NEW YORK —  “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt is stepping down from his role later this year after a decade at the helm of NBC’s premier news broadcast. NBC said he will end his time with the program at the beginning of the summer and did not immediately name a successor.

Holt, 66, has also hosted NBC’s weekly news magazine program, “Dateline,” for the last 15 years. He plans to continue in that role full time, according to NBC. 

“A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News, and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,” Holt wrote on Monday in a note to NBC staffers. “As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has. What an amazing ride.”

Holt took over for former anchor Brian Williams in 2015 after Williams was suspended for telling falsehoods about his time covering the Iraq War. Williams had succeeded famed anchor Tom Brokaw in 2004 after his 22 years at the helm. Holt ascended to the top job after anchoring the program’s weekend editions for eight years. He joined NBC in 2000.

NBC News Executive Vice President of Programming Janelle Rodriguez praised Holt for leading the network “during some of the country’s most fraught and challenging times in the past decade.”

“Quite simply, Lester is the beating heart of this news organization,” Rodriguez said, specifically citing his work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic “when Lester’s voice was a source of comfort each night for so many.”