Les Crystal is the President of MacNeil Lehrer Productions. Mr. Crystal served as the executive producer for 22 years before moving to his current position. Formerly president of NBC News, and executive producer of the NBC Nightly News, Les spent 20 years with NBC serving as the chief producer of European news; participating in the press corps that covered President Nixon's 1972 visit to China; and serving as the news division's executive vice president. Previously, Les worked with NBC in Chicago for WMAQ's nightly news and its Emmy-winning documentary series, Dateline Chicago. In 1965, he joined The Huntley-Brinkley Report as Chicago regional manager, moving from there to New York in 1967 to serve first as the program's news editor, then associate producer. He was the Emmy-winning program's producer from 1968 to 1970. Les earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism