1959-
Correspondent and News Anchorman

A Road Less Traveled.

Brian Williams was a fast-rising star as the White House correspondent on NBC News when he took an unusual career turn for an aspiring nightly anchor. He accepted an offer to become anchor on an all-news cable channel launched in 1996 by NBC and Microsoft. Most journalists travel in the other direction, from cable to network news, but Williams had no trouble making the decision to front his own hour-long news program on MSNBC, The News with Brian Williams. He continued to anchor the Saturday edition of NBC Nightly News, however, and is rumored to be a possible future replacement for Tom Brokaw.

Background.

Williams dreamed of being a news anchor as a child in Middletown, New Jersey. He worked his way through a Catholic high school and took classes at Catholic University and George Washington University. He...