Norah O’Donnell Biography

Norah O’Donnell Emmy-Award-Winning Anchor/Correspondent/Editor working with CBS News where she serves the station as an Evening Anchor/Managing Editor. She also works as an anchor for CBS News Election Specials. This includes primary, debate, and election nights. Asides from that, she works as a Correspondent for 60 Minutes.

Norah O’Donnell Education

O’Donnell attended Douglas Mac Arthur High School. She is a proud graduate of Georgetown University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. Asides from this, there, she also obtained a Master of Arts Degree in liberal studies.

Norah O’Donnell Career

O’Donnell works with CBS News where she serves the station as an Evening Anchor/Managing Editor. She happens to be a multiple Emmy-Award-Winning journalists having more than two decades worth of experience covering the biggest stories in the world. This also includes experience conducting impactful, newsmaking interviews. Asides from this, she has also covered six presidential elections and traveled around the globe in order to interview some of the world’s most important leaders which include six U.S. presidents.

She was named anchor and managing editor for CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell in the year 2019. This led to CBS News’ flagship broadcast from Washington, D.C. becoming the only network evening news anchor based in the nation’s capital. She has previously worked as a co-host for “CBS This Morning” and as a contributor for 60 Minutes. She joined the CBS This Morning team working as a co-host in the month of Jule 2012. Previously, she also served as CBS News chief White House correspondent covering the administration of President Barack Obama.

Being the anchor of CBS Evening News, she has conducted interviews with newsmakers in Washington and beyond. This includes Joe Biden’s first interview since taking office and an exclusive interview with Dr. Rick Bright, the former top federal scientist following his whistleblower complaint about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus.

Asides from this, she also had an exclusive sit-down with Vice President Mike Pence on the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. Asides from this, he also held a live interview with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy during the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on 6th January 2021. She has also had an exclusive interview with former staff for New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo who alleged sexual harassment by the then-governor and many more.

O’Donnell has also covered the historic first summit between President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, and anchored live from Surfside, Fla. This was hours after a deadly beachfront condo building collapse, and interviewed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Asides from this, he has also reported live from the Kennedy Space Center for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch.

During her time at CBS News, she has also held a sit-down with some of the world’s most influential leaders. The month of September 2019 saw her spend a week reporting in Saudi Arabia working for 60 MINUTES while she was interviewing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his first interview following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

She also previously had an interview with MBS in the year 2018. Norah happens to be the only western television journalist to have interviewed the Saudi Crown Prince twice. Asides from this, she has interviewed South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, the Dalai Lama, and the Duke of Sussex Prince Harry. She has also covered the historic election of Pope Francis in Vatican City and his first Apostolic Voyage to the United States.

Asides from that, she has also reported on the scenes of Hurricanes Dorian and Harvey. This is in addition to reporting and anchoring from the country’s largest migrant processing facility on the southern border. O’Donnell also covered George Floyd’s memorial services in Texas and Minneapolis. This is in addition to covering mass shootings in El Paso, Texas; Las Vegas, Annapolis, Maryland, and the Boston Marathon bombing.

She also led CBS News’ political coverage throughout the 2020 presidential election, the news administration, the transition of presidential power, and beyond. In the course of the year, she also anchored CBS News’ top-rated coverage of the impeachment proceedings against then-president Donald Trump and also moderated CBS News’ Democratic debate in Charleston S.C. She also led CBS News’ 2020 Election Day coverage until a winner was named.

She has also been privileged to report extensively on the U.S. military which includes launching “Profiles in Service,” and CBS Evening News” series highlighting stories of veterans, members of the military, and Americans from coast to coast who are giving back to their communities.

Norah O’Donnell Career

Prior to CBS News, she was working with NBC News where she worked for more than a decade. There, she was covering the Pentagon, Congress, and the White House. While working at NBC, she also reported from the Pentagon on the 11th of September 2001. Asides from this, she has also received a second Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for a Dateline NBC story titled “D.C. in Crisis.” During the months following the attacks, she also traveled extensively with then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. This also includes his first trip to Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks.

There, she has also covered every presidential election since the year 2000 which includes working as an NBC News White House correspondent in the year 2004. This was when she covered the campaigns of then-President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. Prior to making the coverage on the White House, she was working as NBC News congressional correspondent. This was while reporting on the lead-up to the Iraq War.

