In a move that many have anticipated since she joined the station last year, Shiba Russell is replacing Sue Simmons on WNBC‘s 11 p.m. newscast.

During a monthly staff meeting that took place this morning, WNBC president and general manager Michael Jack announced that, “effective today, Shiba Russell will be expanding her responsibilities to include the 11 p.m. news.”

Russell has been co-anchoring WNBC’s weekday 5 p.m. newscast alongside Tom Llamas. At 11, she’ll pair with Simmons’s longtime co-anchor Chuck Scarborough, who recently had his contract renewed for another three years.

Scarborough will continue to anchor WNBC’s 6 p.m. newscast solo.

On Friday, Simmons anchored her final newscast at WNBC and made it clear that she didn’t want to leave.

When Russell joined WNBC in early 2011 from Boston’s WCVB, she emphasized that she was not there to be Simmons’s replacement.

“Sue is an icon. She is a legend,” Russell told the Daily News. “I’m here to be me.”

Russell, who was raised in New Jersey, worked as a weekend evening anchor and general assignment reporter at WTAE in Pittsburgh before moving to Boston.  At WCVB, Russell was a weekend morning anchor and weekday reporter.

Here’s Russell during a recent 5 o’clock newscast on WNBC…