MEDIA
CIANJ Luncheon Keynote Speaker NBC News Anchor Jen Maxfield
Jen Maxfield , an Emmy award-winning reporter and anchor who started at NBC New York in 2013 , shared her experiences with CIANJ during the business group ’ s annual luncheon at the Hilton Meadowlands Hotel in East Rutherford .
CIANJ President Anthony Russo invited Maxfield to be the keynote speaker at the 95th Annual Luncheon attended by more than 400 business leaders .
During her career Maxfield also worked for Eyewitness News in New York as a reporter and a substitute anchor for 10 years . She launched her journalism career with WIVT-TV in Binghamton , N . Y ., and WIX-TV in Syracuse , N . Y .
Maxfield ’ s first book , More After the Break : A Reporter Returns to Ten Unforgettable News Stories was published by Greenleaf Book Group in July . It was an instant Amazon bestseller and Publisher ’ s Weekly called it “ impossible to put down .” In More After the Break , Maxfield revisits the most memorable stories she covered during her two-decade career , describing in heart-pounding detail how the events unfolded through the eyewitness perspectives and her own .
The focus of some of the stories in her book include : Paul Esposito , a 24-year-old waiter who lost both legs and nearly lost his life in the horrific 2003 Staten Island ferry cash ; Tamika Tompkins , a young mother who was stabbed 27 times by her abusive ex-boyfriend and ultimately was saved by her toddler daughter , who lay on top of her to stop the bleeding ; and Zaina , a high-achieving fifth grader who survived every parent ’ s nightmare when her school bus crashed during a field trip and who is now starting high school .
Throughout her 22-year career in television news , Maxfield has reported live from news events in New York City and beyond . She was on the ground during Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and reported live from Florida after Hurricane Francis and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina .
She was at the State Capitol in Trenton when Gov . Jim McGreevey resigned and covered the 2004 Republican convention in New York City . She interviewed survivors following the “ Miracle on the Hudson ” plane landing and was part of NBC NY ’ s coverage of the 2016 and 2017 New York City / New Jersey terror attacks .
Maxfield won a local new Emmy in 2018 and her anchoring and reporting were part of NBC-NY ’ s Covid-19 coverage that was awarded the Alfred I . DuPont-Columbia University Award in 2021 , the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize . Maxfield has had the opportunity to meet tens of thousands of people covering news events over a wide range of topics , including politics , criminal justice , health , business , weather , and human-interest stories .
An adjunct professor of broadcast journalism at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism , Maxfield was a summa cum laude graduate of Columbia College . She earned her bachelor ’ s degree in political science in 1999 . She went on to receive a master ’ s degree a year later .
Jennifer Maxfield , author and journalist
While an undergraduate , she wrote for the Columbia Daily Spectator . She started an internship at CNN at the United Nations her junior year and promptly changed her career goal from sports medicine physician to journalist .
Maxfield and her husband , Scott Ostfeld , live in New Jersey with their three children and their dog , Rocket . She serves on the Board of Visitors at Columbia College and the Board of Trustees at the Elisabeth Morrow School .
Jennifer Maxfield is celebrated by colleagues at the launch of her first book " More After The Break ".
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