Lester Don Holt Jr. (born March 8, 1959) is an American journalist and news anchor for the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News, NBC Nightly News Kids Edition, and Dateline NBC. On June 18, 2015, he was made the permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News following the demotion of Brian Williams. He followed in the career footsteps of Max Robinson, an ABC News evening co-anchor, and Holt became the first African-American to solo anchor a weekday network nightly newscast.