Richard Lui | |
|---|---|
 Lui in 2012 | |
| Born | California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | |
| Occupation | News anchor |
| Employer(s) | NBCUniversal,Comcast |
| Notable credit(s) | NBC News CNN Citigroup Oliver Wyman |
Richard Lui (Chinese:吕勇诗) is an American author, journalist, and filmmaker. Heanchors forMSNBC andNBC News. Lui is currently a breaking news anchor forNBC and MSNBC, broadcasting from30 Rockefeller Plaza inMidtown Manhattan,New York City.[1] prior to that role he was a co-host ofEarly Today, and anchor of MSNBC daytime coverage. He was formerly atCNN Worldwide.[2] At CNN Worldwide he became the firstAsian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show[3] when he solo anchored the 10 a.m. hour onCNN Headline News (2007 to 2010).Mediaite ranked Lui among the top 100 in news buzz on its "Power Grid Influence Index of TV Anchors and Hosts" and one of "The 50 Sexiest in TV News".[4]
Lui is also a columnist, contributing to publications includingUSA Today,Politico,The Seattle Times,Detroit Free Press, andSanFrancisco Chronicle.[2] His public speaking spans six continents and some 200 events in the last several years.Twitter Counter places his following in the top 1%.[5]
Lui's enterprise reporting has focused on humanitarian issues includinggender equality,human trafficking, and affordable housing.[6] His charity work in the same spaces has led him to work with Plan International USA as a global ambassador (alongsideFreida Pinto andMarcia Cross) for its Because I am a Girl campaign.[7] He also is ambassador for theEpilepsy Foundation and sits on the president's council for America's largest food source to the poor,Food Bank for New York City. Lui's work and reporting on humanitarian issues spans 30 years and six continents. He has received civil rights awards from organizations including AAJA, WWAAC, and OCA.[2]
Before journalism, Lui spent 15 years in business withFortune 500 and tech companies. He is patent holder and co-founder of the first bank-centric payment system, which was seed-funded and incubated byCitibank.[3]Business Insider recognized Lui as one of 21 dynamic careers to watch alongsideWarren Buffett andMark Cuban.[8]
Lui has directed two Academy Award qualified films,Sky Blossom in 2020, andUnconditional in 2023, which was screened at theWhite House byFirst Lady Jill Biden.[9][10]
Lui started in business in 1985, working in manufacturing, strategy consulting, food and beverage, environmental, oil, and technology industries.He has held chief roles from operations to marketing.[11] At the start of his career, Lui skipped college and spent four years at startupMrs. Fields Cookies. At the age of 18, Lui became the youngest in the company's history to run a regional training center.[12]
After Mrs. Fields, Lui entered college, followed by work at Clean Environment Equipment (QED), where he led its global advertising and public relations. According to the company's website, its oil recovery products are on almost every major refinery with an underground oil spill.[13] Until 2008, Lui worked forCitibank as Director, COO, and CMO of a business unit focused on payments and commerce.[14] His patented payment infrastructure bypassedMasterCard andVisa, enabling consumers to pay for goods and services by connecting directly to their bank. It included wireless access to checking, brokerage, and other funds. Before Citibank, Lui worked atOliver Wyman New York.[15] His business development work included moving online brokerage businesses to mobile platforms, and the globalization software market. Lui also helped launch a joint venture with IBM in the retail vertical.[11]
Lui started community work in high school as aYMCA counselor in the 1980s. He taught addicted mothers computer skills at the American Indian Family Healing Center and served as campaign manager for a citywide position that managedCity College of San Francisco.[16]
As an ambassador for Plan International USA, Lui works to identify and advise on ways of talking about the role male adults and children have in gender inequality and femalevictim blaming, as well as help to generate organizational growth strategies. For Plan International USA, he has travelled toCentral America,South America,Asia, andOceania for research and to assess global trends.[17]
Lui has collaborated withPolaris Project, a global anti-human trafficking organization. He has reported and consulted on human trafficking stories for a decade, and spoken on domestic and global trends at high schools, universities, and conferences globally.[18][19] TheU.S. Department of Justice asked Lui to present his work on trafficking at its annual gathering of attorneys and immigration officers inAtlanta in 2012.[20][21]
Lui has worked with theAspen Institute for several years, speaking at its annual,C-SPAN broadcast symposium on the "State of Race in America". He also led Aspen Institute conversations at theState Department on foreign affairs in U.S. journalism.[22]
Lui is a member of theUS State Department's Speakers Program—he has keynoted in Asia,Europe, and theMiddle East.[23] He is aUN Foundation Fellow and hosted programs alongside formerSecretary of StateMadeleine Albright[24] andUN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon for theUnited Nations Association of New York.[25] He has givencommencement speeches atUC Berkeley andCity College of San Francisco, and spoken at events forHarvard University,[26]Fuqua School of Business atDuke University, andRoss School of Business at theUniversity of Michigan.[27]
