September 1, 2010 3:58 PM

Susan Zirinsky

Susan Zirinsky

Susan Zirinsky (CBS)

Susan Zirinsky has served as executive producer of "48 Hours" since July 1996. In addition, she serves as an executive producer of special projects for both CBS News and CBS Entertainment divisions.

Zirinsky recently worked with Anna Wintour for a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion industry's "Fashion's Night Out." She also produced "That's The Way It Was - Remembering Walter Cronkite" and "Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother." In January 2009, she was the executive producer of "Change And Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama" and "Katie Couric's 'All Access' Grammy Special."

Zirinsky was also the executive producer of a documentary with Oscar-nominated filmmakers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, "The Lord's Boot Camp," for CBS that aired in April 2008. Zirinsky was one of the executive producers of a documentary for CBS Entertainment with Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, "In God's Name," in December 2007.

Zirinsky was executive producer of the critically acclaimed documentary "Flashpoint" in May 2007. It told the story of one bomb, three journalists and The Army's 4th Infantry Division. In May 2006, Zirinsky was executive producer of the critically acclaimed Emmy nominated documentary, "Three Days in September" for Showtime. The film told the story of a school taken hostage in Beslan, Russia. The film, narrated by Julia Roberts, was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival. Also in 2006, Zirinsky was executive producer of a new web series for CBS Entertainment called "Countdown," a new form of docudrama produced exclusively for the Internet that ran weekly as a companion to CBS's Entertainment series "Jericho."

Zirinsky was an executive producer of CBS' award winning broadcast, "9/11." The documentary won an Emmy, a George Foster Peabody award and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence. Zirinsky has also served as executive producer for a documentary for CBS Entertainment, "Elvis by the Presleys," in May 2005 as well as executive producer of two specials for Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model."

Prior to "48 Hours," she was executive producer of Campaign '96 (1995-96), managing the daily operations of CBS News' election-year political coverage, and of the primetime CBS News magazine"Eye to Eye" (1994-95), after having served as the broadcast's senior broadcast producer and senior producer (1993-94).

Zirinsky was the director of CBS News' 1992 political reporting, responsible for coordinating coverage of candidates, issues and events for all CBS News broadcasts, including the presidential election. During that period, she also held the position of CBS News senior producer at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France, where she oversaw the CBS News and Sports news desk for the network.

Prior to that, Zirinsky served in several capacities for the "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" in New York and Washington, D.C. In New York, she was its senior broadcast producer (1991-92) and senior producer (1989-91). In Washington, she managed all feature stories and oversaw editorial content of daily hard-news events (1986-89). She first joined the "CBS Evening News" as a producer, primarily covering the White House during the Carter and Reagan administrations (1979-86).

Zirinsky was technical advisor/associate producer for writer/director James L. Brooks on the film "Broadcast News," starring Holly Hunter as a Washington network news producer.

She also worked on other CBS News broadcasts, including the "CBS Morning News" and "CBS Evening New weekend editions. Zirinsky worked the Democratic and Republican National Conventions from 1976 through 1988 as a floor producer for some of the legends of CBS including Dan Rather, Lesley Stahl, Ed Bradley and Mike Wallace. In 1992 she was senior producer for all coverage at both conventions.

Zirinsky's foreign experience is extensive. She traveled overseas with presidents Carter and Reagan and was the lead producer for each of their foreign trips. Her overseas assignments have taken her to Russia, China, Japan, Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In 1989, Zirinsky ran CBS News' operations out of Panama during the United States invasion of that country and was in charge of CBS News' operation in Beijing during the Division's critically acclaimed coverage of the Tiananmen Square student uprising and military crackdown. Earlier that year, she was lead producer for CBS News' coverage from Japan of Emperor Hirohito's funeral. She was the senior producer responsible for setting up and overseeing the Network's news operation in Kuwait while covering the first Persian Gulf war, and it was under her stewardship that CBS News was the first network to enter Kuwait, just behind the Allied forces.

Zirinsky joined CBS News as a part-time production clerk in 1972. She was graduated cum laude from American University in Washington, D.C.

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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