Center of Leadership honors president of Knight Foundation

Alonso Montano/Contributing writer

This October, the Center for Leadership is hosting The Chapman Leadership Honors, an annual event that recognizes distinguishable individuals who have made important contributions in business leadership and community building.

Every year at the event, the Center for Leadership presents the Transcendent Leader Award.

The award honors a person who has made significant contributions to the community and our society at large. This year, the award will be presented on Oct. 3 to Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation.

“It‘s a tremendous honor,” said Ibargüen. “This event is named after somebody who was a hero, a mentor and a friend.”

Ibargüen is also a member of the boards of PepsiCo, American Airlines and AOL, and is a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Policy Advisory Committee.  Additionally, Ibargüen will be giving the keynote address at the event.

“The award is presented to Ibargüen this year because of his work with different media throughout his life,” said Garth Headley, associate director at the Center for Leadership. “But it’s not just about the companies he works for, it’s also about the work he does for the community which reflects a greater good, a greater interest in moving Miami forward.”

As president of Knight Foundation, Ibargüen helps endorse ideas that promote quality journalism, media innovation, engage communities and support the arts. By fostering these initiatives, the foundation seeks to sustain a just democracy where people are well informed and able to actively be involved in the community.

“The role of citizens is the best role you can play. The more engaged and the more informed you are, the more fulfilling it is [the role of citizens]; the more involved you are the better it is for the community,” said Ibargüen. “When you have a really engaged and well informed society is when you have the best kind of representative government.”

Ibargüen has also dedicated much of his life to philanthropic and charitable work. He served in the Peace Corps in Venezuela’s Amazon territory and was the Peace Corps Programming and Training Officer in Colombia.

In addition to the Transcendent Leader award, a second award will be presented during the ceremony. The first annual Emerging Leader Award will recognize younger leaders who are improving communities by generating original and groundbreaking solutions to business and social challenges.

The recipient of the Emerging Leader Award will be announced during the event.

The annual Chapman Leadership Honors will be in the Graham Center Ballrooms on Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. It is an open event, but anyone wishing to attend must first register online at lead.fiu.edu.

“There’s nothing that the Center for Leadership likes more than putting on an event like this,” said Headley. “We are very excited because we have access to executives and professionals, and when we bring them to the FIU community it’s just phenomenal to have students take advantage of that opportunity.”

–news@fiusm.com