Uri Berliner
Deputy Senior Editor, National Desk
Prior to his current role as Deputy Senior Editor for NPR's National Desk, Uri Berliner served as NPR's National Desk sports and business editor. From 1999 – 2008, he supervised much of NPR's coverage of energy and real estate, labor and the workplace.
As part of the team of NPR reporters and editors in Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Olympic Games, he covered everything from security and events, to the idea behind why Athens is the place for this significant international event.
Berliner came to NPR in 1999 from California, where he worked as a reporter for 12 years at daily newspapers in San Diego and Santa Barbara. At the San Diego Union-Tribune, he covered wildfires, street gangs, the border, and military issues before becoming the paper's economics correspondent. His feature writing and investigative reporting earned several awards.
In 1998, Berliner was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, where he studied business, history, and economics. The following year he moved to Washington, D.C., with his wife, Mary-Elizabeth Gifford, a prize-winning former journalist, and their son Benjamin.
Originally from New York City, Berliner received his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College, and went on to receive his master's in journalism from Columbia University.
Berliner has spent an untold number of non-working hours in search of the perfect pickup basketball game. More recently, he has earned a black belt in tae kwon do. He also enjoys R&B, opera, and surf movies.
