President
Kate O’Brian serves as the president of Al Jazeera America. Prior to joining Al Jazeera America, O’Brian served as the senior vice president of newsgathering operations at ABC. There, O’Brian was responsible for all of ABC News’ newsgathering operations including all ABC News bureaus worldwide; business, law and justice, medical, and investigative units; NewsOne, ABC News Radio and affiliate relations. O’Brian also was general manager of programming for ABC News Radio responsible for editorial content; overseas field producer in Rome and London; producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, both in Washington, D.C. and New York; and manager in talent development. She began as a television desk assistant in New York and joined the staff of This Week with David Brinkley when it launched in 1981.
O’Brian has won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award as part of the This Week with David Brinkley team, an Emmy Award for the 2000 Millennium coverage at ABC News and a George Foster Peabody Award for ABC News’ September 11 coverage.