O’Donnel kick-started her career working as a print reporter for Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper in which she covered the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Asides from this, she has also traveled the country covering congressional elections.

Being a firm believer in empowering women, she sits on the board of directors of the International Women’s Media Foundation. While at the “CBS Evening News,” she also created and led a series of original reports called “Women and the Pandemic.” This program offered an in-depth look at COVID-19’s long-lasting and disproportionate effect on women.

Norah O’Donnell Awards

Norah was privileged to be awarded a prestigious 2022 duPont-Columbia Award and the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Broadcast National/International Coverage in 2021 for an exclusive, year-and-a-half-long investigation into sexual assault in the U.S. military.

The award was followed by her receiving an Emmy-Award-Winning reporting in 2018 on sexual assaults at the U.S. Airforce Academy. Through her reporting on sexual assault in the Air Force Academy, she was also recognized by the prestigious White House Correspondents’ Association.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she spearheaded dogged reporting and offered compelling newsmaking stories. She was privileged that her work was recognized with two Headliner Awards. One of the awards in the Pandemic Coverage Category for her exclusive interview with Dr. Rick Bright on the urgency of the unfolding COVID-19 crisis and how it was at odds with the administration’s view that the contagion was far less serious.

She was also awarded the Headliner Award in Business and Consumer Reporting for her 60 MINUTES report on the front lines of automotive industry factories for FORD and GM. This was as they pivot from making cars to COVID-19 PPE and ventilators in a rapid changeover not seen since World War II.

Together with the CBS Evening News team, they were recognized with an Edwar R. Murrow Award for “Best Newscast.” This was for its on-the-ground and exclusive coverage from the U.S.-Mexico border which includes her gaining first access inside migrant detention centers. This also included her interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan.

O’Donnell has also received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for her contribution to CBS News’ coverage of George Floyd and the forces of change. Asides from this, she was part of the CBS News team which received an Alfred I DuPont Award for the Network’s coverage of the 2012 Newtown massacre.

Besides this, she also earned several Gracie Awards which include being named Outstanding News Anchor in 2020 and Best National News On-Air Talent for the years 2018 and 2016. She is also a 2019 New York Women in Communications Matrix Award honoree. Norah has also been privileged to receive the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast of 2017 and was also named Broadcaster of the Year by the New Yorn State Broadcasters Association in the year 2014.

She was also awarded the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for excellence in presidential news coverage for her exclusive 60 MINUTES interview with then-Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden on his decision not to run for president in the year 2016.

Norah O’Donnell Age

O’Donnell, born Norah Morahan O’Donnell, is 48 years old as of 2022. She was born on the 23rd of January 1974 in Washington, D.C., United States. O’Donnell celebrates her birthday on the 23rd of January every year.

Norah O’Donnell Height

She stands at an approximate height of 5 feet 7 inches.

Norah O’Donnell Family

O’Donnell was born into a military family to her loving parents Francis O’Donnell a doctor and Army officer and Noreen Bernadette. She was raised in Landstuhl, Germany; South Korea, Washington, D.C., and San Antonio, Texas. O’Donnell was raised alongside her two siblings Mary O’Donnell and Francis O’Donneell Jr.

Norah O’Donnell Husband

O’Donnell is married to his husband, Chef Geoff who happens to be a restaurateur in Washington, D.C. The duo tied the knot in the year 2001. They are proud parents to their three kids, two twins Grace Tracy and Henry Tracy who were born on the 20th of May 2007, and Riley Norah Tracy who was born on the 5th of July 2008. She is an avid Army brat and Veteran supporter.

Norah O’Donnell Net Worth

O’Donnell has an estimated net worth ranging between $10 Million – $20 Million which she has earned from her successful career as an Anchor/Correspondent/Editor.

Norah O’Donnell Salary

O’Donnell earns an annual salary ranging between $1 Million – $ 5 Million.

Is Norah O’Donnell leaving CBS News?/Why is Norah O’Donnell not on CBS Evening News?/What happened to Norah O’Donnell?

O’Donnell is still working with CBS News where she serves the station as an Evening Anchor/Managing Editor. She shares no information in regard to whether or not she is leaving the station anytime soon. We will update this information once it’s available to the public.