In September 2011, Ifill was a presenter at the 32nd News & Documentary Emmy Awards. On August 6, 2013, NewsHour named Ifill and Judy Woodruff as co-anchors and co-managing editors. They shared anchor duties Monday through Thursday; Woodruff was the sole anchor on Friday. In November 2015, Ifill was the master of ceremonies at the 2015 LBJ Liberty & Justice For All Award ceremony. In February 2016, she and Woodruff, moderating the debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, became the first team of women to moderate a Democratic presidential debate.

On October 5, 2004, Ifill moderated the vice-presidential debate between the Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and the Democratic candidate and U.S. Senator from North Carolina John Edwards.

Ifill was born in the Queens neighborhood of Jamaica in New York City, the fifth of six children of African Methodist EpiscopalBarbados.