llamas has been tapped as the next anchor and managing editor for its “Nightly News.” Like Holt, Llamas will retain his secondary role as anchor of “Top Story with Tom Llamas” on NBC News NOW each weeknight.
“Tom has the winning combination of journalistic excellence, passionate storytelling and unyielding integrity—all characteristics that have long been trademarks of ‘NBC Nightly News,’” Janelle Rodriguez, NBC News executive vice president of programming, said in a press release. “Additionally, he’s been instrumental in growing NBC News NOW into the leading streaming news network, helping to introduce NBC News to a new generation of viewers.”
NBC’s TODAY — Pictured: Tom Llamas on Monday, November 13, 2023 (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Llamas began his career with NBC News and rejoined the network in 2021 as a senior national correspondent after serving as the chief national affairs correspondent for ABC. While with ABC, Llamas anchored the weekend edition of “World News Tonight” and as a fill-in anchor at times. He has also filled in for Holt on “NBC Nightly News” and has reported for “TODAY” during his time with NBC.
He called his new role “a profound honor and one that carries tremendous responsibility.”
“Lester Holt is a great man and one of the most trusted broadcasters of our time,” Llamas said Wednesday. “Just like Lester, I promise to be devoted to our viewers and dedicated to the truth.”
Llamas’ career began in Miami where he served as an intern for Telemundo 51 as a teenager, NBC’s press release read. He worked at multiple NBC affiliates before rising to the top of the network.
The Miami native graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans and completed a program focused on Raul Castro and Cuban American voters at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies.
Llamas, whose parents came to the U.S. as Cuban refugees, now resides in New York with his wife, two daughters, and son.
As for Holt, he did not provide an exact reason for his departure in late February.
“He has led the network during some of the country’s most fraught and challenging times in the past decade,” Rodriguez previously said in a message to staff. “Quite simply, Lester is the beating heart of this news organization.”
The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo contributed to this report.
