On Thursday, October 18, Tom Brokaw, also known as "The Voice of a Generation," will present the keynote address at ISSA/INTERCLEAN in Chicago. The legendary American news icon will draw on a rich career in network news to provide attendees with his unique world view.

Brokaw has traveled the world to cover elections, summits, wars, political turmoil and major news events of every description. Now he will provide in-depth analysis of the important economic, political, and social issues in the headlines—and the people behind them—to help you understand how world events are shaping the market in which you work.

The keynote address will be open to all registered ISSA/INTERCLEAN attendees.

About the Speaker

After 21 years as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Brokaw stepped down December 1, 2004. He continues to be a special correspondent for NBC News, producing and reporting on long-form documentaries, as well as providing expertise during election coverage and breaking news events.

He has received numerous honors, including the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award, the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and he was inducted as a fellow into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition, Brokaw has received the Records of Achievement Award from The Foundation for the National Archives; the Association of the U.S. Army honored him with their highest award, the George Catlett Marshall Medal, first ever to a journalist; and he was the recipient of the West Point Sylvanus Thayer Award, in recognition of devoted service to bringing exclusive interviews and stories to public attention.

His insight, ability, and integrity have earned him a dozen Emmys and two Peabody and duPont awards for his journalistic achievements. In 2003, NBC Nightly News was honored with the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast, representing the program's fourth consecutive win in this category.

Brokaw began his journalism career in 1962 at KMTV in Omaha, NE. He anchored the late evening news on Atlanta, GA's WSB-TV in 1965 before joining KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, CA. NBC News hired Brokaw in 1966 and from 1976-1981 he anchored NBC News' Todayprogram.

Over the years at NBC, while anchoring NBC Nightly News and Today, Brokaw also reported on 25 documentaries on subjects ranging from race, AIDS, the war on terror, Los Angeles gangs, Bill Gates, literacy, immigration, and the evangelical movement.

He has an impressive series of additional "firsts," including the first exclusive U.S. one-on-one interview with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, earning an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. Brokaw was the first and only anchor to report from the scene the night the Berlin Wall fell, and was the first American anchor to travel to Tibet to report on human-rights abuses and to conduct an interview with the Dalai Lama.

The NBC News anchor also has a distinguished record as a political reporter. He has interviewed every president since Lyndon Baines Johnson and has covered every presidential election since 1968. Brokaw was NBC's White House correspondent during the national trauma of Watergate (1973-1976). From 1984 to 2004, he anchored all of NBC's political coverage, including primaries, national conventions and election nights, and moderated nine primary and/or general election debates.

Complementing his distinguished broadcast journalism career, Brokaw has written articles, essays, and commentary for several publications including The New York Times,The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, TIME, The New Yorker, Men's Journal, Sports Illustrated, Life, National Geographic, Outside, and Interview.

In 1998, Brokaw became a best-selling author with the publication of The Greatest Generation. Inspired by the mountain of mail he received from his first book, Brokaw wrote The Greatest Generation Speaks in 1999. His third book, An Album of Memories, was published in 2001. In November 2002, Brokaw's fourth best-selling book A Long Way from Home, a reflective look about growing up in the American Heartland, was released.

In his fifth best-selling book, BOOM! Voices of the Sixties, Brokaw shares a series of remembrances and reflections of the time based on his experiences and over 50 interviews with a wide variety of well-known artists, politicians, activists, business leader, and journalists, as well as lesser known figures, including a daughter of a former Mississippi segregationist governor, Vietnam veterans, civil rights activists, health care pioneers, environmentalists, and war protesters.

In November 2011, he released his sixth book, The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America, in which he addresses the challenges that face America in the new millennium and offers reflections on how we can restore America’s greatness.