Kelly O’Donnell ’87 (’16 P)

Emmy Award–winning veteran political reporter

Kelly O’Donnell earned a bachelor’s degree in education with a focus on journalism and public policy at Northwestern in 1987. As an undergraduate, she honed her journalism skills at the student radio station, WNUR, and through an internship with Chicago’s CBS radio station, WBBM. After returning to her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, to work at WJW-TV, O’Donnell provided live reporting at an Ohio prison riot that put her in the national spotlight.  

Since joining NBC as a correspondent in 1994, O’Donnell has covered a broad range of assignments around the globe, including presidential politics, the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war, and four Olympic Games. She is known for her preparedness, strong interview skills, and ability to provide in-depth reporting, especially in live situations, and has appeared on Today, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, and Dateline NBC. Her reporting has taken her to 49 countries and 50 states. Kelly became the White House correspondent for NBC in 2005 and added Capitol Hill to her beat in 2009.  

O’Donnell’s work on the 2008 presidential election earned an Emmy and a National Headliner Award. She received the 2009 New Hampshire Primary Award for political reporting and two Los Angeles Press Club Awards for feature reporting. She was inducted into the Ohio Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2004 and has received dozens of Emmy nominations. O’Donnell received the 2014 Northwestern Alumnae Award and an Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern in 2010.