Hannah Storm, the ESPN SportsCenter anchor and award-winning journalist, producer and director, has been named the 2018 “Woman of Influence” by Multichannel News. She will be honored along with the 2018 classes of Wonder Women and Women to Watch at the upcoming 20th-annual Wonder Women luncheon on Thursday, March 22, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.
Storm, who joined ESPN in 2008 and previously was an anchor and correspondent at NBC Sports, CNN and CBS News, is a pioneer in the field of sports broadcasting for women, an advocate for children’s issues and a published author.
In addition to anchoring various editions of SportsCenter, she has co-hosted many of the network’s marquee events including: Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the NBA Finals, the New York Marathon, Veteran’s Day, the Super Bowl, the NCAA College Football Playoff National Championship and the Rose Parade on ABC.
Storm also has conducted sit-down interviews with many prominent figures in the sports world from the NBA, NFL, NASCAR, MLB, college football and many other sports both in prime-time specials and on SportsCenter. In 2012 she co-anchored daredevil Nik Wallenda’s unprecedented live Niagara Falls tightrope walk for ABC News. She has also served as a correspondent for ABC’s 20/20, where she’s done pieces with Shark Tank stars Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary.
Prior to ESPN, Storm handled premier events during her time at NBC Sports (2002-2007) and CNN (1989-1992), where she was the first female host of CNN Sports Tonight.
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At NBC Sports, in addition to hosting four Olympics and the “NBA on NBC,” Storm became the first woman in American television history to solo host a broadcast network’s sports series when she hosted NBC’s Major League Baseball coverage, including three World Series.
Taking a break from sports broadcasting, Storm spent five years (2002-2007) at CBS News as host of The Early Show, covering numerous major news events ranging from the 2004 Presidential election to the Iraqi War and Hurricane Katrina. While at CBS News, Storm also hosted shows for the award-winning CBS newsmagazine, 48 Hours, and served as co-host for the network’s coverage of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Following a passion to direct and produce films, in 2008 Storm created Brainstormin’ Productions. She has produced, executive produced and directed several projects for ESPN and espnW including: Unmatched, for ESPN’s Peabody Award-winning “30 for 30” film series; Shaq & Dale, for the SEC Network/ESPN/ABC; Love & Payne, the inaugural espnW “Nine for IX” series short film; Swoopes, for ESPN’s award-winning “Nine for IX” series; and Moving the Goal, for espnW’s “HERoics” series, part of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage. Storm has also produced branded content for ESPN, espnW, and ESPN.com including: Journeys & Victories; Beyond Reason; Stories of Will; The Drive series; and The Journey series.
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For her work, she has received several Gracie Awards and, in 2017, The Marist College Center for Sports Communication presented Storm with its second Lifetime Excellence in Sports Communication Award.
Born with a port wine stain underneath her left eye, Storm has become an advocate for children and parents of children suffering from debilitating and disfiguring vascular birthmarks. In 2008 she founded the Hannah Storm Foundation to raise awareness, fund treatment and provide educational information for vascular malformations. To date, children from the United States, China, the Republic of Georgia and Slovenia have received surgery funding through her foundation.
Storm also has written two books: “Notre Dame Inspirations,” and “Go Girl!: Raising Healthy, Confident and Successful Daughters through Sports.” For her work as an author, Literacy Advance of Houston honored her as a Champion of Literacy. She has also contributed to a variety of other books and written extensively for several magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Nick Jr., Family Circle, Child and Notre Dame Magazine. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the mother of three daughters with her husband, Dan Hicks of NBC Sports.
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Hannah Storm is the second recipient of the Woman of Influence award, given to a prominent individual in the TV industry who continues to lead by example and action, inspiring others and helping to establish the next generation of women in prominent industry roles. The first honoree, in 2017, was Lesley Stahl of CBS News, the correspondent for 60 Minutes.
The Wonder Women luncheon honors prominent executives in multichannel TV and related businesses. Co-sponsored by the New York chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications, this year’s luncheon also includes the inaugural Career Catalyst Award, presented by WICT New York. This year’s recipient is Showtime Networks senior vice president Sara Clarke.
For more about the luncheon and Wonder Women, please visit mcnwonderwomen.com.
