NBC/Telemundo Chicago announces a hire and promotion

The following excerpt was sent out from adweek.com:

Sally Ramirez has been named senior vice president of news for NBC Chicago (WMAQ) and Telemundo Chicago (WSNS), a newly created role leading news operations for the NBC and Telemundo owned stations that serve the region’s English and Spanish speaking audiences.

Ramirez, who is a native of Chicago, begins on May 22. She will report to Kevin Cross, president and gm of NBCUniversal Local Chicago.

The stations also promoted Akemi Harrison to news director of NBC Chicago, effective immediately. She’ll report to Ramirez alongside Diana Maldonado, vice president of news for Telemundo Chicago.

Ramirez, who started her career as an intern at WMAQ, returns to the market after serving as the executive producer for CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith, which was canceled by the business news outlet in November 2022.

She previously spent nearly five years as executive news director for KHOU in Houston after 17 years with KGW in Portland. Before that, she held editorial and management roles in several markets, including as executive news producer for WGN in Chicago.

She graduated from Chicago’s Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and DePaul University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications.

Harrison has been the assistant news director for NBC Chicago since August 2021. She joined WMAQ after holding the same position for NBC Connecticut (WVIT) in Hartford, Ct. Previously, she was executive producer for WPXI in Pittsburgh after holding news editorial and management roles for television stations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, Calif.

Harrison began her media career in her hometown of Jackson, Miss., after graduating from Tougaloo College with a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis on Journalism. After more than five years as a radio personality, she transitioned to television news as a producer for Jackson’s WAPT in 2008.