Trailblazing Financial Voice: Sue Herera — Anchor, Author, and Family Woman

Quick Facts

Early Life and the Spark of Markets

Sue Herera’s story begins in the evergreen plains of Spokane on November 15, 1957, but it is in suburban Brentwood, California, where the arc of her life takes shape. A middle-class upbringing — a father who ran a shoe wholesale business and a mother who kept the household steady — supplied the practical backdrop. Numbers and commerce were not abstract for her; they were part of the air she breathed. She left Brentwood for California State University, Northridge, and in 1980 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, equipped with a reporter’s curiosity and a budding appetite for economic storytelling.

She landed an internship at KNXT-TV (now KCBS-TV) that same year. The internship was not a detour. It was the runway.

Building a Career: From Futures to Front Page Markets

In 1981 Sue Herera joined the Financial News Network (FNN) as an associate producer and writer, covering futures markets. That early experience — writing, producing, and learning market mechanics on the fly — became the crucible in which her authoritative voice was forged. She knew the tickers, the psychology, and the tempo of financial journalism long before the newsroom lights went nationwide.

The year 1987 tested every market reporter’s mettle. Herera was on the front lines during the 1987 stock market crash, a baptism by volatility that would inform her reporting for decades.

A decisive pivot occurred in 1989 when she became one of the founding on-air journalists at CNBC. Over the next three decades she anchored and co-anchored many of the network’s signature programs — Market Wrap, Business Tonight, The Edge, The Money Wheel, Business Center, and Power Lunch — becoming a familiar presence wherever markets moved. Her persona on camera combined steady calm with crisp curiosity: the sort of anchor who could make complex data feel immediate and human.

A Timeline in Dates and Numbers

The Professional Toolbox: Reporting, Writing, and Recognition

Herera’s professional legacy stretches across formats. She has produced documentaries, anchored breaking coverage of market meltdowns and rebounds, and translated technical finance into plain language. Her 1997 book, Women of the Street, profiles 14 women investors — a literary bridge between journalism and advocacy, a way of pointing a spotlight at female leadership in a field that had been male-dominated for generations.

Awards followed substance. National Headliner recognition for documentary work and CSUN’s Distinguished Alumni honor arrived as markers, not endpoints. Her SABEW Distinguished Achievement Award in 2021 recognized decades of consistent contribution to business journalism.

Family Life Behind the Camera

Sue Herera’s public rhythms are professional; her private ones are guarded. Married to Dr. Daniel Herera since 1984, she describes her marriage as a partnership that modulated the demands of two careers. Daniel Herera, a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, is often framed in public descriptions as the steady counterpart to a globe-trotting anchor. Beyond that, the family keeps its details close.

The couple expanded their family in 2002 with the adoption of twin daughters Jacqueline and Victoria from China. Both daughters would be roughly 23 years old in 2025. A son, Daniel, arrived in 2003 (with some accounts listing 2005), completing a trio that Herera has said keeps her centered when markets fray. The family’s privacy is explicit: public reflections emphasize balance and gratitude rather than personal minutiae.

The Shift to Anchor-at-Large

After decades of daily appearances, Herera changed course in February 2021. She retired from the grind of daily anchoring and transitioned to an Anchor-at-Large role at CNBC. The move reconfigured her public time: fewer daily obligations, more flexibility to contribute to special coverage, documentaries, and speaking engagements. It was not an exit so much as a new rhythm — like an orchestra leader stepping down from the podium but still conducting select movements.

Numbers That Tell a Story

• 68: Her age as of November 15, 2025.
• 1989: The year CNBC launched with Herera among its first on-air staff.
• 1997: Publication year of her book profiling women in finance.
• 2002: Year Jacqueline and Victoria were adopted.
• 2003: Year she was honored by CSUN and the year her son Daniel was born (with some accounts citing 2005).
• $4.5–$8 million: Public estimates of Herera’s net worth.

These figures do not define her, but they punctuate a life spent translating numbers for the public while keeping certain family numbers deliberately private.

Persona and Presence

On camera, Herera is a north star: calm, precise, and unshowy. Off camera, she is protective of family life — a private sanctuary against a career built on visibility. Her voice in financial journalism reads as craftsmanship. She is the kind of reporter who lets the markets speak and then shapes what they say into a narrative someone can follow at breakfast.

Her career is a ledger of consistency. There are no flashy pivots, only steady professional growth, occasional authorship, and a transition to a role that values depth over daily frequency. She has navigated market storms, long newsroom nights, and the balancing act of parenting — sometimes with twin toddlers and a newborn in tow — while delivering the kind of calm that anchors markets and viewers alike.

Legacy in Motion

Sue Herera’s arc is not a closed ledger. It is a continuing account: of reporting, of mentoring through example, and of modeling how a journalist can be both public servant and private family member. Her path from a KNXT internship to the founding days of CNBC reads like a map of modern financial journalism. It is marked by dates and by the quieter, immeasurable things — professionalism, discretion, and a steady voice when the numbers roar.