Tom Llamas has been named the next anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News.”
He starts the new high-profile role this summer. He will also continue to anchor “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” a one-hour primetime streaming newscast on NBC News NOW each weeknight.
Llamas will succeed Lester Holt, who announced last week he is stepping down after a decade as anchor to focus on a full-time role at “Dateline.”
The son of Cuban immigrants, Llamas, 45, will be the first Latino to anchor a weekday English-language broadcast network evening newscast. José Díaz-Balart, who hosts a show on MSNBC since 2021, anchors Saturday editions of “Nightly News.”
Janelle Rodriguez, NBC News EVP of Programming, announced the news and praised Llamas for his journalistic excellence and his role in “growing NBC News NOW into the leading streaming news network.”
Llamas began his career at NBC News 25 years ago, working at MSNBC, and local news stations in Miami and New York. He moved to ABC News in 2014, where he anchored the weekend editions of “ABC World News Tonight.”
He rejoined the network in 2021 as a senior national correspondent and anchor of “Top Story” after leaving ABC News, Since returning to NBC, he has also served as a fill-in anchor for “Nightly News” and a regular contributor for “Today.”