CNN Senior VP Rachel Smolkin To Depart Network After 10 Years

Ted Johnson

6 June 2024 at 12:11 pm·3-min read

UPDATED: Rachel Smolkin is departing CNN after 10 years, most recently as senior vice president of global news for CNN Digital Worldwide.

Smolkin will become the next president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting.

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Smolkin has led the breaking news, politics and other coverage across the network’s digital platforms. She previously was vice president and executive editor of CNN Politics, and previously was managing editor of Politico.

CNN executive editor Virginia Moseley wrote in a memo to staffers that Smolkin “has been an exceptional leader and partner, recruiting and supporting talented, diverse journalists across the network.”

Moseley also noted that Smolkin has in recent years “pursued and earned an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. She has utilized all the information at her disposal to marry her business leadership skills with CNN’s mission and great journalism and plans to continue to do that in her future endeavors.”

“Rachel has been an exceptional leader and partner, recruiting and supporting talented, diverse journalists across the network,” Moseley wrote.

Smolkin’s last day will be July 3, and she will start in her new role in September.

Rukaiyah Adams, chair of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s board of directors, said in a statement, “Rachel will advance our work with deep experience in journalism, wide professional networks and adaptive leadership skills.”

Last month, Sam Feist, longtime Washington bureau chief and senior vice president, announced that he was departing to become CEO of C-SPAN.

Moseley’s full memo is below:

I’m writing to share the news that Rachel Smolkin has decided to leave CNN next month to pursue another opportunity that she will announce later today.

Rachel has been an exceptional leader and partner, recruiting and supporting talented, diverse journalists across the network. It was 10 years ago that she came to CNN to build the digital arm for Washington, politics, and election coverage. Since then, her portfolio has expanded to our global digital newsroom as she worked to bridge teams and platforms to best serve CNN’s audiences. She’s helped develop our breaking news brand, emphasized service journalism, and made explainers and fact checks a core part of our storytelling.

In the last several years, while continuing to oversee global news coverage and teams across CNN’s digital platforms, many of you know that Rachel pursued and earned an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. She has utilized all the information at her disposal to marry her business leadership skills with CNN’s mission and great journalism and plans to continue to do that in her future endeavors.

Rachel’s last day will be July 3. We are working on a transition plan, so please direct any questions or communications to me in the interim.

Please join me in thanking Rachel for 10 years of dedicated service and wishing her the very best in her next chapter.

Virginia

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