Tom Llamas, the anchor who will succeed Lester Holt as host of “NBC Nightly News,” has New Orleans connections.

Llamas, 45, has been the anchor of NBC’s streaming outlet NBC News Now. The company announced Wednesday he would take over their flagship evening news show.

Holt announced his plans to step down from the role last month to focus on “Dateline” in a full-time capacity. Llamas will begin hosting in the summer.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Llamas was born and raised in Miami and moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola, where he graduated in 2001 with degrees in broadcast journalism, drama and speech, according to the university’s website.

Llamas met his wife, Jennifer, at Loyola. She is a New Orleans native who has worked as a producer for MSNBC. 

In addition to taking over as host of a program that has only been held by three men −Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Holt − Llamas is the first Latino person to host the weekday edition of “Nightly News,” according to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. 

Prior to working at NBC, Llamas was the weekend anchor of “ABC World News Tonight.”

Llamas resides in Westchester County, New York with his wife and three children, according to a 2024 New York Times profile.