Antoine Lewis was named vice president, production in March 2021, expanding his portfolio to include the coordination of original segments of television shows for ESPN’s YouTube channel with over 7.2 million subscribers. Lewis has been leading ESPN’s popular morning debate show First Take – with Stephen A. Smith and host Molly Qerim – since 2013 and Jalen & Jacoby – featuring Jalen Rose and David Jacoby – since November 2020.

On First Take, Lewis has consistently grown the show’s monthly and annual viewership numbers over the years, including regularly driving the network to lead cable among key demographics during the show’s 10 a.m.-noon ET weekday timeslot. He has also led the efforts around First Take’s increasing number of on-site shows surrounding marquee events, including the NBA Finals, Super Bowl, College Football Playoff National Championship, HBCU Week and much more. Under Lewis’ leadership, the show was also a finalist in the Outstanding Talk Series category at the 2019 NAACP Image Awards.

Lewis joined ESPN in 2003 as a coordinating producer for ESPNEWS. Shortly after, he was named to be the coordinating producer for the network’s signature news and information show, SportsCenter, winning back-to-back Sports Emmys for Outstanding Studio Show – Daily in 2003 and 2004. Lewis then became the coordinating producer for ESPN’s weekday football studio shows, College Football Live and NFL Live from 2005-07. He then returned to SportsCenter until 2013.

Prior to joining ESPN, Lewis was already an award-winning news producer with over a decade of journalism experience. He began his career at NBC as a field producer for the Today Show and NBC Nightly News from 1990-94. From there, he moved to WKYC, the local NBC station in Cleveland (1994-96). Then Lewis went to WMAQ NBC in Chicago, where he won his first Emmy Award for breaking news coverage in 1996. Lewis also spent time as a producer at WGN in Chicago (1997-99), WXIN FOX 59 in Indianapolis (1999-2000) and KMGH ABC in Denver (2000-03).

In addition, Lewis has been recognized by the NAACP and NAMIC for his TV contributions. Lewis is also involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. He also serves as a student mentor and guest lecturer at his Alma Mater Northwestern University, where he completed bachelors of science and masters of science degrees in journalism.

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