CESAR CONDE

NBC will shift most of Oppenheim's old duties to a new leadership role to be filled by Rebecca Blumenstein, formerly of the New York Times.

The second Next Level Summit being held Tuesday is part of NBCU Academy, a nearly two-year-old initiative that also includes jobs, journalism training videos and partnerships with some 45 colleges and universities. NBC Universal committed to $6.5 million in funding for NBCU Academy when it was announced at the beginning of last year. The aim is to grow journalists, said Yvette Miley, who runs NBCU Academy as senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at the news group. Jones said she went to college wanting to become a print reporter, because she thought the only jobs available in television news were on-air reporters. Through the academy, NBC is also helping fund documentary projects, sending out guest lecturers and offering career coaching.

Cesar Conde, chair of the NBC Universal News Group, said in 2020 that his goal was to have a company workforce that was at least half women and half people of color. NBC Universal committed to $6.5 million in funding for NBCU Academy when it was announced at the beginning of last year. The aim is to grow journalists, said Yvette Miley, who runs NBCU Academy as senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at the news group. Jones said she went to college wanting to become a print reporter, because she thought the only jobs available in television news were on-air reporters. Through the academy, NBC is also helping fund documentary projects, sending out guest lecturers and offering career coaching.

For a news organization, NBC is leaning aggressively into education.

Longtime CNBC chief Mark Hoffman is leaving the network after 28 years, His departure was announced Tuesday.

MSNBC says it has hired former Biden aide Symone Sanders to host a weekend television show and another on its Peacock streaming service.

Veteran news anchor Jose Diaz-Balart is returning to MSNBC later this month to host a weekday show at the 10 a.m. hour.

NEW YORK – Phil Griffin is stepping down as the longtime president of MSNBC, to be replaced early next year by rising NBC News executive Rashida Jones. Griffin, 64, has worked at NBC News for 35 years and has been president of MSNBC since 2008. Jones, who has been with NBC News for the past seven years, is currently chief of breaking news and major events at the network. She just led the network's coverage of the 2020 presidential election and the team preparing Kristen Welker as moderator of the third presidential debate. Cesar Conde, the new chairman of the NBC Universal News Group, has made diversity one of his top priorities.

President Donald Trump wipes his face during a break in an NBC News Town Hall, at Perez Art Museum Miami, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in Miami. NBC News chief executive Cesar Conde said Thursday that NBC scheduled Trump out of fairness after Biden did a town hall at the same time last Thursday. There were apparently still hard feelings, given that Muir twice mentioned a nameless “another network” holding a Trump town hall. “Has there ever been two more different presidential candidates than Trump or Biden?” asked The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler in a tweet. At a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, Trump called NBC “the worst" and said he was being set up with the town hall.

NEW YORK NBC News leader Cesar Conde, in one of his first public acts in the job, has committed to building a workforce at the news organizations he supervises where at least half of the employees are minorities. Conde set no deadline for achieving his 50 Percent Initiative.He also wants women to comprise half the employees at NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, and he's already nearly there. The plan, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, makes Conde a leader in the current movement to diversify the news business. Given where NBC currently stands, particularly with Black employees, Truong said she understands why the initiative has no deadline and is glad that progress will be checked regularly. What I would like to hear is whether other people at NBC are committed to this moving forward, she said.

NBCUniversal announced Monday it restructured its executive team, just months after new CEO Jeff Shell took over. Among the notable changes: NBC News Group Chairman Andy Lack will step down and leave the company by the end of May amid the restructuring. The company's news networks, including NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, will be condensed into a single unit under Cesar Conde, now chairman of NBCUniversal News Group. The move also puts NBCUniversal's television networks and its new streaming service, Peacock, under Mark Lazarus, now chairman of television and streaming. Correction: Andy Lack most recently served as Chairman of NBC News and MSNBC.