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Tess Vigeland

Former Host, Marketplace Money

SHORT BIO

Tess Vigeland was the host of Marketplace Money, a weekly personal finance program that looks at why we do what we do with our money: your life, with dollar signs. Vigeland and her guests took calls from listeners to answer their most vexing money management questions, and the program helped explain what the latest business and financial news means to our wallets and bank accounts.

Vigeland joined Marketplace in September 2001, as a host of Marketplace Morning Report. She rose at o-dark-thirty to deliver the latest in business and economic news for nearly four years before returning briefly to reporting and producing. She began hosting Marketplace Money in 2006 and ended her run as host in November of 2012. . Vigeland was also a back-up host for Marketplace.

Prior to joining the team at Marketplace, Vigeland reported and anchored for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, where she received a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Award for her coverage of the political scandal involving Senator Bob Packwood (R-Ore.). She co-hosted the weekly public affairs program Seven Days on OPB television, and also produced an hour-long radio documentary about safety issues at the U.S. Army chemical weapons depot in Eastern Oregon. Vigeland next served as a reporter and backup anchor at WBUR radio in Boston. She also spent two years as a sports reporter for NPR’s Only a Game.

For her outstanding achievements in journalism, Vigeland has earned numerous awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists. Vigeland has a bachelor's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She is a contributor to The New York Times and is a volunteer fundraiser for the Pasadena Animal League and Pasadena Humane Society. In her free time, Vigeland studies at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, continuing 20-plus years of training as a classical pianist.

Latest Stories (863)

50 million Americans living in poverty

Jun 1, 2012
Sixteen percent of the U.S. population lives at or below the poverty line. Author Peter Edelman thinks that's unacceptable.
A man named R.J. eats a free meal at the St. Anthony Foundation dining room in San Francisco.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Latest airline fee: $35 per carry-on?

Jun 1, 2012
Ahead of the summer travel season, some airlines are charging for carry-on bags. Industry expert David Parker Brown is defending the new fee.
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Chasing dreamers: Life with an entrepreneur

Jun 1, 2012
While Meg Hirshberg's husband Gary chased his dream, she made the kind of sacrifices necessary to succeed.
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To sleep, perchance to dream... about money

Jun 1, 2012
Psychologist Michael Lennox discusses the meaning of money in your dreams.
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Letters: Real estate entaglements with family members

Jun 1, 2012
Tess is joined by senior producer Paddy Hirsch and credit expert Liz Weston to talk about credit utilization, bankruptcy amongst seniors, and the down side of buying real estate for your kids.

Joel Stein on manliness and money

May 28, 2012
From joining the Marines to fighting a UFC champion, author Joel Stein took on the crucibles of masculinity and came away with some interesting personal finance insights.
From joining the Marines to fighting a UFC champion, author Joel Stein took on the crucibles of masculinity and came away with some interesting personal finance insights.
Courtesy of Joel Stein

Is the airport pat-down coming to an end?

May 28, 2012
Maybe in the distant future. The Department of Homeland Security wants technology companies to design a scanning device that would replace the pat-down.
A traveler undergoes an enhanced pat down by a Transportation Security Administration agent at the Denver International Airport in Denver, Colo.  The Department of Homeland Security wants tech companies to design a scanning device that would replace the pat-down.
John Moore/Getty Images

Miami hardware store swears off the penny

May 28, 2012
Miami Herald reporter Douglas Hanks on why a hardware store has decided to get rid of the penny and what it's done for business.
Miami Herald reporter Douglas Hanks on why a hardware store has decided to get rid of the penny.
Courtesy of Shell Lumber

The mail bag: Student debt and risk-averse investing

May 25, 2012
Host Tess Vigeland and Sr. Producer Paddy Hirsch discuss what's been on your minds.
Personal finance.
401K / Creative Commons

How military spouses hold down the home front

May 25, 2012
Military families have some unique financial challenges compared to civilians. But citizens can learn a thing or two from the foresight these families apply to their finances.
Family members and U.S. soldiers embrace following a welcome home ceremony for troops returning from Iraq.
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images