Richard N. Kaplan is an American network television producer. He has worked for CBS, ABC, CNN and MSNBC. He has served as executive producer for some of the biggest names in television news journalism, including Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour. Kaplan started his broadcast journalism career at CBS's WBBM-TV in Chicago. He worked for CBS until 1979, when he moved to ABC. Kaplan stayed at ABC until 1997, when he served as President of CNN/U.S. until 2000. He became Senior Vice-President of ABC News in 2003, and was named President of MSNBC in February 2004. In June 2006 Kaplan resigned as president of MSNBC. In 2007, he replaced Rome Hartman as the executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. In 2011, he was named executive producer of This Week with Christiane Amanpour., and was put in charge of ABC News political coverage, 2012 election coverage, and specials. In August 2012, Kaplan founded Kaplan Media Partners. He has received 46 Emmy Awards. Early life and education Richard Kaplan was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois where he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Broadcast journalism CBS News (1969–1979) Kaplan's broadcast journalism career began at CBS News, where he served as an associate producer of CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1974–79) and an associate producer of the CBS Morning News (1971–74). He was a writer, assignment desk editor and producer at WBBM-TV, the CBS-owned station in Chicago (1969–71). At CBS News, he produced news coverage of the American political campaigns and elections in 1974, 1976 and 1978. He was also a producer of the historic visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Israel for his first meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. ABC News (1979–1997) Kaplan joined ABC News in 1979 as a senior producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. From 1979 to 1997, Kaplan held a variety of positions at ABC News and the ABC Television Network. Prior to joining Nightline, Kaplan was executive producer of World News This Morning and Good Morning America news. Kaplan was executive producer of ABC News Nightline from 1984 to 1989. While at Nightline in March, 1985, Kaplan produced a week-long series of broadcasts originating from Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1988, Kaplan was executive producer of Nightline in the Holy Land, a week-long