MIAMI — After seven and a half years, Hodding Carter III will step down on July 18 as president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, one of the nation’s largest private foundations. Alberto Ibargüen, who was elected to succeed Carter by the foundation’s board of trustees in January, will begin his term that same day as Knight’s new chief executive.
Initial plans had called for a longer transition, with Carter remaining in his post to Sept. 1, and Ibargüen joining Knight in July as president and CEO-elect. “Hodding himself suggested to me that we shorten the presidential transition time,” said W. Gerald Austen, chairman of Knight’s board of trustees. “He thought it would smooth out the handover, and both I and the board agreed with him.”
Ibargüen comes to Knight from his position as publisher of The Miami Herald, which won three Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure, and publisher of El Nuevo Herald. He has been a newspaper executive since 1984, first at The Hartford Courant, then at Newsday in New York before joining Knight Ridder in 1995. He is former chairman of the board of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). As a director of the Inter American Press Association, he led its efforts in the protection of journalists at risk in the hemisphere – a project fueled by significant Knight funding. Ibargüen has also been a member and past chair of Knight’s Miami-Dade/Broward Community Advisory Committee.
“Alberto Ibargüen is eminently prepared to step in right away,” Dr. Austen said.
Carter will remain as a consultant to the foundation until Feb. 1, 2006. During his tenure Knight’s assets grew from $1.2 billion to more than $1.9 billion, with grants increasing from $42 million annually to more than $90 million to promote excellence in journalism worldwide and invest in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers operated newspapers.
“Hodding Carter helped us plan a smooth transition by telling our board some time ago that he would like to retire after nearly eight years here,” said Dr. Austen. “He has given Knight Foundation, the community of journalism and the field of philanthropy visionary and superb leadership. He has been a gifted communicator about the power and promise of philanthropy and the need to help the neediest among us.”
Carter, an award-winning journalist and commentator, became Knight’s president and CEO on Feb. 1, 1998. Under Carter, Knight heightened the impact of its grant making by increasing funding to the foundation’s signature journalism program as well as expanding its commitment to the 26 Knight communities. While at Knight, Carter displayed high-profile leadership in his efforts to communicate the value of philanthropy, marked by his inclusion for the last three years in The NonProfit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50 list.
Carter is moving from Miami to Chapel Hill, N.C., to become University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. Knight Foundation, named for its founders, is a private foundation completely independent from Knight Ridder.
Download images of Ibargüen and Carter by following this link: http://www.knightfoundation.org/default.asp?story=downloads/people.asp