Maribel Perez Wadsworth, a Miami-born daughter of Cuban immigrants, has come home in a big way.
On Tuesday, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which averages $135 million annually in grants pegged to journalism, the arts and technology, announced Wadsworth’s appointment as president and CEO.
Wadsworth, who becomes the foundation’s seventh president and first woman president and CEO in its 72-year history, begins her tenure in January.
“There was a lot of sacrifice, which is the story of a lot of immigrant families, that my grandparents made, that my mother made. And so for me, always in my heart, is I need to honor that sacrifice and honor that courage. And that means doing everything I can to be successful to make my family proud,” Wadsworth said in a phone interview with the Miami Herald.
Wadsworth, a member of the Coral Gables Senior High Class of 1990 and a 1993 University of Miami communications school graduate, acknowledges she arrives at the Knight Foundation at a “crisis point in time when there is an eroding public trust in our institutions, of which the media is one.”
Institutional knowledge
But in her story as a once shy homegrown communications student turned accomplished media and business leader, she, and others, believe that by tapping her institutional knowledge, Wadsworth has the foundation to drive Knight and its $2.6 billion endowment forward.
“I never stopped believing in the power of possibility,” Wadsworth said.
Wadsworth, 50, the past president of Gannett Media and publisher of USA Today, succeeds Alberto Ibargüen, the former Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald publisher who, in March, announced his plans to retire from the Knight Foundation.
“To come home to this city that I grew up in, that I love, that I’m still so deeply rooted to, and then to be involved with and leading an organization that really has in so many ways grown up with the city of Miami and influenced the city of Miami ... it is truly the intersection of all the things that I’ve worked on over the course of my own career and the things I deeply care about,” Wadsworth said.
The Knight Foundation’s “ascendancy on so many fronts over the years,” she says, is ingrained in its mission “as an organization that supports the arts, that supports journalism, that cares deeply about community and making sure that citizens are truly equipped to take part in civil life.”
Ibargüen, 79, led Knight for 18 years and oversaw its disbursement of $2.3 billion. Ibargüen was not on the selection committee to find his successor.
“I knew her as somebody who wanted to come back to Miami even before the job. I thought that was a huge plus because I think Knight’s commitment to Miami is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the foundation. The Knights had a commitment to place like no other large foundation as far as I can tell,” Ibargüen said in a Zoom interview with the Miami Herald.
“We are in a really perilous moment. We don’t really have models that have proven, at least to my satisfaction, that they are sustainable at the local level. So having somebody with a lifetime, not just an exposure but a lifetime of experience, to both the mission and the operation and the need for a sustainable operation, I think is fantastic,” Ibargüen said.
Roots in journalism and business
When weighing candidates for the presidency, the foundation’s board looked at Wadsworth’s more than 26 years with Gannett and her role in leading the company’s digital transformation at USA Today and USA Today Network, the foundation said in a media release.
Wadsworth was president of Gannett Media when she announced last year that she was leaving the company effective Dec. 31, 2022.
After graduating from UM, Wadsworth’s role in journalism began when she spent two years as editorial assistant with the Associated Press starting in 1994. In 1996, she joined Gannett’s Rockford Register Star in Illinois as its only Spanish-speaking reporter. Wadsworth covered agriculture, focusing on migrant workers and Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs.
“I remember thinking that is part of why I need to be doing what I’m doing, because I can help to bring out some of those important stories that maybe are going uncovered otherwise,” Wadsworth told the Rockford Register in 2018 when she was named USA Today’s publisher.
“Alberto leaves big shoes to fill. But I think Maribel is the person who can now take it and take it up the next step in leading the digital transformation,” said Gracia Martore, a former chair with the Associated Press’ board of directors and former CEO of Gannett and Tegna.
“When I think about Maribel, I think about how she’s business savvy. She’s purpose driven. I like to think that started at Gannett when our purpose was to serve the communities that we are in and I know that that is very near and dear to the hearts of the folks at the foundation. She’s a tremendously strong caring leader. And her commitment to community is extraordinary. She understands deeply how important it is for communities to be informed and engaged and the role that local news plays in doing that and how important that is to have an informed democracy,” Martore said in a telephone interview with the Miami Herald.
