Alberto Ibargüen Explained

Alberto Ibargüen
Birth Date:29 February 1944
Birth Place:San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Education:Wesleyan University (BA)
University of Pennsylvania (JD)

Alberto Ibargüen (born February 29, 1944)[1] became President and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, Florida in 2003. He is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald in Miami, Florida. Under his leadership, The Miami Herald won three Pulitzer Prizes; El Nuevo Herald won Spain's Ortega y Gasset Prize for excellence in journalism.[2] Ibargüen was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022.[3] As of March 2023, Ibargüen announced his intention to retire as Knight Foundation CEO.[4]

Early life

Ibargüen was born in Puerto Rico of Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, where he attended Columbia High School, graduating in 1962.[5] He graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. degree and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[6] After college and before entering law school, he served in the Peace Corps in Venezuela's Amazon Territory and in Colombia.[7]

Career

Ibargüen was a legal aid lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut. 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 as senior vice president for finance and administration; moved to New York to work at New York Newsday, where he stayed for 11 years. In 1995, he was named publisher of Knight Ridder's El Nuevo Herald and in 1998 he became publisher of The Miami Herald as well.[8] In 2005, he became CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.[9]

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 citation from Columbia University.[10]

Ibargüen is a member of the board of AMR Corporation (American Airlines). Previously he served on the boards of PepsiCo, AOL, Norwegian Cruise Lines, SnagFilms, and the Citizen Advisory Committee of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. He is a member of the U.S. Secretary of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.[11] He has also served as board chairman of PBS; the Newseum in Washington, D.C.;[12] and the World Wide Web Foundation, founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He also served on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations[13] and SnagFilms.[14] Ibargüen is also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue.[15]

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.[16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

In 2014, the Independent Sector honored Ibargüen with the John W. Gardner Leadership Award.[22]

Ibargüen is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Visiting Committee for the MIT Media Lab.[23] [24] He has been honored with distinctions from diverse organizations, including American Jewish Committee, Stephens College and the Fairmount Park Conservancy.[25] [26] [27]

