Sharon Wright, Emmy award-winning investigative reporter, joined NBC5 News as a consumer investigative reporter with The Wright Report in June 1986.
Her troubleshooting and investigations have exposed ripoffs, scams and other illegal activities throughout the Chicago metro and tri-state areas and recouped thousands of dollars in restitution for consumers.
Prior to joining NBC5, Wright had been the consumer-investigative reporter at WBZ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Boston, since 1981. She was also a general assignment and investigative reporter at KMGH-TV in Denver, Colo. from 1979-1981. In 1976, Wright joined WBRE-TV, Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Penn. as general assignment and State Capitol Reporter as well as Weekend Anchor.
Wright's numerous awards include 10 Emmys and Emmy nominations for her half-hour prime time financial-consumer magazine program MoneySense (WBZ-TV/Boston), as well as for her news and investigative reports including exposes on unsanitary restaurants, dangerous pesticides, unsafe school buses, auto repair ripoffs and contaminated shellfish (which prompted a federal probe of U.S.-Canadian waterways and established an international panel for regulation and enforcement).
In 1989, Wright was the first TV reporter to shadow Chicago health inspectors for her exclusive and continuing reports on Chicago's restaurants. Along with closing down and cleaning up some of the city's most popular restaurants for health and building code violations, the reports initiated an overhaul of the regulation and enforcement system.
In 1986, after her investigation into heat-related deaths in Illinois nursing homes, the governor declared a state of emergency and established a special task force to correct the problems.
Wright's recent reports on computer glitches in merchandise returns at major national department stores and security procedures at O'Hare triggered changes in policy.
An honors graduate of Michigan State University with a BA in Broadcast Journalism, Wright received the "MSU Outstanding Alumna Award" in 1986. The "World's Champion Baton Twirler" and "America's Junior Miss" finalist is a native of Detroit's northwest suburbs.
A resident of suburban Chicago for 12 years, Wright is noted for her commitment to numerous charitable and community activities.
Drop Sharon a line: sharon.wright@nbc.com
