Multicultural Alliance to honor Ferguson, Thornton

The Multicultural Alliance will honor longtime area media personality and NBC’s Today co-anchor Deborah Ferguson and present a Lifetime Achievement Award longtime Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce leader Bill Thornton at its 2020 Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday, March 24 at the Fort Worth Club.

Thornton announced in August he is retiring as president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce in July.

Thornton joined the chamber staff as director of local business development in July 1989 and was named vice president of economic development in 1992. He became president and CEO in 2000.

Ferguson co-anchors NBC 5 Today weekday mornings from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. She joined the station in 1991 after starting her journalism career as a reporter/anchor for WBAP radio.

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She’s earned professional recognition throughout her career including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and a Gracie Award for Outstanding Anchor – News presented by American Women in Radio and Television. Other honors come from American Women in Communications, Association for Women Journalists, the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, the Texas Medical Association, the Dallas Press Club, and the Lone Star EMMY Chapter.

She appears frequently at community and charitable events especially those focused on empowering girls through education or in area schools encouraging future journalists. Her pet project is the Foundation for the Young Women’s Leadership Academy of Fort Worth which supports YWLA, the first all-girls school in the Fort Worth ISD.

She graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in broadcast journalism which set her on the path to achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a reporter.

For more information on the event: www.mcatexas.com/