As Executive Producer of NBC's 'Today' Show
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CURRENTS WAKE-UP CALL As executive producer of NBC’s ‘Today’ show, Libby Leist ’01 has one of the top jobs in TV news MORNING RITUAL: Leist (left) on the set in December with co-hosts Savannah Guthrie (center) and Hoda Kotb t’s 8 a.m. on a Tuesday in late October, and Libby Leist ’01 went viral of the two-year-old asking Amazon’s Alexa to play the is in the control room of Studio 1A in Rockefeller Center, catchy kids’ tune. “You always have to think about the segment, I the heart of NBC’s “Today” show. Surrounded by more and then have a back-up plan because it’s live TV,” she says. than a dozen staffers and twice as many monitors, she keeps “Everything moves so quickly. You have to be able to adjust.” a sharp eye on everything in front of the camera—and behind That’s nothing new for the seventeen-year NBC News the scenes—to ensure that the broadcast appears seamless to its approximately 4 million viewers. ‘You always have to think about the segment,’ Leist says, “There are so many parts to the show,” she says. “It’s like conducting an orchestra.” ‘and then have a back-up plan because it’s live TV. ’ Leist has just watched co-host Hoda Kotb do an emotional interview with Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, veteran, who was promoted to executive producer of “Today” who’s calling for an investigation of USA Gymnastics in the in January 2018 after five years as a senior producer. Leist over- wake of the sexual abuse scandal involving the team’s former sees the franchise’s prime hours—7 to 9 a.m.—which bring in doctor. Minutes later, Leist smoothly preps for a lighter topic: a reported $500 million in annual ad revenue. It was a ground- the “Baby Shark” toddler and her parents are on set and ready breaking hire: she’s the only woman to hold that position in to dance, having been invited to appear after an adorable video the show’s sixty-six-year history. Her elevation was part of a › PHOTOS: COURTESY OF NBC UNIVERSAL 22 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE JF19_libby_leist_OK.indd 22 12/12/18 2:18 PM CURRENTS ON THE AIR: Leist (left) in the control room and (seen second from right in photo above) at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea with (from left) Al Roker, Guthrie, and Kotb. network shake-up after longtime anchor Matt Lauer was fired best one I’ve ever worked with, without question. I feel like the amid sexual misconduct allegations; at the same time, Kotb was sky’s the limit for her.” named Lauer’s replacement, making her and co-host Savannah Later in her 30 Rock office, Leist reflects on rising through Guthrie the first female duo to anchor the iconic morning show. the ranks at NBC. A communication major on the Hill, she Leist says she’s grateful for the opportunity, but tries not to worked as a summer intern at its affiliate in her hometown of think too much about her trailblazer status. “I just want to do Utica, New York, before landing a job as a desk assistant in the the best job that I can,” she says. Still, she adds, “you don’t want network’s Washington, D.C., bureau. She started two months to be the first female executive producer who doesn’t deliver.” before the September 11 attacks, and was soon helping with Leist started her first day in the role reassuring staffers shaken pieces about the aftermath, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the by the circumstances surrounding Lauer’s departure. She weath- Iraq War; as she puts it, “9/11, and the years afterward, is what I ered another challenge in her second week: “Today” was in South consider my journalism school.” Over the next decade, she trav- Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics when the school shoot- ing occurred in Parkland, Florida. “We had all of these ‘She’s a born leader who gets things done and Olympic shows planned, but it was such a big story happen- gives you the straight truth,’ says Hoda Kotb, ing back home, a lot of changes had to be made,” she says. “We had to pivot to cover it from Korea.” Since then, Leist ‘but somehow does it in a loving way. ’ has been finding other ways to make her mark. The day before CAM’s visit, she’d pushed to send Guthrie to Pittsburgh eled the world as reporter Andrea Mitchell’s State Department after a mass shooting at a synagogue, in what’s believed to be producer and took on several senior producer roles, including the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. “It’s a big deal for the bureau’s Capitol Hill coverage and MSNBC’s weekday when the show sends the anchors into the field,” she notes. “It’s political talk show “The Daily Rundown.” our way of saying that we think this story is really important.” Leist moved to New York in 2013 to work at “Today,” where She’s also eager to build programming centered around she led political coverage and special events that included three significant causes and initiatives, noting that she’s proud of Olympics, a live show from the White House, and three presiden- bringing in former First Lady Michelle Obama and others for tial candidate town halls in 2016. “It has felt like a new career an extended segment celebrating the International Day of the every few years, which is nice,” she says. “It keeps my brain fresh.” Girl in October. “We haven’t focused on one issue like that for These days, Leist typically wakes at 4 a.m. and doesn’t leave the an hour in that big a way,” she says. “The ‘Today’ show brand office until 4 p.m., conferring with colleagues again in the evening is so powerful, I always feel a responsibility to make sure we’re to see if breaking news affects the morning broadcast. “It can be using it in a way that’s significant.” She certainly has a fan in a grind, and people work long hours,” she says. “It’s tough. We Kotb, who marvels at Leist’s ability to be a tough but kind boss. have to cover the news and fulfill our responsibility as journal- “She’s a born leader who gets things done and gives you the ists. But at the same time, this is a fun job. We’re lucky. I want straight truth, but somehow does it in a loving way,” says Kotb. it to be a place where it feels that way.” “I’ve worked with a lot of executive producers, and Libby is the — Heather Salerno 24 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE TOP PHOTO: CLARK+WALKER STUDIOS BOTTOM ROW: ALEXANDRA MESEKE PHOTOGRAPHY JF19_libby_leist_OK.indd 24 12/12/18 2:18 PM.