Ellana Lee, who is Managing Editor for CNN International Asia Pacific, based at the network’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong, will be at the NIEW conference where she will be moderating the ‘Voices of Courage’ session.
One of the most dynamic and successful young executives working in international television, she manages the award-winning on air and online news and feature programming produced in Hong Kong, in addition to CNN’s correspondents and newsgathering teams across ten bureaus in the Asia Pacific region that stretch from Islamabad to Tokyo.
In recent months Lee has managed a wide range of news stories from across Asia Pacific that have reached hundreds of millions of viewers around the world, including the network’s extensive coverage of terrorist attacks in Jakarta, civil war in Sri Lanka and the ongoing standoff on the Korean peninsula. Global stories have equally resonated with Asia Pacific viewers including the US elections, the inauguration of President Obama and the ongoing global financial crisis.
Landmark programming initiatives under her tenure have included taking the now renamed ‘World Report’ programme to Beijing for a special week of coverage looking ahead to the Olympics, in addition to in-depth special weeks from Delhi, Mumbai and Seoul. From the world of business she has overseen the ‘Boardroom Master Class’ initiative that interviews top global CEOs in front of live audiences in New York, London and Shanghai, and also launched a new weekday business programme from Hong Kong, ‘World Business Today’. She has also managed the network’s ‘Talk Asia’ programme as it has travelled across Asia Pacific to hear from some of the region’s biggest names in front of live audiences.
In recognition of her position, Lee was named a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum. She is also a graduate of Harvard’s ‘Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century’ Executive Program.
While under her management, CNN in the Asia Pacific has received a variety of prestigious awards, including a 2008 Peabody for the network’s global coverage of the US presidential primary campaigns and debates and two Asian Television Awards for best news program for ‘CNN Today’ (now renamed ‘World Report’) and best talk show for ‘Talk Asia’. In 2005, alongside other members of the Asia pacific newsgathering team, Lee was the recipient of a DuPont award for CNN’s coverage of the South Asian tsunami.
Earlier in her twelve-year career at CNN, Lee worked at CNN in New York as a producer to help launch the program ‘In The Money’, which simulcast on CNN’s domestic networks. She subsequently worked as business producer and a senior planning producer, coordinating major events out of the Asia Pacific for the network.
Lee has extensive international credentials, holding a masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from New York University and an undergraduate degree in History and International Relations from Georgetown University.
