ABC News named Cecilia Vega and Tom Llamas as its weekend “World News Tonight” anchors, network president James Goldston announced Monday.
The duo has been serving in the role since David Muir became the weekday anchor of WNT.
In addition to anchoring the flagship evening news on the weekend, the pair will contribute to the network’s election coverage.
“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,” Goldston wrote in a memo.
Goldston’s full memo below.
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