“Maribel is incredibly proud of her heritage and being a daughter of immigrants has shaped and influenced her life in so many ways, not least of which is a deep commitment to lifting up the underserved and disenfranchised,” said Nicole Carroll, former editor-in-chief at USA Today.
“Her family — her mother still lives in the house Maribel grew up in — is so proud to see her talents serve her hometown. She is a product of Miami’s public schools. UM is her alma mater. There’s no learning curve on Miami for Maribel. This is her place. As for being the first woman to lead Knight, what an amazing role model she will continue to be for women and girls in Miami and beyond,” Carroll added in an email to the Herald.
UM and FIU ties
Wadsworth, a mother to three sons with her husband, 1994 University of Miami grad Christopher Wadsworth, maintained ties to South Florida as a board member at UM. In 2021, she joined the Leadership Council of the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at Florida International University.
She chuckles when she notes how the timing of Knight’s need for a new leader all fell into place, leading her home.
“It was about the same weekend that the Miami Hurricanes basketball team had advanced in the NCAA tournament, and Alberto announced his decision to step down,” Wadsworth said. “My phone lit up right about the same time. So many people I’m connected to said, ‘Goodness, this is something you really need to consider.’
“And of course, I always had it as an aspiration because you can’t help that if you care about the things that I care about and you see the alignment with Knight’s mission. It’s impossible not to consider it. But the timing really could not have been more sort of cosmic that Alberto would choose this moment in time to retire or step down, as he says, and for me to also be at a position of transition in my own career. It’s just really a nice alignment of the stars,” Wadsworth said.
University of Miami President Julio Frenk applauded the alignment.
“Maribel Wadsworth brings an ideal perspective to the Knight Foundation, as someone who has not only spent three decades championing responsible journalism and engaged communities, but as a Miami native who knows and loves this community so well. The University of Miami could not be prouder of our alumna — who has passionately served as president of our Alumni Association Board and an ex officio member of our Board of Trustees. We look forward to the next chapter in our continued collaboration with the Knight Foundation as Maribel takes the helm,” Frenk said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
Local news mission
“Maribel’s passion for journalism, coupled with her staunch belief in the media’s pivotal role as a cornerstone for nurturing well-informed and actively engaged communities, aligns directly with our core values and we are thrilled to welcome her as the new president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,” said Frank Borges, chair of the board of trustees, in a statement. “We firmly believe that her wealth of experience and unwavering commitment to these values will steer us in fulfilling our mission.”
Knight has invested over $632 million since 2005 in America’s media ecosystem and recently committed $150 million over the next five years to the Press Forward campaign, which aims to support the growth and sustainability of local news organizations and to help newsrooms find new ways to cover and share information in their communities.
READ MORE: Foundations in Miami and U.S. are putting up $500 million to boost local news
Local news is “the key to an effectively functioning community in a democracy,” Ibargüen told the Miami Herald in September. The foundation invests in the 28 communities that once hosted Knight Ridder newspapers, including Miami. McClatchy acquired Knight Ridder in 2006.
Grants help support journalism, the arts and a burgeoning field of research around the impact of technology on society. With a $2.6 billion endowment, Knight’s grant-making averages $135 million per year, according to the foundation.
As a leader at Gannett’s 109 newspapers, including USA Today, Wadsworth’s commitment to diversity and inclusion brought her the News Leaders Association’s Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership in 2019.
She serves on the governing board of Pew Research Center, a leader in using research to understand American trends and attitudes around trust and news. She also serves on the board of the Associated Press.
“Maribel is known for her unwavering integrity, her advocacy for informed citizens and a free press, and her care for the people and communities we serve. These qualities align perfectly with Knight’s priorities. It’s a powerful fit,” said Carroll, the former editor-in-chief at USA Today.
“Knight’s mission goes beyond headlines and into the heart of how communities work,” Wadsworth said in Knight’s media release on Tuesday. “With arts and culture at the core of connecting people to place, the foundation supports improving public spaces, revitalizing neighborhoods, advancing economic opportunity and the smart use of technology.
“I am eager to work alongside the top-notch team and dedicated partners on these important efforts.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 9:30 AM.
