Before coming to CNN, Bass served as co-executive producer of "Katie" in 2012-13. Prior to joining the daytime talk show, he was senior vice president of strategic initiatives at NBC Universal from 2008-2012. In that role, he managed a variety of company-wide projects in support of NBCU's strategic priorities, working closely with the entertainment, sports, news, local media and cable divisions -- and on cross-platform events like the Super Bowl and UpFronts.

Previously, Bass served from 2002-2007 as senior executive producer for CBS News' "The Early Show," "The Saturday Early Show," and "The CBS Morning News." Prior to that, he was senior broadcast producer for NBC's "Today" from December 1995 to December 2000, and served as the show's interim executive producer from December 2000 to May 2001.

During his tenure, Bass was responsible for planning and producing Today's coverage of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta (1996) and in Sydney (2000). He also conceived the popular series "Where In The World Is Matt Lauer?" and launched the third hour of the program as executive producer of "Later Today."

Bass was also the executive producer of "Weekend Today" from February 1998 to June 1999. He held the position of broadcast producer on "Today" from 1994 to 1995 and was a producer on the show from 1989 to 1990.

Also at NBC News, Bass was supervising producer of "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw" from September 1992 to January 1994. He held producer roles for NBC Sports' coverage of the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics and also produced NBC's Olympic late-night program in the summer of 1996. He is the recipient of five Sports Emmy Awards for his Olympics work.

Bass was a staff writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1985 to 1986, and prior to this, his broadcast career began at ABC Sports as an Olympics researcher, from 1983 to 1985. He was a writer for the Peabody Award-winning Wide World of Sports 25th Anniversary Show.

Bass graduated with honors from Harvard University with a degree in history and literature.