Ali Velshi

Ali Velshi (born 29 October 1969) is a Canadian-American business journalist and anchor for MS NOW. CNN's chief business correspondent through the 2008 financial crisis, he later hosted Ali Velshi on Target at Al Jazeera America and, from 2016, programmes on MSNBC, and published the memoir Small Acts of Courage in 2024. ¹

Velshi was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on 29 October; the English article's lead and Wikidata give the year as 1969, while the article's infobox records that some sources give 1968. ^{1 2} His family is of Gujarati Indian origin; his parents left South Africa for Kenya in 1960 as apartheid hardened, and moved to Toronto in 1971, where he grew up. ¹ His father, Murad Velshi, became the first Canadian of Indian origin elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. ¹ Velshi attended Northern Secondary School in Toronto and earned a degree in religious studies from Queen's University in 1994; in 1996 he held a congressional fellowship in the United States. ¹ The English article, citing a 2009 Toronto Star profile, states that he is an Ismaili Muslim of Gujarati descent, the Star recording that the Velshis belong to the Ismaili branch of Islam, led by the Aga Khan. ¹ Simerg's review of his own memoir independently calls him an Ismaili Muslim and describes the pages in which he writes about the community and its Imam. ³

Velshi built his reputation at CNN, where he was a business correspondent and co-anchor on American Morning, anchored the weekend programme Your Money, and served as the network's chief business correspondent, appearing throughout the day during the 2008 financial crisis and taking viewers' live calls. ¹ In 2013 he joined the newly launched Al Jazeera America, hosting Ali Velshi on Target until the channel closed in April 2016. ¹ He moved to MSNBC in October 2016, co-anchoring Velshi & Ruhle and then anchoring Velshi, and serving as a substitute host of The 11th Hour. ¹ His memoir Small Acts of Courage, published in 2024, traces his family's association with Gandhi, their stand against early apartheid in South Africa, and their migrations through Kenya to Canada. ³

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