As its President and CEO, Ibargüen focused Knight Foundation on its donors' intent "to maintain a healthy democracy through informed and engaged communities".[28] [29] 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.[30] [31] [32] [33] He led the effort to found the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.[34] He was involved with conceiving the “Grand Bargain” that bought the Detroit Institute of Arts during the Detroit Bankruptcy.[35] [36]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: So What Do You Do, Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation President/CEO? . Mediabistro . July 15, 2009 . David . Hirschman . December 2, 2014 .
  2. Web site: We Media Miami 2010 Bio . March 3, 2010 . We Media.
  3. Web site: The American Philosophical Society Welcomes New Members for 2022 .
  4. News: Alberto Ibargüen steps down at Knight Foundation after 18 years . 10 May 2023 . Knight Foundation . March 24, 2023.
  5. https://www.digifind-it.com/maplewoodlibrarydigitalarchive/DATA/yearbooks/pub/1962.pdf#page=42 Mirror 1962
  6. Web site: Staff: Alberto Ibargüen. Knight Foundation. July 5, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160731094121/http://www.knightfoundation.org/staff/alberto-ibarguen/. July 31, 2016. dead.
  7. Michael Matza, "Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibarguen never far from own immigrant story", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 1, 2017
  8. Felicity Barringer, "Miami Herald Publisher Says He Is Resigning", The New York Times, August 5, 1998
  9. https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=4074181&privcapId=3534946 "Bloomberg - Executive Profile, Alberto Ibargüen"
  10. Web site: Alberto Ibargüen . ICFJ - International Center for Journalists.
  11. Web site: Biography: Stephen J. Hadley. United States Department of State.
  12. Web site: Alberto Ibarguen Profile. Forbes.com. 2009-04-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20090412164959/http://people.forbes.com/profile/alberto-ibarguen/62922. April 12, 2009. dead. mdy-all.
  13. Web site: Alberto Ibargüen. October 18, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131024024713/http://www.cfr.org/experts/world/alberto-ibargen/b12582. October 24, 2013. dead.
  14. Web site: Backed by Steve and Jean Case, Other VIPs, SnagFilms Snags $10M - CBL | Washington DC Citybizlist . October 18, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131022065612/http://dc.citybizlist.com/article/backed-steve-and-jean-case-other-vips-snagfilms-snags-10m-cbl-0 . October 22, 2013 . dead . mdy-all .
  15. Web site: Inter-American Dialogue Alberto Ibargüen. www.thedialogue.org. 2017-04-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20170413072536/http://www.thedialogue.org/experts/alberto-ibarguen/. April 13, 2017. dead. mdy-all.
  16. Bill Holder, "Farmer, Cook, Ibargüen, Shaws Receive Honorary Degrees", News @ Wesleyan, May 24, 2011
  17. https://www.smith.edu/newssmith/NSFall95/briefs.html "Awards, honors and Alma Mater"
  18. http://csreports.aspeninstitute.org/Forum-on-Communications-and-Society/2014/participants/details/295/Alberto-Ibarguen "Alberto Ibargüen - Participant Profile, Forum on Communications and Society"
  19. https://cpj.org/2003/11/cpj-appoints-three-new-board-members.php "CPJ APPOINTS THREE NEW BOARD MEMBERS"
  20. https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/new-non-profit-investigative-news-organization-to-be-led-by-paul-steiger "New Non-Profit Investigative News Organization to be Led by Paul Steiger"
  21. https://www.cfr.org/experts/alberto-ibarguen-1 "Expert profile: Alberto Ibargüen"
  22. https://independentsector.org/news-post/honors-philanthropic-leader-alberto-ibarguen-2014-john-w-gardner-leadership-award/ "IS Honors Philanthropic Leader Alberto Ibargüen with 2014 John W. Gardner Leadership Award"
  23. https://www.amacad.org/multimedia/pdfs/alphalist2015.pdf "American Academy of Arts and Sciences - 2015 Fellows"
  24. https://corporation.mit.edu/committees/visiting-committees/media-lab-media-arts-and-sciences "Media Lab Committee - list of members"
  25. Tim Chapman, "An Honor for Human Relations", Miami Herald, October 16, 2003
  26. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/stephens-college-inaugurates-dianne-lynch-as-th-president/article_a8314fb5-2c4e-5449-9097-11ef384f6811.html
  27. https://phillystylemag.com/11th-annual-centennial-celebration "THE 11TH ANNUAL CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION"
  28. News: Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce announces 'Sand In My Shoes' honoree Biscayne Bay Tribune# . 10 May 2023 . Miami's Community News . 23 April 2023.
  29. Knight Foundation, "Blog post about launch of Trust, Media and Democracy initiative", Knight Foundation blog, April 5, 2018
  30. Lewis . Seth C. . From Journalism to Information: The Transformation of the Knight Foundation and News Innovation . Mass Communication and Society . 1 May 2012 . 15 . 3 . 309–334 . 10.1080/15205436.2011.611607 . 10 May 2023 . 1520-5436.
  31. Ted Loos, "Knight Foundation Helps Drive Miami Art Scene", The New York Times, December 5, 2017
  32. Christine Schmidt, "Local TV news gets a $2.6 million boost from the Knight Foundation", Nieman Lab, February 8, 2018
  33. Douglas K. Smith, "Betting on the success of local journalism", Columbia Journalism Review, June 15, 2018
  34. Mike McPhate, "Columbia University to Open a First Amendment Institute", The New York Times, May 17, 2016
  35. Randy Kennedy, Monica Davey, Steven Yaccino, "Foundations Aim to Save Pensions in Detroit Crisis", The New York Times, January 13, 2014
  36. Jennifer Chambers, "Foundations think out of box to aid Detroit", The Detroit News, November 11, 2014