Liz Walker:

Award-winning journalist and documentary producer, Liz Walker is Host and Executive Producer of WBZ 4's Sunday With Liz Walker, a half hour newsmagazine airing Sundays at 11AM presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The show, which focuses on the power of community, is an extension of Liz's new ministry. An ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a 2005 graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Walker has chosen to combine her communication skills with her spiritual passion to serve the world. Walker has been a television news journalist for 32 years, anchoring WBZ Television's evening newscasts for almost 20 years before stepping down to enter seminary and begin the ordination process.

In the summer of 2001, Walker traveled to war-torn Sudan with a group of local ministers including Rev. Doctor Gloria White-Hammond to investigate the genocidal slave trade in southern Sudan. Walker and Hammond were so outraged by the human rights atrocities in Sudan they co-founded "My Sister's Keeper", a grass roots initiative that advocates for the women and children who are trying to rebuild their country and their lives. Walker returns to Sudan often, most recently visiting the region of Darfur, where 250 thousand people have been killed and 1.8 million displaced in what is considered to be the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

Walker shot her own footage during her trips to Sudan and was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for a News Story by the Regional Television Radio News Director's Association in 2002. In January 2002, she produced an independent documentary on Sudan entitled "In the Lion's Mouth " and is currently working on a second documentary about the humanitarian work of "My Sister's Keeper" founder Gloria White Hammond.

Recognized often for her exemplary work on the air and in her community, Walker received the Prestigious Governor's Award from the New England branch of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1997. In addition to her work in news, Walker has hosted and co-produced several documentaries for WBZ4, including "Friends Like These," for which she received recognition from the prestigious Gabriel Awards.

Liz has long been actively involved in WBZ4's public service campaigns and many community projects. In addition to her work with "My Sister's Keeper" Walker has joined the advisory counsel for the New England Chapter of the United Nations International Children's Education Fund. Liz has a special interest in the victims and survivors of domestic violence, and along with former state representative Marjorie Clapprood, helped found the Jane Doe Safety Fund, a multi-million dollar project to support domestic abuse shelters and safe houses around the Commonwealth. Liz helped create and lead WBZ Television's long-running "Stop the Violence" campaign, which put the breadth of the television station's resources behind an effort to increase awareness of violence issues in the home, in schools, and on the streets and was a cornerstone of the station's public service efforts for more than a decade. Walker continues to speak to young people around the region stressing the importance of education and setting goals to break the cycle of violence.

Liz began her broadcasting career in 1974 in her hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, where she was the Director of Public Affairs for KATV. She later moved to KMGH-TV in Denver, where she served as weekend anchor and reporter, specializing in investigative consumer affairs and the court beat. Prior to joining WBZ4, Liz worked for KRON-TV in San Francisco as a reporter and early morning anchor, and host of the daily magazine program "Midday."

Liz has served on committees and boards of the Big Sister Association, Boston's Children's Museum, The Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and the Pediatric AIDS Charitable Trust of Boston. She is co-founder of the Red Tent Interfaith Bible Study, an on-going dialogue between Jewish and African American Christian Women. She also spends much of her personal time speaking to young people about passion, purpose and community involvement. In addition she spends time helping to raise money and awareness for a variety of causes including HIV/AIDS, breast cancer prevention and homelessness and has been involved with numerous community groups such as the Project Hope Housing Project in Dorchester and the Newton Police Department Project D.A.R.E.

A graduate of Olivet College in Michigan, Walker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. She holds a number of honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the commonwealth, including Northeastern University and Bridgewater State University. She is also a member of the board of Trustees at Andover Newton Theological Seminary.

Walker is on the ministerial staff of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.