Rashida Jones, replacing Phil Griffin at MSNBC, will be first Black woman to run a cable news network

Griffin “is as much a part of the NBC News & MSNBC family as anyone in our storied history,” Conde wrote, adding that the network is “in the best shape it has ever been.”

A source close to Griffin said the network executive has been considering the timing of his departure over the last few years.

The network will be turning a generational page when Griffin hands over the reins to Jones, an up-and-coming executive long considered a potential successor, who has overseen breaking news and major events as a chief of both daytime and weekend news programming. She will be the first Black woman to head a major cable news network. (The Wall Street Journal first reported the move.)

Conde said that Jones “has an outstanding track record and she leads with a laser-like focus and grace under pressure,” praising her management of the network’s coverage of the presidential election, the protests that stemmed from the killing of George Floyd, and the coronavirus epidemic in the United States.

“Rashida knows and understands MSNBC, in part because it’s where she started when she first joined NBCU seven years ago,” he said in the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. “She knows that it is the people who work here that make it great, and she understands its culture. She also appreciates the impact and potential of the brand.”

After working for a local television station in South Carolina, Jones joined MSNBC as an executive producer in 2013, rising to the level of senior vice president before being given the top job next year.