Richard Lui Biography

Richard Lui is a philanthropist, journalist and the current news anchor for NBC News and MSNBC. His business coverage usually focused on humanitarian matters such as human trafficking, affordable lifestyle, and gender equality. He has also spent five years in CNN Worldwide.

Synopsis

Lui is a first generation American having a twist in his ethnic background due to his grandfather, an illegal immigrant, filed false “Paper Son” documents. According to him, Lui’s real last name is Wong.

Lui, who has formerly worked at CNN Worldwide has been an MSNBC dayside anchor since September 2010. He anchored some of the network’s major breaking stories, including the Arab Spring, the deficit super committee failure, and the 2011 debt-ceiling debate.

Prior to becoming a journalist, Lui spent 15 years in business with Fortune 500 and tech companies. He is a licensed holder and co-founder of the first bank-centric payment system which was seed-funded and incubated by Citibank. Business Insider recognized Lui as one of 21 dynamic careers to watch alongside Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban.

Business Career

Lui became noticeably involved in business in 1985, working in strategy consulting, manufacturing, food and beverage, oil, technology and environmental, enterprises. In the midst of the late 1990s, Lui associated with several new tech businesses and Fortune 500 in Northern California.

Most recently, he co-founded the first bank-centric payment system for which he holds a patent. His licensed payment infrastructure avoid Visa and MasterCard, making consumers to pay for goods and services by connecting directly to their bank account, wireless.

Lui has served as the Director, COO, and CMO of a business unit focused on payments and commerce on Citibank until 2008 and also worked at Mercer Management Consulting in New York.

Before working for Citibank, Lui served the Oliver Wyman New York, where his work included the globalization software market and moving web businesses to mobile platforms. Lui likewise helped launch a joint venture with IBM in the retail vertical.

Toward the begin of his profession, Lui skipped college and put in four years at startup Mrs. Fields Cookies. At the age of 18, Lui became the youngest in the company’s history to run a regional training center.

After Mrs. Fields, Lui continued his college, followed by work at Clean Environment Equipment (QED), where he led its global advertising and public relations.

Lui major in Political Economy of Industrial Societies from UC Berkeley and later graduated with a BA in rhetoric. He earned an MBA degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He also enrolled at Stanford University in the institute’s program in International Security. Richard Liu at the podium delivering a speech at the California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) in front of over 60k peoples in 2015.
Source: CSUF

Journalism career

Lui, based at NBC’s workplaces at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, anchors “Early Today” on NBC News. His reporting field includes breaking stories, the Presidential election, and Tea Party wave. Also, Lui covers sports for both MSNBC morning shows and NBC News and cast news for the Weather Channel’s with Al Roker, Wake Up With Al.

Spending five years at CNN Worldwide, Lui anchored live breaking news such as Virginia Tech Massacre, the 2009 Gaza-Israel War, 2006 Hezbollah-Israel War, Mumbai Hotels Siege and Mumbai train terrorist bombings.

Also, he reported extensively from the Gulf on the BP oil spill. Lui anchored and reported on all CNN English-language networks, including CNN US, CNN International, and HLN.

In 2006, Lui’s coverage of exposing child sex slavery in Indonesia and his investigation of seven-year-olds sold to Ghanaian fishermen as labor slaves, which has won him much respect in the media industry. Lui’s reporting on the civil rights and political was widely controversial in the Asian-American community, including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which prompted the system of illegal immigrants called paper sons.

Lui, the-2013 Asian American Journalists Association’s Member of the Year, has received Emmy and Peabody awards for his team reporting at CNN during the Gulf Oil Spill and Hurricane Katrina.

Before CNN Worldwide, Lui, a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, used to work in Asia as a reporter for Channel NewsAsia, an English-language network reaching 24 territories. He covered the 2003 SARS, the South Asian tsunami, and bird flu outbreaks.

Charity and Humanitarian Work

Lui has spent 25 years in community service in Africa, Asia, and the United States, volunteering for organizations like the United States Capitol Historical Society, the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, and APIA Vote.

