Catherine Heenan
Emcee, 2010 Holy Child Awards Dinner

A 1972 alumna of Holy Child High School in Waukegan, Ill., Catherine Heenan is a news anchor and reporter for San Francisco’s KRON 4.

Heenan, whose parents were born in Northern Ireland, grew up spending summers in Ireland and England with family. She came to KRON 4 from WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she covered legal and political beats, and received numerous awards for her investigative and general assignment reporting. Not only did her decision to leave Milwaukee for San Francisco make headline news, but she may be one of Milwaukee’s only reporters to receive a city proclamation naming a day in her honor.

Heenan has received considerable recognition for her work, including the exclusive news series “Cloistered Nuns.” During her work on that series, she and her photographer became the first and only outsiders ever permitted to enter the monastery of the Poor Clares in Los Altos Hills. Some of her other memorable reports include coverage of the peace plan process in Northern Ireland, the Women’s World Cup Championship, and the Northridge earthquake.

In her years of experience, Heenan has covered everything from papal visits to mafia trials. She was most recently awarded Best On-Air Newscast Anchor by American Women in Radio & Television.

She also won a Peabody Award for her work on a KRON series entitled, “Students Rising Above.” The series fea­tured high-school students who were living below the poverty level, had overcome tremendous hardships, and wanted to go to college, but could not afford to. “Without exception, these were very determined young people—some had been orphaned, were home­less, had a mentally ill parent, or were taking care of younger siblings,” said Heenan, who profiled many of the teens. “It is won­derful to see how hard they fight to do something. I often ask my­self, ‘Could I have overcome these obstacles?’ I don’t know that a lot of adults could have handled what these kids have handled.” Following each report in this series, viewers were encouraged to donate to a scholarship fund established by KRON and the Peninsula Community Foundation. Millions were raised from viewers, and more than 85 students went to college as a result.

Heenan graduated from Illinois State University. She loves travel, theatre, books, and old movies. And unless you actually want to know, don’t ask her to list all the films by Alfred Hitchcock—she’ll do it!

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