About the Speaker

Emmy Award winning journalist Elizabeth Vargas has traveled the world covering breaking news stories, reporting on-depth investigations and conducting news maker interviews. She was the host of America’s Most Wanted on Fox TV. She hosted the hit newsmagazine show 20/20 on ABC for 15 years, and was Co-Anchor of World News Tonight, and news anchor and frequent host of Good Morning America. She hosted A&E Investigates, doing a series of documentaries that still air on Hulu.

During the historic Iraqi elections in December 2005, she reported extensively for World News Tonight from Baghdad on both civilian life in Iraq and American military involvement there. She has interviewed leaders from around the world, including President Bush from the Oval Office in the White House. Vargas has also anchored ABC News coverage of live, breaking stories, including the deaths of President Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Hurricane Katrina’s devastation from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Vargas won an Emmy in 2000 for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a News Story for anchoring live coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case.

Vargas has also interviewed a wide range of celebrities, from actors and musicians to business leaders and authors, including: Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Skoll, Sheryl Crow, Madonna, Johnny Depp, Hugh Hefner, Jessica Simpson, Mick Jagger, Drew Barrymore, Dan Brown, Alanis Morissette, and Cat Stevens.

In 2016, Vargas released her memoir, Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction. The book details her lifelong struggle with anxiety and how she self medicated with alcohol, and tells a powerful story of healing and coping. The book spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and won numerous awards. Vargas is a member of the board of directors for the non-profit Partnership to End Addiction. She hosts a podcast, Heart of the Matter, about addiction, recovery, and the stigma so many face in their effort to heal. She is the host of iCrime, and Elizabeth Vargas Reports on NewsNation.