Lori Waldon is the President and General Manager of KOAT TV, the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, New Mexico owned by Hearst Television. In her role as President and General Manager Lori oversees an award-winning station with a strong reputation for journalism excellence and outstanding community service.

Lori was promoted to her current position after serving as Regional Director of News for Hearst Television and news director of KCRA/KQCA in Sacramento, California. As Regional Director of News, Lori provided news operations oversight for both KOAT and KSBW TV in Monterey/Salinas, California. As news director of KCRA/KQCA, she led a nationally-recognized news operation with an outstanding reputation for strong investigative, enterprise and political reporting. Under Lori’s leadership, KCRA3 earned two prestigious national Edward R. Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence and Breaking News. Under her leadership, KCRA 3 also earned six consecutive regional Murrows for Overall News Excellence; three consecutive Emmy Awards for News Excellence, and Emmys for Breaking News and Best Newscast. During Lori’s tenure, KCRA 3 News was also a dominant ratings winner in the Sacramento market and northern California. The station consistently earns #1 ratings for its morning, noon, early evening and late newscasts.

Before joining KCRA, Lori was the news director at WISN 12 News, the ABC Hearst affiliate in Milwaukee. She became the first African- American news director in both Milwaukee and in Wisconsin. Under her leadership, WISN 12 News became the number-one rated station in Southeastern Wisconsin and earned multiple awards. Those awards include a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast; Seven regional Murrow awards for news excellence; a Midwest/Chicago Emmy award for Breaking News; a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism; 28 First Place Associated Press awards; and several awards from the Milwaukee Press Club. WISN 12 News also twice earned “Best Television News Operation” from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.

Lori joined WISN-TV from Sacramento duopoly CBS 13/CW31, where she served as assistant news director. She previously spent 13 years in news management roles at KPIX-TV in San Francisco, serving as managing editor, executive producer and news producer. Prior to KPIX-TV, Lori worked as a news reporter at stations in Charlotte, N.C.; Mobile, Ala. and Peoria, Ill.

Lori served as a member of the NBC News Directors Task Force. During her time in Milwaukee, Lori served for two years as the chairperson of the ABC News Directors Advisory Board.

Lori graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and a minor in journalism. She received her master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She is visiting faculty at The Poynter Institute for Journalism Studies, and a Leadership Coach for the Radio, Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). Lori is also an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists.