Riz Khan

Riz Khan is a recognized face worldwide following extensive careers with the BBC and CNN prior to joining Al Jazeera English. In 2005, he was head-hunted by the Al Jazeera network to set-up its English-language channel and to host its flagship program, Riz Khana daily, live, interactive, topical show featuring the worlds top newsmakers. He also gained recognition for his flagship weekly profile show, Riz Khans One on One Show, featuring a diverse range of celebrities and guests from around the world. The shows have a good following on YouTube.

Khan runs an independent production company and works as an author, media consultant and moderator of high-profile international conferences. Clients and hosts include: Cisco, Standard Chartered Bank, several United Nations agencies, the World Bank, Clinton Global Initiative, St. Gallen Symposium and many more. In 2005, he authored his first book titled Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince, published by Harper Collins, becoming a long-running bestseller in the Middle East and translated into half-a-dozen languages. In 2012, Khan self-published his first fiction novel as an e-book on Amazon titled We Interrupt Our Programming, which is a comical take on the news industry. Proceeds from the sale of his novel support the organization The World Is Just a Book Away to build childrens libraries in underprivileged communities around the world.

Khans career as a journalist took off when he was accepted to the prestigious two-year BBC News Trainee program in 1987, putting him on a fast-track to work as a Presenter/Anchor & Reporter at the BBC. He was the networks first South Asian mainstream news presenter and launched BBC World Service Television News (later renamed BBC World) in October 1991co-hosting its very first show.

Khan was then head-hunted by CNN in 1993 for its own international channel where he became a Senior Anchor for the networks global news shows and special events, including the historic and award-winning live coverage of the Hajjthe annual pilgrimage of 3 million people to Mecca. In 1996, he launched his ground-breaking interactive interview show on CNN titled Q&A with Riz Khan. His 1,500-plus interviews at CNN included more world leaders than any other global news show at the time, including the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, to name just a few.

Born in 1962 in the British colony of Aden, Khan and his family moved to London when he was four, to escape the civil war that created South Yemen. He attended the University of Wales where he earned an honors degree in medical physiology and switched to journalism for his post-graduate studies. Currently, he resides in Washington, DC and travels extensively worldwide.