Tom Brokaw to lead off 2008 ADA Distinguished Speaker Series at annual session

San Antonio鈥擜ward winning broadcast journalist and author Tom Brokaw will kick off the 2008 ADA Distinguished Speaker Series Oct. 17.

His presentation is titled, “An Anchorman Looks at the World.”

Mr. Brokaw, who recently stepped in as moderator for NBC鈥檚 “Meet the Press,” following the death of Tim Russert June 13, will take the helm for network television鈥檚 longest running program through the November 2008 presidential election.

Mr. Brokaw began his journalism career in 1962 with KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska. He also anchored at WSB-TV in Atlanta and KNBC-TV in Los Angeles before joining NBC News in 1966.

His political reporting and documentaries have earned him many accolades, including Peabody awards, Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award. He has covered every presidential election since 1968 and was NBC鈥檚 White House correspondent during the Watergate scandal in the mid 1970s. He has moderated nine primary and general election debates.

Mr. Brokaw has spanned the globe for NBC, reporting historic events that include the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the 60th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, in 2004. He is the best-selling author of The Greatest Generation, a collection of personal accounts of citizens from all walks of life remembering their experiences in World War II, plus four other books.

In 2004, after 21 years at the anchor desk of “NBC Nightly News,” Mr. Brokaw stepped down and began a 10-year relationship with NBC News to produce long-form documentaries.

The ADA General Sessions and Distinguished Speaker series will convene Friday morning at 8:15 a.m. at the Alamodome. Doors open at 7:30. This event is open to all registered annual session attendees. No ticket is required, but an ADA badge is required for admission.

On Oct. 18, ABC newsman and Iraqi roadside bomb victim Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee will share their story of inspiration. The Saturday morning session begins at 8:30 a.m. Doors open at. 7:45.

Shuttle service on Friday and Saturday morning begins at 7 a.m. from the regular hotel shuttle stops, and at 7:30 a.m. from the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center for attendees staying at hotels within walking distance of the convention center. For those who would prefer to walk, the Alamodome is within walking distance of the convention center.

The Distinguished Speaker Series is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products, a division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc.

For more details or to register for the annual session, log on to www.ada.org/goto/session.