Kelli Arena was a Washington D.C. correspondent for CNN. On April 5 She returned to TV as a freelance Washington D.C. based reporter for Bloomberg TV.[1]
Kelli was born in Brooklyn, New York. She earned a bachelor's degree from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
She started with the network in New York City in 1985, and went on air in 1993. She started as a business/economic journalist, producing and reporting for the award winning "Moneyline with Lou Dobbs". She was named one of the top business journalists under the age of 30 by The Journal of Financial Reporting for 4 years in a row. In 1987, Arena played an integral role in the coverage of the Stock Market crash. She was part of the CNN team that won a Peabody ,Cable Ace and Houston film festival award. Arena moved to London in 1991 to work as an Executive Producer for World Business Today. She started her on-air career in London in 1993. In 1995, she was based in Tokyo as a correspondent and covered the Sarin Gas attacks. In 1995, she moved to Washington DC, just in time to report on the U-S government shutdown. As a business/economic correspondent in DC, Arena covered both Capitol Hill and the White house. In 1999, Arena was the network's lead correspondent investigating the Firestone and Ford tire controversy. In 2000, Arena was named Justice Correspondent. She is noted for her part in reporting CNN's coverage of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the 2001 Anthrax scare, and DC Sniper attacks. Awards include a 2009 Peabody: Presidential Campaign Coverage 2005 Emmy: Hurricane Katrina 2002 New York Festivals: Best Correspondent 2002 Emmy: 9-11 Coverage 2002 Atlantic City Press Club Headliner Award: CNN coverage of the September 11th Attacks
In 2006, Arena added the Supreme Court to her beat.[2] She was frequently a reporter for CNN's morning program "American Morning" and its daily evening newscast "The Situation Room".[3] She left CNN in January 2009.[4][5] She appears as a panelist on Tru Tv's "In Session".
After leaving CNN, Arena was a lead trainer for the National Democratic Institute's Youth of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow program; a year-long program for women leaders from throughout North Africa. She has also trained women from the Middle East as part of the NDI's Young Women Leaders Academy. Arena has also worked with Women Candidates ,Youth Organizations and non-profits in Egypt and Morocco as a communications strategist, and leadership trainer.
In 2010, Arena joined News Certified Exchange as a Vice President, helping the company populate a database of experts for journalists. Arena works with NCE clients on communications and messaging strategy and trains executives for interaction with the media.
Arena is currently teaching at Sam Houston State University, the recipient of the Dan Rather Endowed Chair.[6] She is currently married and has 3 children.
She is the recipient of numerous broadcast awards including an Emmy, Peabody and CableAce award.