Elizabeth Cole

Elizabeth Cole is executive producer of NBC News’ newsmagazine Dateline NBC, the longest-running series in NBC primetime history. In 2018, Cole was named president of NBC News’ Peacock Productions, a nonfiction production company that creates series, documentaries and special events.

Serving as executive producer of Dateline since July 2011, Cole is responsible for the production of all episodes, investigative reports and special series, such as On Assignment, America Now, My Kid Would Never Do That, Escape and the annual Toast! New Year’s Eve special. Now in its 27th season, Dateline reaches more than 18 million people every week through its broadcast, and millions more through its social media platforms. 

Cole has also overseen numerous primetime documentaries, including NBC News specials, “Confronting Putin” and “Barack Obama: The Reality of Hope,” and breaking news and historical milestones, including the Paris terror attack, Hurricane Sandy, the Royal Wedding, the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, and the Boston Marathon bombing. 

Before becoming executive producer, Cole served as Executive Editor, supervising the daily editorial operations of Dateline. Prior to that, she produced many notable broadcasts including “The Last Days of Jesus,” “Secrets of the da Vinci Code” and “Eyewitness to History,” a two-hour NBC News farewell to Tom Brokaw. She also produced Tom Brokaw documentaries on the detention of asylum seekers in the U.S., the Iraq War, and intelligence failures leading up to the events of September 11. 

In addition to her work at NBC News, in 2000 Cole served as vice president and senior executive producer of programming for Pseudo.com, a pioneering streaming video website. At Pseudo, Cole oversaw ten hours a day of live, interactive programming on topics ranging from technology to pop culture to politics, including Pseudo's acclaimed coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. 

Cole began her career in journalism as an NBC page and then as a researcher for NBC News' Maria Shriver unit in 1991, working on her primetime specials and documentaries. She served as an associate producer for Dateline from 1993 to 1997, a segment producer for the newsmagazine from 1997 to 2000 and 2001 to 2003, and broadcast producer from 2003 to 2005. 

During her time at Dateline, Cole has earned four Emmy Awards, which includes a recent win for “Dateline NBC: The Cosby Women Speak”. She is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, three Edward R. Murrow Awards and two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards.  


Cole graduated from Vassar College in 1990, where she co-founded the campus TV station, VCTV. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Christian Martin, and their two children. 

Cole is on Twitter @elizcole