Karen Holmes Ward

KAREN HOLMES WARD is the director of public affairs and community services as well as host and executive producer of CityLine, WCVB’s award-winning weekly magazine program. CityLine addresses the accomplishments, concerns and issues facing people of color living in Boston and its suburbs, and has been a recipient of the Associated Press Massachusetts/Rhode Island Best Public Affairs Program, and numerous Emmy nominations. Ward oversees WCVB’s public service and community outreach efforts including the station’s work on Extreme Makeover: My Hometown, and WCVB’s first-of-its-kind web-based initiative, Commonwealth 5, nominated for a National Emmy Award.  She served as executive producer for Return to Glory. Ward has enjoyed a forty-year career in broadcasting including early stints as a writer at WEEI News Radio, news director at WILD-Radio, and a reporter at WGBH-TV. A graduate of Boston University’s School of Public Communications (now COM), Ward has received honorary doctorates from both Cambridge College and Merrimack College. She was inducted into the 2018 Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She has received numerous awards for her work in the community including the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle Award for Lifetime Achievement, Boston Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award, National Association of Black Journalists Region I  Journalist of the Year, Big Sister of Greater Boston Achievement Award, Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts President’s Award, Women of Courage and Conviction Award from the Greater Boston Section National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and MassVote’s Champion of Democracy, among others. @karenholmesward