Shirley Henry

Shirley Henry is the Chief Washington Editor for NPR News. In this role, she oversees all aspects of the Washington Desk. Its correspondents, editors and producers cover the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Justice Department, presidential campaigns and other electoral politics, and tell stories across all of NPR's broadcast and digital platforms. She also oversees and edits the NPR Politics Podcast.

Henry came to NPR in September 2014 as a Senior Editor for the Washington Desk and served as Deputy Washington Editor from February 2015 through May 2019. During that time, she edited White House coverage for NPR and played a key role in helping shape NPR's 2016 election coverage and in the creation of the politics podcast.

Before joining NPR, Henry worked at CNN in a number of capacities, including producing shows, field producing and managing coverage in CNN's Washington Bureau. From April 2013 to August 2014, she was the supervising producer of CNN's National Security Unit. She was also the editor of a blog at CNN.com that covered national security issues.

Henry graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Boston University where she received a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in international relations. She also received a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University.