Publishing executive Alberto Ibargüen has been elected by the trustees of the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to succeed Hodding Carter III as president and CEO in July.

Ibargüen, publisher and chairman of the Miami Herald, has been a newspaper executive since 1984, first at the Hartford Courant, then at Newsday, before joining Knight Ridder in 1995. He is also chairman of the board of the Public Broadcasting Service and a director of the Inter American Press Association, where he leads its Knight Foundation-funded efforts to protect journalists at risk in the hemisphere. A graduate of Wesleyan University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela and as a program officer for the Peace Corps in Colombia.

"Alberto Ibargüen is a recognized leader with interests that are a perfect match with those of the foundation," said Knight chairman W. Gerald Austen. "It is heartening that after an extensive national search we have found in Alberto Ibargüen a successor who not only is eminently qualified but who already has an extensive relationship with the foundation."

"Hodding Carter helped us plan a smooth transition by telling our board more than a year ago that he would like to retire after eight years here," Austen added. "He has given the 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."