ken strickland profile

7/28/2019 Ken Strickland Profile

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For me, both the good and the bad managers had a really strong impact on my life, said

Strickland. Ultimately, in life, its the people whose lives you touch and whose lives you have improved

is what matters. And I still have to keep my hand in the news.

Born in Chicago, Stricklands path to become a journalist began on the south side of Chicago

where he grew up until his freshman year of high school when he moved to Joliet, Illinois. He described

himself as a curious child. He attended Joliet Central High School where he played football. It was Joliet

where he had some of his most important formative experiences occurred.

What the move taught me [was] how to get along with people I was unfamiliar with, said

Strickland contemplating being black in the predominately white suburb of Joliet. Which is ultimately

the key for anyones success in a work environment is being able to get along with your colleagues. It was

during that stage where I picked up those early indications of what I wanted to do with my life

professionally.

Stricklands father was a preacher at an African Methodist Episcopal church while his mother

was a home economics teacher. His experiences at high school and at church lead him toward

communications. However, he also received a preachers kid label while growing up.

They would always say that preachers kids were always the worst kids, said Strickland

chuckling. My response was yes because we are always allowed to play with everyone elses kids. In

an effort to try and help them stay on the straight and narrow, we got crooked ourselves.

He went to Middle Tennessee State University majoring in Mass Communication. His high

school football coach was a major influence in his decision to go to MTSU. His coach not only cared

about the football program at MTSU, but also cared about Stricklands future even though he did not end

up playing football at MTSU.

At Middle Tennessee State, Strickland got his communication career started. After he left the

football team, he began to work for the Blue Raider Sports Network which integrated both his love of

sports and communication. One distinct memory he has was when he working on a project for a class


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where six hours elapsed, but he was enjoying what he was doing and did not notice or care that so much

time had passed. Strickland said these experiences continued to happen for the rest of his college career.

After graduating, he worked at CNN in Atlanta as a video tape editor and then worked as a

producer at WKRN-TV in Nashville and WVTM-TV in Birmingham. In Birmingham, he met his future

wife Christina Hudson, who was an assignment editor at the station.

I had been there a few years and he was the new guy, said Hudson. During our first

conversation he was telling me how he planned on having a career that would allow him to make a

difference in the world, make money and have fun. I thought he was both arrogant and nave, but over

time, I realized what a really nice guy he is.

Strickland joined NBC in 1995 as a producer at Dateline NBC. His third day on the job he was

sent to Oklahoma City to cover the bombing of the Alfred P.Murrah Federal building.

I remember seeing an alert flash on the computer screen about an explosion in Oklahoma and I

remember sitting there thinking Oh that looks like it is going to be a big story, glad Im too new to cover

that, said Strickland after sipping a small Robeks orange smoothie. A few minutes go by, this guy

named Jim Garrity he says, Are you Ken Strickland? and I said yes and then he said OK, well Im Jim

Garrity, heres your NBC notepad, NBC pen, youre going to Oklahoma City to the bombing.

At Dateline he met Michael Kosnar, a fellow producer on the program. Kosnar was hired six

months before Strickland and remembers speaking with him during his orientation about transitioning to

the network.

It was heady stuff at the time and I think we bonded because we were both just trying to keep

our heads above water, the new guys in town," said Kosnar, now NBC News Justice Department

producer. "Ken was smart, engaging, outgoing, funny, always a presence in the room. I knew shortly

after meeting him that he was destined for bigger things. Network news can be a political minefield

within an organization. We used to call ourselves Switzerland because we tried to get along with

everyone and steer clear of the office politics.


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One of Kosnars favorite stories with Strickland is when they worked together on an undercover

shoot for Dateline. Strickland and Kosnar were tracking down traveling con artists who were ripping off

people as home repairers.

We rented the biggest car we could find and drove the New York countryside for three days

chasing these guys, said Kosnar. Great fun and during it all we said to each other, 'can you believe we

get paid to do this?' "

After two years at Dateline NBC, Strickland became the White House producer for NBC from

1997 to 2003. He was in Florida with President Bush when he told about the attacks of September 11th.

I got a call from one of my White House colleagues, saying he was not going to go do Ground

Zero with the president, and did I want to go? And I said, hell yeah I do, said Strickland a few days

after being in Florida. It was probably the biggest day of my journalism career as far as covering an

event. It was very memorable, you get to the point where you dont even realized whats happened in a

personal and emotional way. Now, it is something that when I go back, I look at it now and wonder

Gosh, did I even fully understand emotionally what was going on. It was truly an amazing day.

After being a producer at the White House, Strickland moved on to be NBCs Senate producer

from 2003-2011. In the Senate, Strickland covered four Supreme Court confirmations, health care reform

and every other major piece of legislation going through the Senate.

It was the best job and the hardest job, said Strickland. I jokingly tell people, it was the way

nature intended journalism to be done, you chase a bunch of people around the building and try to get

them to tell you things that they dont want you to know. You have the best access to the subject that you

cover and you get to learn about so many topics which also made it the hardest. Because one day you

need to know about foreign intelligence surveillance and the next day or probably the same day, you need

to need to understand the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

While covering the Senate, Strickland gained a lot of writing experience and briefly became an

on-air personality. In March 2011, he became the deputy Washington DC chief overseeing the day-to-day


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operations of the bureau. After a year and eight months, Strickland got the call to become the Washington

Bureau Chief.

I never really considered myself ever being a number one in any company, said Strickland. I

always told people that I would be a great number two and I just didnt think about being a number one.

Then when the opportunity arose, I just really rustled with whether or not I could do it. But when I think

about the bureau that Tim Russert built in the time that I was here, I was basically given the opportunity

to walk into an organization that was flying high, not in trouble, had the smartest people, the best history

and I realized, I can do this because I am surrounded by excellence that needs to be guided.

Kosnar says that first time in his network career that he feels comfortable walking into the Bureau

Chiefs office. Kosnar believes Strickland is in a great position.

I think he will be highly successful as a bureau chief for two reasons, said Kosnar. First, he

sees the big picture and the performance of the bureau as it relates to NBC News. Representing the

enormously talented and hardworking people in the Washington bureau is a huge responsibility but it

almost seems as if Ken were destined for this job. Second, Ken is personally invested in the careers and

lives of everyone in the bureau. He wants to see you succeed and grow to your fullest potential and if he

can play a role in that development he will be there for you.

Sitting near his desk, filled with pride, he believes this position in the best job in Washington.

For Strickland, it is a destination job that he does not intend to leave.

I think this is the best probably the best job in Washington as management goes, said Strickland

smiling. I never I say never about anything, but as a manager there is so work that you want to do to

make a place better and Ive got long list of things that I want to do. I think that is going to take a long

time to improve on a pretty good culture already and see people develop and grow. I can stay here, I can

stay here until they kick me out.

ken strickland profile

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