Kate Bolduan
Katherine Jean "Kate" Bolduan is an American broadcast journalist based in New York City. She is the anchor of At This Hour with Kate Bolduan. She was previously an anchor for the CNN program State of America with Kate Bolduan on CNN International, New Day, and The Situation Room. She provided feature stories and breaking news reports as well as custom live reports, prior to assuming her role as an anchor. Previously, she served as congressional correspondent based in Washington, D.C. as well as a general assignment correspondent for the network. Bolduan is a Democrat.
Early life and education
A native of Goshen, Indiana, she is the third of four daughters born to Dr. Jeffrey Bolduan, and to Nadine Bolduan, a nurse. She was educated at Goshen High School, a public high school in her home city, followed by George Washington University, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2005, with a bachelor's degree in journalism. During her time at the university, she walked on to the women's volleyball team and acted with the student theatre organization. During her studies she spent time in Madrid, Spain where she learned to speak Spanish.Career
Post college (2005–2007)
From 2005 to 2007 Bolduan worked as a general assignment reporter for WTVD-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. She began her television career as a production assistant for NBC News and MSNBC in Washington D.C.She has worked at House & Garden magazine, Dateline NBC and NBC Nightly News.
CNN (2007–present)
''CNN Newsource''
Bolduan began her tenure in 2007 at CNN as a national correspondent for CNN Newsource. She provided breaking news coverage and feature reports for a large number of CNN Newsource affiliates. During her time there, she most notably covered the 2008 United States presidential election and traveled throughout the United States covering other news making headlines including the Minneapolis Bridge collapse, the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case, and the retiring NASA Space Shuttle fleet.''The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer''
Bolduan was previously co-anchor of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer before moving to New York. Alongside Wolf Blitzer, she provided current events, breaking news, political headlines, and reports within lively discussions during the two-hour program.''New Day''
New Day is a weekday morning television show on CNN. It premiered on June 17, 2013 and airs from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. ET, originating from CNN's Time Warner Center studios in New York City. New Day replaced Starting Point, formerly anchored by Soledad O'Brien, which had aired since January 2, 2012.''At This Hour with Kate Bolduan''
Bolduan joined CNN's new morning show, @This Hour, which premiered on January 26, 2015, alongside John Berman. At This Hour covers various news stories of the day with co-hosts Kate Bolduan and John Berman. At This Hour airs weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET, and is broadcast live from CNN's New York Studios in Manhattan. On February 6, 2017, Berman moved to 9 a.m. to co-host CNN Newsroom and Bolduan took over as the sole host of the show as it changed name to At This Hour.The focus of the show is on daily events with correspondents sending their on-site live reports into the studio. Bolduan then speaks with them about that specific event. At This Hour also presents moderated live interviews and discussions with guests in the studio or via teleconference.
''State of America with Kate Bolduan''
Bolduan was named anchor of State of America with Kate Bolduan, a CNN International program which covered the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign for a global audience. Following the election, the program was renamed and pivoted to focusing on U.S. news and affairs. The show aired Fridays at 23:00 CET from CNN's New York studios in Manhattan.During the first ten minutes of the show Bolduan discussed the daily news. Following a commercial break a panel, typically consisting of four journalists and analysts from various backgrounds, discussed current affairs.
The last Episode was aired September 20, 2019.
Features
''Kate Bolduan's Roots''
In 2014 Bolduan made a feature titled Kate Bolduan's Roots. Bolduan's ancestors arrived in America in 1912. They came from a small town called Chênée in Belgium. Leon Emile Rousselle arrived in the United States aboard the SS Kroonland. Two months later his pregnant wife Louise Labhaye Rousselle and his two-year-old daughter travelled to the U.S. aboard the SS Lapland. The Rousselles came from a long line of glass manufacturers. In 2014 Bolduan travelled to Liège in Belgium to find out about her family history.Champions for Change
Champions for Change is an annual series at CNN where anchors and staff choose a topic and go out of their regular format. It follows the Champions of Change initiative of the Obama White House.''The Story behind Farm Aid''
Bolduan grew up in a subdivision near an apple orchard. In 2017 she went on farms in Virginia to film a feature for the CNN series Champions for Change. It was called The story behind Farm Aid in relation to Farm Aid. She interviewed small and environmentally friendly farmers on their perspective of their situation in America.''Every Mother Counts''
In 2018 Bolduan produced another feature for the Champions for Change series. She spent time with the Every Mother Counts organisation which helps pregnant women by giving them information and other support. The organisation is international, working in Asia, Africa, North- and South America.''Offering shelter from a violent world''
2019 Bolduan visited the non-profit Organisation KOB in Chicago, founded by Diane Latiker. Bolduan spoke with her for the first time ten years ago. KOB exists since 15 years and supports children and teenager by offering them a place and education in informatics. KOB is located in Roseland, one of Chicago's most underfunded districts.Podcast
Since April 2019 Kate Bolduan, John Avlon as well as Harry Enten produce the audio only podcast . It is about the presidential election of 2020 in the US and other political topics. The last episode was produced March 19, 2020. During the COVID-19 crisis 2020 she spoke with her colleague Sanjay Gupta on how to talk with children about the consequences and the measurements to curb the spreading speed. She also wrote an article on that topic.Independent activities
Bolduan advocates for children, namely at the Free Arts NYC society. She also intercedes for protection of mothers and newborn and their medical well being.2019 she took part in the Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month event.
Moderation outside of television
Occasionally Bolduan works as a freelance presenter and speaker.She is a presenter for the Fashion Tech Forum. Founded by Karen Harvey FTF supports innovators in this field since 2014.
2016 she moderated a discussion at the 2016 United Nations Global Compact Private Sector Forum. The Forum tries to encourage businesses all around the world to follow rules of fair trade and production.
In October 2018 Bolduan moderated a two days lasting conversation at the Marie Claire Power Trip Conference guesting Theresia Gouw and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy in San Francisco.
On the occasion of the 10th annual summit, in April 2019 at the live journalism event Women in the World she had a conversation with the designer Diane von Fürstenberg. Topic was the importance of basic decisions and character for modern women.
On August 13, 2019 she moderated a conversation round in the Woodrow Wilson Center called Decoding the Disinformation Problem the guests and Bolduan herself discussed on actual problems of mass media like TV and Internet with fake news and intentional missinformation campaigns by individuals and organisations up to states for mainly political purpose.
In September 2019 Bolduan spoke with Michael Bloomberg, Mary Nichols, Will Marshall and the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö at the 2019 Bloomberg Global Business Forum.
Personal life
In May 2010, Bolduan married Michael Gershenson, who works for The Carlyle Group and is the son of real estate developer Bruce Alan Gershenson. They moved from the Washington D.C. area to New York in early 2013 after Bolduan accepted the anchor position at CNN's morning lineup. The couple's first daughter was born in September 2014. Their second daughter was born in December 2017.The couple belong to the Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan.
She is left-handed but plays all sports with her right hand. She loves ketchup, belly dancing, cereals and can waterski barefoot.