Alberto Ibargüen (born February 29, 1944) is President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. He is the former publisher of ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.El Nuevo Herald ''El Nuevo Herald'' is a newspaper published daily in Spanish in Southeast Florida, United States. Its headquarters is in Doral. ''El Nuevo Heralds sister paper is the '' Miami Herald'', also produced by the McClatchy Company. About ''el Nuev ...

'' in Miami, Florida. Under his leadership, ''The Miami Herald'' won three

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...

; ''El Nuevo Herald'' won

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's Ortega y Gasset Prize for excellence in journalism. Ibargüen was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2022.

Early life

Ibargüen was born in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

of Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage and raised in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...

, where he attended

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

, graduating in 1962. He graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree and the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

. After college and before entering law school, he served in the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

's Amazon Territory and in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

Career

Ibargüen was a legal aid lawyer in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

. He became the first executive director of the Connecticut Elections Commission, and practiced law for eight or nine years in Hartford. He joined the Times Mirror Company's ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'' as senior vice president for finance and administration; moved to New York to work at New York ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'', where he stayed for 11 years. In 1995, he was named publisher of

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper bra ...

El Nuevo Herald ''El Nuevo Herald'' is a newspaper published daily in Spanish in Southeast Florida, United States. Its headquarters is in Doral. ''El Nuevo Heralds sister paper is the '' Miami Herald'', also produced by the McClatchy Company. About ''el Nuev ...

and in 1998 he became publisher of

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

. "Bloomberg - Executive Profile, Alberto Ibargüen"
''Bloomberg.com'' He has received honorary degrees from Wesleyan University, The George Washington University, University of Miami and Mercer University. For his work to protect journalists in Latin America, he received a

Maria Moors Cabot Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

citation from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Ibargüen is a member of the board of

AMR Corporation AMR Corporation was an airline holding company based in Fort Worth, Texas, which was the parent company of American Airlines, American Eagle Airlines, AmericanConnection and Executive Airlines. AMR filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protect ...

(American Airlines). Previously he served on the boards of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufa ...

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

Norwegian Cruise Lines Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), also known in short as Norwegian, is an American cruise line founded in 1966, incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Miami. It is the fourth-largest cruise line in the world by passengers, controlling about 8.6 ...

, SnagFilms, and the Citizen Advisory Committee of the

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is a nonprofit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies and other issuers in order to protect the interests of investors and further t ...

. He is a member of the U.S. Secretary of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He has also served as board chairman of PBS; the

Newseum The Newseum was an American museum dedicated to news and journalism that promoted free expression and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, while tracing the evolution of communication. The purpose of the museum, funded by the ...

in Washington, D.C.; and the

World Wide Web Foundation The World Wide Web Foundation, also known as the Web Foundation, is a US-based international nonprofit organization advocating for a free and open web for everyone. It was cofounded by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, and R ...

, founded by Sir

Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profes ...

. He also served on the board of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

and SnagFilms. Ibargüen is also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue. Ibargüen has served on the boards of other arts, education and journalism organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Wesleyan University, Smith College, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Committee to Protect Journalists, ProPublica and the Secretary of State's Foreign Policy Advisory Board. Alberto Ibargüen (8466601850)

In 2014, the Independent Sector honored Ibargüen with the John W. Gardner Leadership Award. Ibargüen is a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

and a member of the Visiting Committee for the

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

. He has been honored with distinctions from diverse organizations, including American Jewish Committee, Stephens College and the Fairmount Park Conservancy. As its President and CEO, Ibargüen focused Knight Foundation on its donors' intent to maintain a healthy democracy through informed and engaged communities. Under his leadership, the foundation has focused on the digital transformation of journalism and citizen engagement and has become a significant philanthropic funder of the arts, using arts and culture to bind people to their communities. He led the effort to found the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. He was involved with conceiving the “Grand Bargain” that bought the Detroit Institute of Arts during the Detroit Bankruptcy.Jennifer Chambers
"Foundations think out of box to aid Detroit"
''The Detroit News'', November 11, 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibarguen, Alberto 1944 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American businesspeople American nonprofit chief executives American corporate directors American journalists of Puerto Rican descent Businesspeople from Miami Businesspeople from New Jersey Columbia High School (New Jersey) alumni Connecticut lawyers Living people Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners Miami Herald people Peace Corps volunteers People from San Juan, Puerto Rico People from South Orange, New Jersey PepsiCo people University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Wesleyan University alumni Members of the Inter-American Dialogue Members of the American Philosophical Society Puerto Rican people of Cuban descent