Ali Velshi (born October 29, 1968 or 1969) is a Canadian television journalist, a senior economic and business correspondent for NBC News since October 2016. He was also substitute anchor for Top Story with Tom Llamas on NBC News Now at weeknights and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC at Friday night. Velshi is based in New York City. Known for his work on CNN, he was CNN's Chief Business Correspondent, anchor of CNN's Your Money and a co-host of CNN International's weekday business show World Business Today. In 2013, he joined Al Jazeera America, a channel that launched in August of that year. He hosted Ali Velshi on Target until Al Jazeera America ceased operations on April 12, 2016. He has worked for MSNBC since October 2016. Personal life Velshi was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and raised in Toronto, Ontario, after moving there in 1971. He is an Ismaili Muslim of Gujarati Indian descent. He is the son of Murad Velshi, the first Canadian of Indian origin elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and his wife, Mila, who grew up in South Africa. Velshi's parents operated a bakery in South Africa, but moved to Kenya in 1960, when Apartheid became oppressive. In Toronto, Velshi's parents operate a chain of travel agencies. Velshi attended Toronto's Northern Secondary School, where he was elected school president. He then earned a degree in religious studies from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1994. During his time at Queen's he made news by organizing protests against Preston Manning and Canada's Reform Party. In 2010, he was awarded the Queen's University Alumni Achievement Award. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by his alma mater. Velshi was married briefly in his twenties. In 2009, he married his second wife, New York–born hedge fund manager Lori Wachs, the president of Philadelphia-based Cross Ledge Investments, whom he met when she was a guest on his show. The couple have one child together, a daughter. Velshi divides his time between an apartment in New York City and his home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Career In 1996, Velshi was awarded a fellowship to the United States Congress from the American Political Science Association. In this capacity he worked with Lee H. Hamilton, then a Democratic Representative from Indiana. Television In Toronto, Velshi began his professional reporting career as a General Assignment reporter for