Mizell Stewart III - Commissioner

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 senior director of talent, partnerships and news strategy for Gannett and the USA TODAY Network, the largest localto- national news network in the United States. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the founder of Emerging Leaders, LLC, a leadership development consulting firm focused on mid-career professionals.

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 true multiplatform journalist, Stewart also was an on-air personality at WNIN-TV in Evansville, Ind. and 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. He is a past president of the American Society of News Editors and the current president of the American Society of News Editors Foundation.

He is a frequent speaker and teacher on local journalism, leadership, newsroom diversity and community service at national journalism conferences and at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. In 2018, the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication recognized Stewart with the Gerald R. Sass Distinguished Service Award for his efforts to strengthen journalism education.

Stewart is a journalism graduate of Bowling Green State University and completed the Advanced Executive Program, a joint program of the Kellogg School of Business and the Medill School of Journalism, at Northwestern University. He also earned a master’s degree in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change from Northern Kentucky University, where he received the Distinguished Student Award.

Stewart is the proud husband of Valerie Morgan-Stewart, a fellow graduate of Bedford High School in suburban Cleveland. They reside in Aurora, Ohio.