In the affordable and homeless housing space, Lui volunteered forHabitat for Humanity inGhana, theGolan Heights, andHaiti with former PresidentJimmy Carter and formerFirst LadyRosalynn Carter.[28] Lui served on the board of directors for Crossroads Homeless Services and PRI affordable housing development company.[29][30]
Asian Americans Advancing Justice awarded Lui an American Courage Award for Distinguished Service in 2014, the year after former RepresentativeBarney Frank received it.[31] TheAsian American Journalists Association awarded Lui the Suzanne Ahn Civil Rights and Social Justice Award in 2013, an honor in memory of humanitarian Suzanne Ahn. Civil Rights organization OCA awarded Lui with its Community Service Award in 2012 and 2013.[32]
Lui's interest in politics started in the 1970s, when he debatedCalifornia's controversialProposition 13 during bus rides to school.[33] That interest turned into a job at 19: campaign manager for San Francisco College Board incumbent Alan Wong. After the election, Lui returned to college and planned to write on policy and the affairs of state, subscribing toThe Washington Post when it had to be mailed to theWest Coast.[33]
In the 2012 election cycle, Lui hostedAPIAVote's Presidential Debate,[34] APA Presidential Inaugural Ball, and APA Congressional Caucus' forum at the Capitol.[35][36] He also conducted Asian Pacific American Institute on Congressional Studies (APAICS) training sessions for elected and appointed officials. Lui also contributes political opinion pieces to publications, includingThe Seattle Times,[37]San Francisco Chronicle,[38]Politico,[39] andHuffington Post.[16]
In the 1990s, Lui was exposed to a pivotal time in California politics. As a reporter atKALX, he was assigned toDianne Feinstein's first successful U.S. Senate campaign and theRodney King verdict and riots.[40]
Later, in the 2000s, Lui moved to Asia to capture a heated moment in regional politics. He was atChannel NewsAsia, an English language network reaching 24 territories.[41] TwoMuslim countries inSoutheast Asia were undertaking key transformations.Indonesia’s Sukarno family was defeated after rule spanning over half a century. AndMalaysia's prime minister, after almost a quarter of a century, handed over power.[33] Lui also covered theSouth Asian tsunami, and the 2003SARS andbird flu outbreaks.
During five years atCNN Worldwide, Lui anchored and reported on all CNN English-language networks, includingCNN US,CNN International, andHLN. He anchored live breaking stories such as the2009 Gaza-Israel War,Virginia Tech Massacre,2006 Hezbollah-Israel War,Mumbai train terrorist bombings, and2008 Mumbai attacks.[42]
In 2006, Lui's undercover reporting exposed child sex slavery in Indonesia. Later, in a CNN Freedom Project report, he investigated seven-year-olds sold toGhanaian fishermen as labor slaves.[18] His field reporting explored political and civil rights controversies in the Asian-American community, including the 1882Chinese Exclusion Act, which led to a system of illegal immigrants calledpaper sons.[43] He reported on the racially motivated killing of Vincent Chin and its association with the Muslim-American community's post9/11 challenges.[44] In addition, he reported extensively from theGulf on theBP oil spill.[45] He receivedPeabody andEmmy awards for his team reporting at CNN duringHurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill.[46]
Lui joinedMSNBC in 2010. Lui anchoredEarly Today forNBC News for several years. He is currently a breaking news anchor at MSNBC. He is based atNBC News's offices at30 Rockefeller Plaza. In the past, Lui covered sports for both NBC News and MSNBC morning shows. He also served as news anchor forThe Weather Channel’s program withAl Roker,Wake Up With Al when NBC co-owned the weather-focused network.[47]
Some of the events he's anchored breaking coverage of include theScotland independence vote,2013 government shutdown,Boston Marathon bombing,Japanese earthquake and tsunami,NATO's attack in Libya, and theArab Spring andEgypt’s revolution.[48] Lui's field reporting has included covering theFerguson unrest,Hurricane Sandy, and the2012 U.S. Presidential election. For the election, his reports ranged from the implications of theTea Party movement to presidential election night exit poll data.[33][49] In an NBC News investigation, Lui reported on a phenomenon involving high-volume brothels in the U.S. where women are forced to have sex up to a hundred times a day.[18][50][51][52]
Lui is a member of theAsian American Journalists Association and was elected 2013 Member of the Year.[53]
Because his grandfather, an undocumented immigrant, filed falsepaper son documents, Lui's real last name is Wong.[1][2] Lui is the son of aPresbyterian minister.[54] He said in an op-ed he grew up on welfare and almost flunked out of high school. He is an automobile enthusiast, and is an aerodynamics and airplane industry hobbyist.[55] In his speeches, he has said he started "wrenching" when he was 10.[56] He studied inSpain and speaksSpanish conversationally.
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