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By Charles Bowles Managing the Peacocks Washington (Tenley Times) - Ken Strickland might have one of the best,

most demanding and intense jobs in Washington. Strickland, NBC vice president and Washington Bureau Chief, is at the forefront of news. Strickland now sits in same office that Tim Russert once had and is one of the most powerful people in journalism. Behind his desk hangs a Chicago Bears jersey representing so many elements of his life and the Tim Russert memorial card that looks over his shoulder reminds him of the position that he holds at NBC. When Tim passed, Luke (Tims son) had it, he knew I was from Chicago, knew I was a Bears fan and he gave it to me, said Strickland turning from his chair and pointing to the jersey. Ninety-five is the number on that jersey, ninety-five is the year that I started at NBC, ninety-five happened to be my high school football number. So, the jersey is in honor of Tim and all of the things that I love: NBC, Chicago and football. Strickland, a Middle Tennessee State grad, started at NBC in 1995 as a producer for Dateline NBC. Before he became bureau chief, he was the networks White House producer from 1997-2003 and was the networks Senate producer from 2003-2011. Strickland was then named deputy bureau chief in May 2011, and became bureau chief in 2012. While at NBC, Strickland has covered a wide range of the most important news stories of our times, including the Oklahoma City bombing, President Bushs speech at Ground Zero after September 11th, as well as eight years of bruising Senate battles. He is only ten months into his tenure as bureau chief. Over his shoulder, he has a constant reminder of whose footsteps that he follows in for the position. That little card in the corner, was given out at Tims memorial service and I sent a picture to Luke and he said, Good, youve got dad looking over your shoulder, said Strickland pointing to the corner of the framed jersey. So, when Im faced with these difficult decisions, that moment when I have to sit back and go oh, what am I going to do, that moment of clarity I feel like thats Tim.

Stricklands position includes bureau management, editorial oversight and working with other news executives in New York City. Strickland compares his current position to being the head of giant supply and distribution company. The Washington bureau is primarily supplying content for all the various NBC Universal entities, said Strickland circling his pointer finger around the table. My job and everyones job here, because Washington is Washington, is to anticipate what people are going to want, cover it as best we can, give it to them as quickly as we can, in the form that they want and most importantly anticipate what they want before they ask for it. My job is to make everything under this roof works as well as it possibly can. Stricklands day is dictated by the news cycle, but there are three constants: a morning editorial board meeting at 10:00 a.m., a conference call with executives in New York at 11:45 a.m. and an afternoon editorial board meeting at 3:45 p.m. He spends a lot of time dealing with finances, staffing issues, strategies to grow the company and editorial issues. Another major task that he has is a running to-do list that he keeps on his desk. I feel like Im constantly pretty busy, said Strickland reaching over to his desk grabbing a black leather bound notepad, which contained his to do list. Looking over the list he read an example of his tasks: Martin Luther Kings assassination anniversary was two days ago, we have that material here on different tape format, how do we make sure we preserve that in a digital way. Strickland explained one of his most important jobs was looking beyond the horizon. I think part of a managers job in a news division is being able to look two months down the road. Stricklands inspiration to become bureau chief came from a series of good and bad managers. He felt like the bad managers he encountered suppressed his growth as a journalist and knew he could do better. The great managers he had provided him with some of the best times of his journalism career.

For me, both the good and the bad managers had a really strong impact on my life, said Strickland. Ultimately, in life, its the people whose lives you touch and whose lives you have improved is what matters. And I still have to keep my hand in the news. Born in Chicago, Stricklands path to become a journalist began on the south side of Chicago where he grew up until his freshman year of high school when he moved to Joliet, Illinois. He described himself as a curious child. He attended Joliet Central High School where he played football. It was Joliet where he had some of his most important formative experiences occurred. What the move taught me [was] how to get along with people I was unfamiliar with, said Strickland contemplating being black in the predominately white suburb of Joliet. Which is ultimately the key for anyones success in a work environment is being able to get along with your colleagues. It was during that stage where I picked up those early indications of what I wanted to do with my life professionally. Stricklands father was a preacher at an African Methodist Episcopal church while his mother was a home economics teacher. His experiences at high school and at church lead him toward communications. However, he also received a preachers kid label while growing up. They would always say that preachers kids were always the worst kids, said Strickland chuckling. My response was yes because we are always allowed to play with everyone elses kids. In an effort to try and help them stay on the straight and narrow, we got crooked ourselves. He went to Middle Tennessee State University majoring in Mass Communication. His high school football coach was a major influence in his decision to go to MTSU. His coach not only cared about the football program at MTSU, but also cared about Stricklands future even though he did not end up playing football at MTSU. At Middle Tennessee State, Strickland got his communication career started. After he left the football team, he began to work for the Blue Raider Sports Network which integrated both his love of sports and communication. One distinct memory he has was when he working on a project for a class

