Top Herald editor departing for major book-publishing role

Aminda Marqués González, who has led the newsrooms at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald to multiple honors during challenging times in the news industry, told her staff Thursday that she is leaving the organization to become vice president and executive editor at book publisher Simon & Schuster.

In her decade as the Herald’s top news executive, the newsroom has won multiple honors for its reporting, including two Pulitzer Prizes and an array of other awards for investigative work on topics ranging from the abuse of children and juveniles to illegal gold mining in Latin America and the sweetheart plea deal of sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

In an emotional virtual meeting Thursday afternoon with the staff, which has worked remotely since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marqués talked about her decision, often blinking back tears.

“This is one of those times when I really, really wish we could be together in the middle of the newsroom with some Publix cake in the back, to really be able to see each of you and deliver this news in a personal way,” she said. “Above all, I want to say that I leave with such gratitude and pride for all that we have been able to do.”

Marqués said she was first approached by Simon & Schuster in August, around the same time she was contemplating her 10th anniversary as the Herald’s executive editor.

“Earlier this year, as my 10th anniversary leading these newsrooms loomed, I started thinking about all that we have accomplished together during one of the most tumultuous times in this industry,” she said. “We didn’t cower in a corner, but we doubled down on the important work we do so well.

“It also made me think about what was next after such an amazing run at my hometown newspaper,” she said. “Over the years, I’ve been approached time and again about an opportunity at this paper or that paper, and it’s been an easy hard no. If I’m going to work at a newspaper, there’s no place I’m going to work other than at the Miami Herald.”

But the possibility of a book editor job intrigued her, she said, as an opportunity to focus on the next chapter of her career and take her love of storytelling to another platform.

“The more I discussed the possibility, the more it felt the timing was right for me,” she said. “I’ve dedicated much of my career helping to find and tell the hidden stories of diverse, dynamic and complex communities. With Simon & Schuster, I will have the opportunity to expand the audience for these stories and to help find fresh new voices and authors that represent the rich tapestry of this country.”

Editors and colleagues weighed in with emotional support for Marqués, an animated presence in the newsroom always willing to talk with staffers about topics ranging from potential reporting projects to the latest episode of “Game of Thrones.” Her reporting chops and journalistic instincts inspired fierce loyalty among her staff, too: During Hurricane Irma, for example, Marqués hunkered down inside the former Herald building in Doral alongside the staffers covering the storm in a marathon 72-hour shift.

During Thursday’s staff meeting, she recalled having to work the 4 p.m.-1 a.m. shift as a reporter in the early 1990s covering a rash of tourist killings on I-95 — while she was eight months pregnant.

“I drove my husband’s pickup truck,” she said. “And the cops felt so bad for me I always got the story.”

“Mindy and I have worked together for half of our lives, maybe more than that for her,” said Rick Hirsch, the Herald’s managing editor. “I know her as well as I know my own family, so this is hard for me. Here’s what I want all of you to really understand: She is smart and she is fierce and she fought for this newsroom in ways that you will never know. She always put investigative work first and she taught me and many of you important lessons on how to do what we do and do it better. Mindy, you can be proud of the work that you’ve done and the lives you’ve changed.”

Marqués “has managed this newsroom through some of the most difficult times in the media business,’’ said Kristin Roberts, McClatchy’s senior vice president for news, in an email to company employees.

“She has applied creativity and thoughtfulness to the challenge, and in the process ensured that we remember that what really makes us distinctive and creates value for our communities are our local journalists — reporters, videographers, producers and editors with local focus, local expertise, local connection,” Roberts said.

In her position at Simon & Schuster, Marqués will “help broaden the range of voices and stories we publish, and will help us expand further into diverse and underrepresented markets,” said Dana Canedy, Simon & Schuster’s senior vice president and publisher.

Former colleagues weighed in on Marques’ news.

“At the toughest time in living memory for journalism and for the news business, Mindy stood for classic standards of reporting that sought to give readers a full, contextual and fair story about what was happening in our community,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, who also served as publisher of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald from 1995-2005.

“That’s tough work and expensive, and she did it well,” Ibargüen said. “She supported her reporters and some outstanding journalism, and worked hard to mitigate the negative financials of an industry in transition to digital.

“At a time of bankruptcies in the news industry, misinformation, trivial click bait and opinion masquerading as fact, she leaves the Miami Herald as still the ‘go-to source’ for local and regional news in South Florida,” Ibargüen said. “And for that, she deserves our thanks.”

Martin Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post and former executive editor at the Herald, said, “Mindy is smart, energetic, and caring. She brought to her position as the Miami Herald’s editor a keen sense of how our profession is changing, a fervent desire to serve the changing communities of South Florida, and a commitment to the Herald’s tradition of holding the powerful accountable for wrongdoing. I expect that at Simon & Schuster she’ll do the same, bringing new voices into publishing and delivering important, high-impact work.”

She leaves as McClatchy’s Florida regional editor and executive editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, as well as the Bradenton Herald. She is co-chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board, and has been honored as Alumni of Distinction by the College of Journalism and Communications at UF.

She received the Presidential Impact award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in 2016 and was inducted into NAHJ’s Hall of Fame in 2018. She was awarded the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year award in 2019 by the National Press Foundation.

Her tenure as publisher and executive editor included two controversies in the past two months, including a racist tweet from a Herald sports columnist and a paid advertising insert containing racist remarks that ran unnoticed in el Nuevo Herald for eight months. Marqués apologized to readers and oversaw an internal investigation about how the publication escaped notice. She vacated her post as publisher in September but stayed on as executive editor.

Marqués was born in New York City after her parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba. The family moved to South Florida when she was 5. She grew up in Hialeah and graduated high school from Hialeah High.

She first joined the Herald as an intern from the University of Florida, and became a staff reporter upon graduation in 1986. She worked as a local news reporter covering topics ranging from Hialeah city hall to Hurricane Andrew — a natural disaster that devastated the region and destroyed her own South-Dade home.

She later became an assistant city editor and deputy metro editor before leaving the Herald to serve as Miami bureau chief for People Magazine, overseeing coverage of the southeast United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Marqués returned to the Herald in 2007, and ran the features department before becoming managing editor and then executive editor in October 2010. She was the first Hispanic to hold the top newsroom job, and the second woman.

“It has been a privilege of my career to work alongside you in this incredibly important work,” Marqués told the staff on Thursday. “When I dreamed about working at the Miami Herald, I could have never imagined the arc of my career. But to my 13-year-old self, it turned out better than I could have ever imagined. So thank you.”

Her last day will be Nov. 12. A search for her successor will begin immediately, Roberts said. Herald Managing Editor Rick Hirsch will serve as interim executive editor.