Rafael Romo, senior Latin American affairs editor of CNN Worldwide, is the 2010 inductee to the Cronkite Alumni Hall of Fame.
A 1995 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, Romo is based in Atlanta and covers Latin American issues for a global audience.
The bilingual journalist and Cronkite alumnus was born in Mexico and has spent 18 years in the news industry as an anchor, reporter, news manager and professor of journalism.
He was a general assignment reporter for the Chicago CBS affiliate and a Midwest correspondent for Univision prior to joining CNN. He has also served as executive producer at Univision in Chicago and as a reporter for KPHX Radio 1480 AM in Phoenix. Romo has covered stories such as the arrival of Hurricane Mitch in Central America and the past two visits by Pope John Paul II to Mexico. He has interviewed Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Vicente Fox. He has been awarded two Emmys.
“As a hard-hitting international reporter, Rafael Romo embodies the best of the Cronkite School,” said Dean Christopher Callahan. “Rafael has achieved tremendous success in a relatively short period of time. We are proud to count him among our Hall of Fame honorees.”
Romo said the Cronkite School helped him become the journalist he is today. “At ASU, my development went beyond academics,” Romo said. “I learned about American values, about progress and hope, and about always giving your best effort to what’s important in life.”
Romo hopes to similarly inspire other Cronkite graduates when he delivers the keynote address at the Cronkite School fall convocation on Dec. 17 at ASU’s Gammage Auditorium in Tempe.
Romo is the 43rd inductee into the Cronkite Alumni Hall of Fame, joining KTTV-TV Los Angeles anchor Christine Devine, ABC News correspondent Bill Redeker, Arizona Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall and Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Julie Cart, among others.