A newspaper executive from Mexico is the first recipient of the Ernesto Galvis-Blanco Fellowship to study at Northwestern University's Media Management Center. Eduardo Navarrete of Mexico City, Mexico, is attending the Center's Advanced Executive Program that began in February and ends with a two-week session in June.

Michael P. Smith, the Center's managing director, announced the fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to a media executive under the age of 35 from Latin America. To win, the executive must have "the potential to carry on the legacy of Ernesto Galvis-Blanco, the young general manager of Vanguardia Liberal in Bucaramanga, Colombia." Galvis-Blanco earned the respect of his peers and the Center leaders as he brought Vanguardia Liberal, the fifth largest newspaper in Columbia out of economic hardships and as he pioneered new management advances at the newspaper.

Said John Lavine, the Center's director: "Ernesto was extraordinary. He was wise beyond his years. He motivated everyone who worked for him, and he did it on the heels of completing two advanced degrees with highest honors here in the U.S. When he returned to Columbia, he had more promise than anyone could imagine. That promise came alive as he took the helm of the group's flagship newspaper. Then, tragically he was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 30."

Eduardo Navarrete, the first winner of the Ernesto Galvis-Blanco Fellowship has served as general manager of Reforma Newspaper Agency for the past three years. He is also a professor at the Carlos Septien Journalism School in Mexico City. His academic background includes course work in journalism, photography, political science and administration.

Commenting on the media today, Navarrete said: "A well-conducted and organized effort should be made by media managers to conduct business and enhance free speech. Democracy represents the first steps, but there are such contradictory forces and flows that we journalists need to show cultural, organizational, and social love and leadership to inform, to present information and motivate public opinion."

"Vanguardia Liberal tells to me so many things," Navarrete continued. "A dream, a promise, a route. I see in the word 'honor' - the perfect balance between spirit and mind: a key, a door and my hand. I assume that honor because of the natural evocation of Ernesto as a leader."

During the Advanced Executive Program's two two-week periods, the executives learn strategy, marketing, leadership and journalism from a management perspective. Each class is put through rigorous financial, accounting and other analytical courses, as well as personal improvement programs such as communication skills, negotiations and team building. The combination of business vitality and the essential role of the media in a free and democratic society make this program especially relevant to executives from Latin America.