ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (March 16, 2026) — Marcea “Marcy” Hennecke, a philanthropist who has advocated on behalf of good journalism, good government and climate change solutions, has joined the Poynter Foundation Board.
Hennecke is co-chair and founding member of the Hennecke Family Foundation, which supports initiatives that address the urgent challenges of climate change. She also serves as vice chair of Ruth’s List Florida, which supports efforts to recruit and prepare women to run for public office, and as secretary of Florida Watch, which provides guidance to organizations seeking to hold leaders accountable and help voters navigate complex policy issues.
“At its core, democracy depends on truth. Journalism is how a society finds it, tests it, and shares it,” Hennecke said.
“Philanthropy often starts locally. Our foundation supported environmental reporting at a single newsroom, which mattered. But if you want to strengthen journalism more broadly, you look to Poynter. Poynter scales the tools, standards and trainings to make newsrooms stronger everywhere,” she said.
Hennecke has a varied professional background, including working as a political speechwriter, launching a marketing and communications firm in the Netherlands, and co-owning a drug development company that grew to operations across the U.S. and the U.K.
Hennecke lived and raised a family in Canada, the U.S., Holland, England, Mexico and Egypt. She and her husband live in Tampa, and have three grown daughters.
“We are so fortunate to have a strong journalism supporter and advocate in Marcy joining the Poynter Foundation Board. Her dedication to strengthening journalism is clear, and her understanding that Poynter makes newsrooms stronger will significantly enhance our foundation’s impact and reach,” said Jessi Navarro, chair of the Foundation Board.
The Poynter Foundation is the philanthropic entity that raises money to support programs led by the nonprofit Poynter Institute. It works to build trust and support democracies by funding innovative research and programming that strengthens journalistic standards, empowers media professionals and educates the public. The Institute itself focuses on improving the ethics and practice of journalism through professional development, fact-checking, media literacy, publishing, and convening.
Jessi Navarro named Foundation Board chair
Jessi Navarro
Navarro, the Poynter Institute’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, was selected as the new chair of the Poynter Foundation Board at the board’s March meeting. Navarro has worked at Poynter for 11 years, and is also a member of the institute’s Board of Trustees, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Times Publishing Co., which Poynter owns.
About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is the gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
The Newmark Ethics Center, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all members of the Poynter organization.
Support for Poynter and our entities upholds the integrity of the free press and the U.S. First Amendment and builds public confidence in journalism and media — an essential for healthy democracies. Learn more at poynter.org.
