CNN This Morning names Lauren Mensch and Chris Russell as new executive producers

CNN this morning signed Lauren Mensch and Chris Russell as new executive producers to bolster the station’s morning show after its debut in November.

They succeed Eric Hall, who left in January to lead the 11 p.m. hour CNN tonight moderated by Laura Coates.

Mensch will serve as EP and showrunner, overseeing the show’s run from 6am to 9pm ET and providing editorial direction. Russell will executive produce during the day and evening hours, focusing on editing and infrastructure for the next morning. You will report to Ryan Kadro, Senior Vice President of Content Strategy.

Most recently, Mensch was the EP of CNN newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell, in a tenure that dealt, among other things, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the January 6 uprising. She also served as Executive Producer on CNN-Sesame Street Town Halls focusing on Covid and Race Relations and was EP of The Van Jones Show And The ax files. She joined the network in 2013 and was initially the senior producer of New daythe previous incarnation of the morning show.

Russell was the executive producer of NewsNation In balance with Leland Vittert. He was previously a senior executive producer at NBCUniversal and oversaw daily lifestyle programming for Quibi. He was also Executive Producer on ET Live, the streaming service based on the Entertainment Tonight brand, and previously worked at CBS News for a decade. He was one of the senior staff members launched CBS this morning.

The show catered for guests from newsmakers and field reporters from CNN correspondents, but there was also drama. Co-host Don Lemon took a few days off last month after responding to comments he made about Nikki Haley and being women in their prime. He later apologized. But the moment was still mentioned when the Oscars were presented on Sunday night, when Michelle Yeoh won best actress Everything, everywhere, all at oncerefer to the comments in her acceptance speech.