Sharyn Alfonsi

Sharyn Elizabeth Alfonsi (born June 3, 1972) is an American investigative journalist and correspondent for 60 Minutes. She made her debut appearance on the show on March 1, 2015. Over her career, she has won three Emmy Awards, the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award, a Gracie Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award. She has reported from war zones in Iraq, Gaza, and Afghanistan, and covered major events including Hurricane Katrina and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Alfonsi is from a large Italian family and attended high school in McLean, Virginia. She graduated with honors from the University of Mississippi in Oxford in 1994, where she was a James Love Scholar.

Alfonsi began her career in local news at KHBS-KHOG-TV in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1995 then WVEC-TV in Norfolk, Virginia, and KIRO-TV in Seattle, Washington, and later WBZ-TV in Boston, Massachusetts. She was hired by Dan Rather at CBS News in 2002 as a correspondent based in New York. During her time as a CBS News correspondent, Alfonsi covered major stories including the Virginia Tech shooting, Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, and the Israel-Lebanon conflict. She left CBS in 2008 to work for ABC News, where she reported for World News Tonight and Nightline for five years. She returned to CBS in 2011 to work for 60 Minutes Sports, which aired on Showtime.

In 2015, Alfonsi made her debut appearance on 60 Minutes with an investigative story, "Storm After the Storm", about fraud after Hurricane Sandy. The investigation revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was aware its insurance companies had committed fraud against Hurricane Sandy victims, leading to a congressional investigation and earning her a Writers Guild Award.

During the 2016-2017 season, Alfonsi's investigative work included a segment on phone hacking that demonstrated vulnerabilities in congressional security, and an investigation into the misuse of jailhouse informants in Orange County, California, which drew national attention to criminal justice system abuses. In 2018, her interview with Paul McCartney on the season premiere of 60 Minutes drew more than 13 million viewers.

In 2019, Alfonsi received two Emmy awards for her reporting following the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. She also interviewed Samuel Little, thought to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history.

Alfonsi made international news in 2020 when she was the first reporter to obtain photos from inside the jail cell of convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein and his autopsy photos, which aired on 60 Minutes. That same year, Alfonsi and her 60 Minutes producers won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for their report On the Border examining the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border. During her acceptance speech, Alfonsi dedicated the award to everyone who called her a "pain in the ass". She was also recognized in 2020 with a Gracie Award by the Alliance for Women in Media for Outstanding News/News Magazine talent.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alfonsi led multiple investigations, including a 2020 report on flawed COVID-19 antibody tests and one of the earliest recorded superspreader events, aboard the cruise ship Costa Luminosa. Her other investigative work during this period included reporting on eBay's harassment and stalking of critics, and the first television interview with David Nielsen, a whistleblower who raised concerns about the financial practices of Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment arm of the LDS Church (Mormons).