Becky Anderson is one of CNN International’s highest profile anchors. She hosts Connect the World with Becky Anderson, which airs weekdays at 5:00pm UAE time. She is based at CNN’s Abu Dhabi bureau, where she also serves as Managing Editor.

In these roles Anderson has a distinctive regional perspective on some of today’s most important news stories, including the emerging politico-economic trends in the Gulf, the regional rivalries between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the deepening humanitarian crisis stemming from years of political instability in Syria and Iraq.

Anderson is a skilled interviewer, adept at close questioning and has interviewed many of the world’s leading politicians, decision-makers and thought-leaders. She has conducted one-on-one interviews with top world leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abudllah bin Zayed, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and leading humanitarian leaders such as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. She is equally at home with celebrities, quizzing the world’s A-listers, including Jennifer Lopez, Will.i.Am, Akon, Oprah Winfrey, Juliette Binoche, Andrew Lloyd-Weber, Beyoncé, George Clooney, Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt.

Since moving Connect the World to Abu Dhabi, Anderson has spent much of her time travelling across the Middle East at an extraordinary time of upheaval and change. Anderson and the team were the first team to broadcast from Riyadh after the ban on women driving were lifted. She has broadcast special shows from Tehran to Jerusalem, from Istanbul to Beirut, bringing a range of interviews, reports and packages to CNN International viewers around the globe.

Anderson believes a good television show is akin to a good dinner party. The conversation might start off with the serious topics of the day but would invariably include discussion of arts, culture and sport. She is as comfortable sitting with global leaders for exclusive interviews as she is anchoring special editions of her show from a superyacht anchored in Yas Marina for the pinnacle of the 2017 F1 season.

Anderson has reported from Greece on the anti-austerity riots, Tunisia during the Arab Spring uprisings and Rome on the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI and the installation of his successor Pope Francis. She was also the official CNN Olympic Games Correspondent in 2012 and broadcast live from London’s Buckingham Palace on the birth of Prince George. She also played a lead role in CNN’s extensive coverage of both the 7/7 attacks in London and the network’s coverage of the war in Iraq.

Anderson has also focused on covering issues affecting women and young people around the world. She has interviewed senior Saudi officials on the countries women’s rights record while, as part of Connect the World, she discussed with a panel of experts if the Arab Spring had brought about new opportunities for women and young people. In 2013 she also hosted a live chat with NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg who was based on the International Space Station, asking her questions crowd-sourced from social media.

Anderson has extensive business journalism experience including posts with the UK’s ITN, CNBC Europe and Bloomberg. She began her career in journalism as a print reporter with various business publications in Arizona, after gaining a Master of Mass Communication from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University in 1992 and in 2012 was inducted into their hall of fame. She gained her BA (Hons) in Economics at Sussex University in the UK.