Rick Jefferson

Rick Jefferson is Senior Vice President of News Operations at CBS News and is based in New York.

Jefferson is responsible for the division’s technical personnel and facilities worldwide, including hard news, primetime and public affairs. Jefferson oversees CBS News’ bureaus and operations for coverage of such events as conventions, elections and presidential trips. He is also responsible for exploring the latest technologies and leading the design of advanced broadcast technology for CBS News.

Jefferson is an Emmy Award-winning executive who was named vice president of news operations in 2017.

Jefferson has more than three decades of television production experience in broadcast and cable news, including nearly 20 years within CBS, where he’s had lead roles managing and coordinating coverage of several presidential inaugurations, political conventions, award shows and other major events. Throughout his television career, Jefferson has been dedicated to innovation through process improvement, project management and producing high-performance teams.

Prior to his current position, Jefferson was Director of Production at CBS News, a position he started in March 2016.

Previously, Jefferson served as director of production for CBS THIS MORNING, the Network’s award-winning morning news broadcast, from December 2012 to March 2016.

He joined CBS News in 2012 after holding multiple key positions at MSNBC. He was the Manager of Technical Operations at MSNBC from 2009 to 2012, prior to which he served for nearly 13 years as Senior Technical Production Manager for the network.

While at MSNBC, he was part of the original team that launched the network, acting as the liaison between production staff and technical staff for MSNBC Special Projects and for “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” He also served as lead technical production manager for major projects including the royal wedding, Republican and Democratic national conventions and a variety of major breaking news events.

Before joining MSNBC, Jefferson spent a year as a Production Supervisor for CBS-owned flagship station WCBS (1995-1996). Earlier, he served in a variety of capacities for CBS, including Broadcast Distribution Manager (1992-1995), Supervisor, Broadcast Operations (1991-1992) and Satellite Control Manager (1990-1991).

He began his television career with CBS as a Network Documentation Clerk in 1984.

Jefferson graduated from St. John’s University, where he majored in communications arts and minored in liberal arts.