NBC 5’s Stefan Holt: Rising son in the morning

Stefan Holt

Stefan Holt, the 25-year-old son of NBC News anchor Lester Holt, is stepping up to weekday morning news anchor at NBC 5 Chicago after just eight months at the station.

Starting Monday, he’ll anchor NBC 5 News Today from 4:30 to 7am, succeeding Rob Elgas, who shifts to co-anchoring at 4:30pm weekdays with Marion Brooks. Elgas also will be reporting for the 10pm newscast.

The morning changes were triggered by the departure late last year of Zoraida Sambolin, who left to become co-anchor of CNN’s Early Start. Replacing her is Daniella Guzman, who joins NBC 5 in March from KPRC-TV in Houston. Kim Vatis will continue filling in until Guzman arrives.

The younger Holt has been on the fast track at NBC 5 since he signed on as a reporter and weekend morning news anchor from WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“Since joining us last June, Stefan has distinguished himself both in the field and on the anchor desk,” Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news, told staffers in a memo Monday. “His reassuring style and pleasant personality are a perfect fit for our morning team.”

Born in Chicago during the time his father was a news anchor at CBS 2 here, Stefan Holt is a 2009 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He worked for the college network Palestra.net and held internships with KABC-TV in Los Angeles and NBC News in London before joining WPBF in May 2009.