where six hours elapsed, but he was enjoying what he was doing and did not notice or care that so much time had passed. Strickland said these experiences continued to happen for the rest of his college career. After graduating, he worked at CNN in Atlanta as a video tape editor and then worked as a producer at WKRN-TV in Nashville and WVTM-TV in Birmingham. In Birmingham, he met his future wife Christina Hudson, who was an assignment editor at the station. I had been there a few years and he was the new guy, said Hudson. During our first conversation he was telling me how he planned on having a career that would allow him to make a difference in the world, make money and have fun. I thought he was both arrogant and nave, but over time, I realized what a really nice guy he is. Strickland joined NBC in 1995 as a producer at Dateline NBC. His third day on the job he was sent to Oklahoma City to cover the bombing of the Alfred P.Murrah Federal building. I remember seeing an alert flash on the computer screen about an explosion in Oklahoma and I remember sitting there thinking Oh that looks like it is going to be a big story, glad Im too new to cover that, said Strickland after sipping a small Robeks orange smoothie. A few minutes go by, this guy named Jim Garrity he says, Are you Ken Strickland? and I said yes and then he said OK, well Im Jim Garrity, heres your NBC notepad, NBC pen, youre going to Oklahoma City to the bombing. At Dateline he met Michael Kosnar, a fellow producer on the program. Kosnar was hired six months before Strickland and remembers speaking with him during his orientation about transitioning to the network. It was heady stuff at the time and I think we bonded because we were both just trying to keep our heads above water, the new guys in town," said Kosnar, now NBC News Justice Department producer. "Ken was smart, engaging, outgoing, funny, always a presence in the room. I knew shortly after meeting him that he was destined for bigger things. Network news can be a political minefield within an organization. We used to call ourselves Switzerland because we tried to get along with everyone and steer clear of the office politics.

One of Kosnars favorite stories with Strickland is when they worked together on an undercover shoot for Dateline. Strickland and Kosnar were tracking down traveling con artists who were ripping off people as home repairers. We rented the biggest car we could find and drove the New York countryside for three days chasing these guys, said Kosnar. Great fun and during it all we said to each other, 'can you believe we get paid to do this?' " After two years at Dateline NBC, Strickland became the White House producer for NBC from 1997 to 2003. He was in Florida with President Bush when he told about the attacks of September 11th. I got a call from one of my White House colleagues, saying he was not going to go do Ground Zero with the president, and did I want to go? And I said, hell yeah I do, said Strickland a few days after being in Florida. It was probably the biggest day of my journalism career as far as covering an event. It was very memorable, you get to the point where you dont even realized whats happened in a personal and emotional way. Now, it is something that when I go back, I look at it now and wonder Gosh, did I even fully understand emotionally what was going on. It was truly an amazing day. After being a producer at the White House, Strickland moved on to be NBCs Senate producer from 2003-2011. In the Senate, Strickland covered four Supreme Court confirmations, health care reform and every other major piece of legislation going through the Senate. It was the best job and the hardest job, said Strickland. I jokingly tell people, it was the way nature intended journalism to be done, you chase a bunch of people around the building and try to get them to tell you things that they dont want you to know. You have the best access to the subject that you cover and you get to learn about so many topics which also made it the hardest. Because one day you need to know about foreign intelligence surveillance and the next day or probably the same day, you need to need to understand the Medicare prescription drug benefit. While covering the Senate, Strickland gained a lot of writing experience and briefly became an on-air personality. In March 2011, he became the deputy Washington DC chief overseeing the day-to-day

operations of the bureau. After a year and eight months, Strickland got the call to become the Washington Bureau Chief. I never really considered myself ever being a number one in any company, said Strickland. I always told people that I would be a great number two and I just didnt think about being a number one. Then when the opportunity arose, I just really rustled with whether or not I could do it. But when I think about the bureau that Tim Russert built in the time that I was here, I was basically given the opportunity to walk into an organization that was flying high, not in trouble, had the smartest people, the best history and I realized, I can do this because I am surrounded by excellence that needs to be guided. Kosnar says that first time in his network career that he feels comfortable walking into the Bureau Chiefs office. Kosnar believes Strickland is in a great position. I think he will be highly successful as a bureau chief for two reasons, said Kosnar. First, he sees the big picture and the performance of the bureau as it relates to NBC News. Representing the enormously talented and hardworking people in the Washington bureau is a huge responsibility but it almost seems as if Ken were destined for this job. Second, Ken is personally invested in the careers and lives of everyone in the bureau. He wants to see you succeed and grow to your fullest potential and if he can play a role in that development he will be there for you. Sitting near his desk, filled with pride, he believes this position in the best job in Washington. For Strickland, it is a destination job that he does not intend to leave. I think this is the best probably the best job in Washington as management goes, said Strickland smiling. I never I say never about anything, but as a manager there is so work that you want to do to make a place better and Ive got long list of things that I want to do. I think that is going to take a long time to improve on a pretty good culture already and see people develop and grow. I can stay here, I can stay here until they kick me out.

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