Phil Griffin is President of cable news station MSNBC. He was named President in July 2008. Griffin, who has had executive oversight for MSNBC since 2006, oversees all day-to-day management issues at MSNBC. In addition to his responsibilities at the 24-hour cable news channel, Griffin also oversees NBC News’ Special Coverage reports.

Griffin was named Senior Vice President at NBC News with oversight responsibility for America’s number-one morning program, Today, in April 2005. A year later he added oversight of MSNBC to his responsibilities. Prior to that, he was vice president of primetime programming for MSNBC, overseeing all primetime programming for the network including The Abrams Report, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and Scarborough Country.

Griffin began his career at CNN in 1980, where he was a producer for three years. He then left the station to work as a writer and producer for Today from 1983 to 1987. Griffin left Today in 1987 to join USA Today: The Television Show as senior producer. However, after just one year there, he returned to his normal duties at Today, covering such stories as the Persian Gulf War, the Loma Prieta earthquake, and the United States invasion of Panama. In 1991, Griffin left Today once again and began producing the American Close-Up segment for NBC Nightly News. In 1995, Griffin headed NBC News' coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial.