In more than three decades as a journalist, Mizell Stewart III has been an award-winning reporter, top newsroom editor in three states, radio and television broadcaster, and corporate news executive. He is passionate about developing the next generation of newsroom leaders, community service, and advancing the critical role journalists play in a democratic society.
Today, Stewart is President and CEO of Emerging Leaders LLC, a leadership development consulting firm working with national media organizations and local start-ups in the United States and Canada. Previously, he was the Vice President of News Performance, Talent & Partnerships for Gannett and the USA TODAY Network. He is also an adjunct faculty member of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, where he was the founding co-director of the Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media.
His prior roles include Chief Content Officer of Journal Media Group, Vice President / Content of the newspaper division of the E.W. Scripps Company and senior leadership posts at the Akron Beacon Journal, Evansville Courier & Press and Tallahassee Democrat. He also worked as a reporter and editor at the Dayton Daily News and Springfield News-Sun, a program host at WNIN-TV in Evansville, Ind. and an on-air personality at WIOT-FM in Toledo, Ohio.
A four-time Pulitzer Prize juror, Stewart helped lead the team at The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. that won the 2006 Pulitzer Gold Medal in Public Service for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Other honors include the Gerald R. Sass Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Mass Communication Education from the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Stewart is a journalism graduate of Bowling Green State University, where he is now a member of the Board of Trustees. He completed the Advanced Executive Program, a joint program of the Kellogg School of Business and the Medill School of Journalism, at Northwestern University and earned a master’s degree in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change from Northern Kentucky University.
In addition to BGSU, Stewart serves on the boards of the National Trust for Local News, Public Agenda, the National Press Club Journalism Institute, and Journalism Funding Partners and is a member of advisory boards for PBS Frontline and Report for America.
He was part of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, an initiative of the Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute. His past community service includes the Indiana Debate Commission, the Board of Visitors at the University of Evansville, the Evansville African American Museum, WNIN Public Broadcasting, the Akron Press Club, Leadership Tallahassee, Young Actors Theatre in Tallahassee, Fla. and the Florida First Amendment Foundation.
"The National Trust is at the forefront of a growing movement to redefine high-quality local news as a civic good that deserves support from the entire community, rather than a luxury subject to market forces and the whims of billionaires,” said Stewart.