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As president of ABC News, David Westin oversees all editorial and business aspects of the News Division. This includes all ABC News programs on the ABC Television Network, ABC News Radio -- the #1 radio news network -- ABC News.com and ABC News NOW.
Mr. Westin has led ABC News since 1997. In that time, ABC News aired over 40 documentaries, including by Peter Jennings on the 20th Century, Jesus and Paul, AIDS in Black America, tobacco, Guantanamo and Islam; by Diane Sawyer on North Korea, veterans' hospitals, Russian orphans, foster care, poverty and prostitution; by Barbara Walters on Fidel Castro, Heaven, adoption and longevity; and by Bob Woodruff on traumatic brain injury suffered in Iraq. During Mr. Westin's tenure, ABC News aired John Miller's interview with Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan, the last such interview with a western journalist, as well as Barbara Walters' interview with Monica Lewinsky, the highest rated news program in television history.
Under Mr. Westin's leadership, Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson led the resurgence of "Good Morning America," "Good Morning America Weekend" was created, "Nightline" changed its format, and "This Week" became "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." During the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston, Mr. Westin launched ABC News NOW, the 24-hour news service available on cable, wireless and broadband.
Mr. Westin also created and built an array of special units to report for all ABC News outlets, led by the Brian Ross Investigative Unit and Dr. Timothy Johnson's Medical Unit, the Law & Justice Unit, the Business Unit and the Polling Unit. In 2007 he announced the largest single expansion of foreign news coverage in the history of ABC News by sending seven new "digital reporters" to Mumbai, New Delhi, Jakarta, Nairobi, Seoul, Dubai and Rio de Janeiro to report for all ABC News outlets and broadcasts. Mr. Westin has guided several award-winning, division-wide reporting efforts, including "ABC 2000," the 24-hour broadcast from around the world that brought in the new millennium, ABC News' coverage of 9/11, its coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the series "Iraq: Where Things Stand," and extensive reports on health and wellness issues, including lung cancer, breast cancer, the pharmaceutical industry and health care in America. In addition, ABC News has partnered with Time magazine to produce series on global warming, traffic and obesity, and with USA Today to report on pain, living longer and loose nukes.
During Mr. Westin's tenure, ABC News became the first American news organization to broadcast live from North Korea, to broadcast live from the Potala Palace in Tibet, to broadcast a regularly scheduled morning program in high definition, and to provide HD coverage of a presidential State of the Union address. In 2008 ABC News became the first broadcast network in history to air debates among presidential candidates in primetime during a primary season when it aired back-to-back Republican and Democratic debates on the eve of the New Hampshire primary.
Since 1997 ABC News has received every major honor for broadcast journalism several times over, including 10 George Foster Peabody Awards, 12 Alfred I. duPont Awards, 5 George Polk Awards, more than 35 News and Documentary Emmys and more than 40 Edward R. Murrow Awards.
Before coming to ABC News, Mr. Westin served for three years as president, ABC Television Network Group. Prior to that, he was president, Production, for ABC.
He joined Capital Cities/ABC (now ABC, Inc.) in February 1991 as vice president and general counsel and was subsequently promoted to senior vice president. Before joining ABC, Mr. Westin was a partner in Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C. He joined that firm in 1979 and was based in the firm's London office from 1982-1983. Mr. Westin served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lewis F. Powell, Jr., of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1978 Term and to the Honorable J. Edward Lumbard of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1977-78.
Mr. Westin taught international civil litigation as an adjunct law professor at Harvard and Georgetown Universities. He is co-author of International Civil Litigation in the U.S. Courts and the author and co-author of various articles published in law reviews.
Mr. Westin serves on the boards of the Associated Press, the Newseum, the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution at the National Constitution Center, and Yonkers Partners in Education.
He received a BA degree with honors and distinction from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a JD degree summa cum laude from the Law School of the University of Michigan.
Mr. Westin is married to Sherrie Rollins Westin. He has two daughters, Victoria and Elizabeth, a stepdaughter, Lily, and two sons, Matthew and David.