He is the ambassador for Plan International USA, where his works span from identifying and advising role male adults and children, having gender inequality and female victim blaming, as well as help to generate organizational growth strategies.

Lui has worked with Polaris Project, a worldwide anti-human trafficking organization. He has reported and consulted on human trafficking stories for a decade and spoken on domestic and global trends at high schools, universities, and conferences globally.

Richard Liu giving his first Ted Talk
Source: Instagram

Lui has worked with the Aspen Institute for several years, speaking at its annual, CSPAN broadcast symposium on the “State of Race in America,” and led Institute conversations at the State Department on foreign affairs in U.S. journalism.

In the affordable and homeless housing space, Lui volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in Ghana, the Golan Heights, and Haiti with former President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Carter. He served on the board of directors for Crossroads Homeless Services and PRI affordable housing development company.

Lui started community work in high school as YMCA counselor in the 1980s. He taught computer skills for the addicted mothers at the American Indian Family Healing Center and served as a campaign manager for a San Francisco election for College Board.

Civil Rights

In 2012, and 2013, Lui was honored with Community Service Award by OCA, a Civil Rights organization. He was also awarded the Suzanne Ahn Civil Rights and Social Justice Award by The Asian American Journalists Association in 2013. In 2014, Lui was honored with a Courage Award for Distinguished Service by the Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Politics

According to NBC News, Lui’s interest in politics started in the 1970s, when he debated California’s controversial Proposition 13 bus rides to school. That involvement turned into a job at the age of 19: campaign manager for San Francisco College Board incumbent Alan Wong. After the election, Lui returned to college and planned to write on policy and the affairs of state, subscribing to the Washington Post when it had to be mailed to the west coast.

In the 1990s, Lui was highly exposed to a significant time in California politics issues. Serving a reporter at KALX, he was assigned to cover the riots of Rodney King verdict and the Dianne Feinstein’s first successful U.S. Senate campaign.

Later, in the 2000s, Lui moved to Asia to capture a heated moment in regional politics. Two Muslim countries in Southeast Asia transformed: Indonesia’s Sukarno family was defeated after rule spanning over half a century; and Malaysia’s prime minister, after almost a quarter of a century handed over power. Lui also reported on Taiwan’s controversial election between pro- and anti- China political parties. He was at Channel NewsAsia, an English-only news network in 20 countries and territories.

In the 2012 election cycle, Lui hosted APIAVote’s Presidential Debate, APA Presidential Inaugural Ball, and APA Congressional Caucus’s forum at the Capitol. He also conducted Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) training sessions for elected and appointed officials. Today at MSNBC, Lui’s beat is politics, and his reports have ranged from the implications of the Tea Party to Presidential election night exit poll data.

Lui also contributes political opinion pieces to publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Politico, The Seattle Times, NBC Latino, the Huffington Post and NBC Politics.

MSNBC’s Richard Lui( image: above right) attending AARP’s sixth Innovation@50+ LivePitch, where he discusses his experience with caregiving. Lui spoke with Alexandra Drane (image: above left), Co-Founder, Chief Visionary Office & Chair of the Board of Eliza Corporation. (March 31, 2017)
Source: Instagram/Richard Liu

Personal Life

Richard Lui was bBorn in 1972, into a low-income family; his father was a youth pastor turned social worker; whereas his mother was a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom. He has three siblings. Like most of the American families, Lui’s family is a multigenerational Asian-American family; his mother was born in China, and his father in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

As of now, Lui’s dad, Stephen have been diagnosed with Alzheimer, and he is taking long-distance care of his dad, who live in San Francisco (Richard Lui resides in New York).

Richard Lui (right) and his Alzheimer father, Steve
Source: Parade

Heading towards Richard Liu private life, there are no records of him being married as of now. There’s no doubt that he is perfect in both professional and personal life and might have a huge list of girlfriends and dating history. However, he has not shared much about his private life. On the other hand, he is not seen with any women recently. And on the contrary, it’s pretty hard to state anything about his life, beyond his profession.

Richard Liu has managed to stay low-key, and as of now, his exact net worth has not yet been made available to the media.

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• news anchor