Five-time Emmy winning entertainment reporter George Pennacchio ‘83 to deliver Albion College’s 2026 Commencement address
George Pennacchio’s official ABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles headshot
Albion College is honored to announce that George Pennacchio ’83, longtime entertainment reporter for ABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles, will serve as the keynote speaker for the Class of 2026 Commencement ceremony. The ceremony will be held Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m., on the steps of Kresge Gymnasium.
Pennacchio has spent more than three decades reporting on the entertainment industry for ABC7, where he has become one of the most recognized entertainment journalists in the country. In addition to his work on Eyewitness News, he serves as host of the nationally distributed “On The Red Carpet” specials, covering major entertainment events and interviews with leading figures across film, television, and the arts.
George Pennacchio at the Oscars
“I am looking forward to returning to a place where I felt nurtured to succeed,” Pennacchio said. “With the education I received, Albion College helped build my confidence to a place where I believed anything was possible.”
During his broadcasting career, Pennacchio has earned five Emmy Awards. He has also received the Press Award from the Publicists Guild of America for excellence in entertainment journalism and is one of only a handful of reporters to receive the Critics’ Critic Award from the Critics Choice Association, the largest critics organization in North America. He was also honored with the Luminary Award, a lifetime achievement recognition from the Los Angeles Press Club, where he has continued to serve as a board member for many years.
Throughout his career, Pennacchio has reported on the entertainment industry across the globe, traveling from Los Angeles to London, Scotland to South Africa, and from New York to Nashville and Toronto to Tokyo to cover major events and stories wherever they unfold.
A split screen featuring George Pennacchio (r) and George Purrrnachleo (l), the lion news anchor from Zootopia 2.
In 2025, Pennacchio was invited to lend his voice to the animated film Zootopia 2, appearing as a news anchor character humorously named George Purrrnachleo. The film went on to become the highest-grossing movie of the year. Pennacchio often jokes that the cameo technically makes him part of the cast of an “Oscar-nominated movie,” though he says he has no plans to leave journalism behind.
Pennacchio graduated magna cum laude from Albion College in 1983 with a degree in broadcast journalism and anthropology and sociology. While on campus, he served as editor of The Pleiad, the college’s student newspaper. He has often credited Albion faculty with helping shape his career, encouraging his writing and reporting instincts while giving him the confidence to pursue broadcast journalism. An internship at WMAQ-TV in Chicago during his college years later led to his first job in television news after graduation.
Albion College’s 2026 Commencement ceremony will celebrate the achievements of the graduating class while welcoming Pennacchio back to campus to share reflections from his career in journalism and storytelling.
For more information about Albion College’s 2026 Commencement, visit albion.edu/commencement.