Sinisa Babcic is a wealth management consultant and the husband of CNN broadcast journalist Poppy Harlow. She co-anchors the morning program CNN Newsroom alongside Jim Sciutto and hosts the CNN podcast “BossFiles with Poppy Harlow.”
The couple has been married since 2012. They have two young children named Sienna and Luca.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Babcic Studied Business Finance at the University of Illinois & Is Now a Partner at Ernst & Young
Ernst & YoungSinisa Babcic, Poopy Harlow’s husband.
Babcic has tended to avoid the spotlight despite his wife’s high profile as a cable news anchor. His Instagram account is private and his Twitter profile includes only a handful of retweets. Babcic has also kept a tight lid on his family background, although sites such as Biography Pedia claim he was born and raised in Chicago without providing a source for the information.
According to his LinkedIn account, Babcic attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a student in the Geis College of Business and earned a bachelor’s degree in business finance.
Babcic’s resume includes time spent working for RBC Wealth Management, Thomson Reuters and Temenos. He joined Ernst & Young as a management consultant in 2013, according to his LinkedIn account.
Babcic was named as a partner in October 2020. According to his profile on Ernst & Young’s website, Babcic serves as the “Wealth Management Business Consulting Leader for the EY US Wealth Management Consulting business” and is focused on “strategy, business transformation, and delivery of next-generation product and technology approaches for global wealth management, retail brokerage and private client banks.”
2. Babcic & Harlow Met When She Traveled to Minnesota to Visit Her Parents
Harlow grew up in Minneapolis but moved to New York City for college. She graduated from Columbia University in 2005, according to her LinkedIn account.
Years later, Harlow explained to Columbia College Today that after graduating, she returned home to Minnesota to visit her parents. It was during that trip that she met Babcic for the first time. Babcic was working at RBC Wealth Management at the time. On his LinkedIn account, Babcic did not specify which city he was based in at that time but RBC has an office complex Minneapolis.
In the piece, Harlow praised Babcic for being supportive of her career, which has included frequent travel. “I value his opinion a lot and I ask for his advice. He’s very honest and helpful,” Harlow said.
Babcic and Harlow tied the knot in 2012. The couple had a small ceremony in New York, according to Cheat Sheet.
Harlow marked their 8th anniversary on September 1, 2020, with an Instagram post. She wrote, “8 years married and I owe all of this to you. Never a dull moment, babe. Thank you for the endless laughter. Happy anniversary.”
3. Their Son’s Name Pays Tribute to Babcic’s Serbian Roots
Babcic and Harlow’s son was born on February 6, 2018. They named him Luca James.
According to People, the couple chose the name Luca to honor Babcic’s eastern European roots. The magazine reported Luca is a Serbian name that means “bringer of light.”
Babcic and Harlow chose James as the middle name to honor Harlow’s father. He passed away from cancer when she was 15, Columbia College Today reported.
4. Harlow Passed Out During a Live Broadcast While Pregnant With She & Babcic’s First Child
Sinisa & I are thrilled to welcome our daughter Sienna into the world! 8.5 pounds and she is a bundle of joy!
Babcic and Harlow became parents on April 11, 2016, when daughter Harlow shared the happy news on Twitter with adorable family photos and the message, “Sinisa & I are thrilled to welcome our daughter Sienna into the world! 8.5 pounds and she is a bundle of joy!”
Harlow added on Instagram that Sienna “was born right on her due date making deadline like a true journalist;) We’re over the moon with excitement and love.”
Babcic and Harlow’s journey to parenthood included a scare. While pregnant with Sienna, Harlow passed out during a live broadcast on December 28, 2015. As Heavy previously reported, Harlow began to slur her words while speaking over a graphic. She suddenly went quiet and CNN took a commercial break.
When the program continued, Harlow explained she had passed out after feeling hot but that she was fine. She later went to the hospital as a precaution and reported to her Twitter followers, “Update from the hospital — our little girl due this spring is doing just fine. Was a scare but we are both ok. Thank you all so much!”
5. Harlow Described Babcic’s Paternity Leave as a ‘Gift to the Family’
Babcic took a month off from work after his daughter was born. As Harlow explained in an essay for Fortune in 2017, this was before Babcic’s firm, Ernst & Young, had implemented a company-wide parental leave policy. She said Babcic was paid during his time off.
She described Babcic’s decision to stay home during those first few weeks as a “gift” to the family. “He really took it off: No going in for ‘just this one meeting.’ Just off. Home. With us. That time provided for our family in a way no paycheck ever could,” Harlow wrote. “I won’t forget our daily walks last spring with Sienna along the Brooklyn waterfront, our drive out to the beach for a week over my birthday (it rained every single day-of course!), our rotating night shifts up with Sienna. I loved those moments-the good ones and the tough ones. I loved that they were shared together.”
Harlow added in the essay that according to Babcic, his own father had been an “equal caregiver” and he was inspired to live his life the same way.
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