Nelson was raised in Mount Laurel, New Jersey and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[3] After working seven years for the New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune,[1] Nelson in June 2007 became a morning anchor for WWL-TV in that city.

[3] In January 2014, Nelson joined New York City's WABC-TV as co-anchor of the weekend morning newscasts, succeeding Phil Lipof.

[4] Nelson subsequently headed to Chicago, where he helped Nexstar Media Group launch NewsNation for its national station WGN America.

[6] Nelson signed on to be part of the relaunch of Newsy as it became a broadcast and streaming television news channel in October 2021.