Frank Sesno

An Emmy-award winning journalist, Sesno formerly served as CNN’s Washington, D.C. bureau chief. In the fall of 2009, he will be taking over as the Director of GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs. Sesno spent 17 years at CNN, serving as a news anchor, analyst and reporter. For seven years, he hosted Late Edition with Frank Sesno, the network's flagship weekend interview program. As D.C. bureau chief, Sesno was responsible for staffing and news coverage in the nation’s capital. In 2006, Sesno reported on global oil production and consumption for CNN Presents: "We Were Warned – Tomorrow’s Oil Crisis." Among Sesno's most memorable reporting in 2005 was his two-part depiction of Rania Attar, an Iraqi women leading a life plagued by tragedy, as she moves suburban Virginia to start a new life.

As an independent commentator and filmmaker, Sesno has appeared on PBS, the History Channel, other networks, and National Public Radio. His recent work has including hosting duties for Sesno Reports for public television; production of a four-part, eight-hour PBS documentary series about weapons of mass destruction and terrorism called Avoiding Armageddon; a 10-part series about global perspectives called worldtalk. In 2002, Sesno reported and produced Ronald Reagan: A Legacy Remembered, a two-hour documentary for the History Channel.

Before joining CNN in 1984, Sesno worked with Associated Press Radio as a White House, national and overseas correspondent based in London. Sesno has won several prestigious journalistic awards, including an Emmy, several Cable ACE awards, a Cine Award for Avoiding Armageddon and an Overseas Press Club award.