NBC News VP News Programming Exits

Janelle Rodriguez, NBC News’ executive vice president of programming, told staff Thursday that she is leaving the network after nearly 12 years, becoming the second senior executive to depart since NBC News was separated from its cable sibling in last year’s corporate spin. 

Rodriguez oversaw NBC News NOW, “NBC Nightly News,” and the division’s breaking-news and specials operation. She did not name a next job. 

Janelle Rodriguez

In a staff memo, she wrote that she had “spent a long time thinking about what comes next” and that “it’s the right moment,” citing a year that included Super Bowl coverage, a presidential interview, the Olympics, the World Cup, a new show launch, and an interview with the pope. NBC News president of editorial Rebecca Blumenstein said Catherine Kim will become executive vice president of editorial and content, adding NBC News NOW and specials to her existing digital, social, Decision Desk, and newsgathering duties. 

Matt Carluccio will take on more editorial units, including business, health, investigations, and climate. “NBC Nightly News” executive producer Matt Frucci will report to Blumenstein. 

The reorganization is the latest leadership shift after NBC News and MSNBC formally split ahead of the Versant spin-off. In June, chief digital officer Chris Berend left after seven years; technology executive Kyri Sarantakos assumed his duties, and Berend later joined Hearst Magazines. 

Rodriguez joined NBC News in 2015 after serving as vice president of programming at CNN. She is widely credited with building NBC News NOW into a 24/7 streaming service distributed across more than 20 platforms and with guiding Tom Llamas’ June 2025 succession of Lester Holt as “Nightly News” anchor.