Starting this weekend Cecilia Vega and Tom Llamas are officially the new weekend anchors for “ABC World News Tonight.”
Both had been filling in since last fall when David Muir became anchor of “World News Tonight.”
ABC News President James Goldston announced their appointments today in a memo sent to staff.
Cecilia will anchor the Saturday edition while Tom does Sunday’s “World News Tonight.”
Cecilia, a former correspondent for KGO in San Francisco, joined ABC News in 2011. Before KGO, she was a City Hall reporter for the S.F. Chronicle.
She was based in Los Angeles, but will move to New York for her new role as anchor and senior national correspondent.
Tom was hired as an ABC News correspondent in September 2014. He was previously a co-anchor for WNBC’s 5 p.m. newscast in New York.
Cecilia and Tom will also join ABC’s political team, led by Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, as the network gears for its 2016 presidential election coverage.
Here’s the memo:
Team,
I have exciting news to share about our “World News Tonight” weekend broadcasts and our 2016 political team.
Cecilia Vega and Tom Llamas will become anchors of “World News Tonight” Saturday and Sunday respectively beginning this weekend, making official the posts they’ve filled with great success since last fall when David Muir became anchor of “World News Tonight.”
Since joining ABC News in 2011, Cecilia has done fantastic work, deftly covering everything from the Olympics and papal conclave to the Occupy Wall Street protests and the election of President Barack Obama. Most recently, she has reported on the 2014 midterm elections, Ebola cases in the United States, the Sony computer hacking and fallout, and allegations against Bill Cosby. Prior to joining ABC News, Cecilia was an Emmy Award-winning journalist for KGO in San Francisco and award-winning print reporter. We’re very grateful that she’ll be making the jump from the West Coast to New York City for this new role as anchor and senior national correspondent.
In less than five months at ABC News, Tom has made a tremendous mark reporting from Dallas on the Ebola outbreak in the U.S., including a revealing interview with a nurse who treated Nina Pham at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. His coverage of the tragic death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland and the shooting deaths of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina showcased his impactful and compassionate style of reporting. Before joining ABC, Tom served as the co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast for NBC 4 in New York and also as a contributing correspondent for NBC News. He won a Murrow Award for his contributions to WNBC’s breaking news coverage of Superstorm Sandy and an Emmy for “Best Anchor.” He’s reported from some of the most important breaking news events in recent history, including Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake and the Boston Marathon bombing.
Finally, as the 2016 presidential election begins to heat up, I’m proud to announce Cecilia and Tom will join our powerhouse political team, led by Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. They will join Anchor Diane Sawyer, “World News Tonight” Anchor David Muir, Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz, Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila, Political Analyst Cokie Roberts, Political Director Rick Klein, Lead Analyst Matthew Dowd, along with Donna Brazile and Bill Kristol and an all-star group of ABC News contributors. From the battleground states, the primaries, the conventions, the debates and all the way to election night, our team will deliver the whole picture in new and distinctive ways across all of our platforms on the candidates, public policy and issues in an historic election year.
Please join me in congratulating Cecilia and Tom on their new roles joining the great team at “World News Tonight” and kicking off 617 days of exceptional political journalism.
James