T-Squared: Meet the Pulitzer Prize winner who’ll lead our new investigative team

When we announced in October that we were partnering with ProPublica to create a world-class investigative team focused on Texas, we knew job No. 1 was to find a visionary leader. We’re excited to tell you that we’ve hired two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Manny García to take on that critical role.

Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Manny is coming to us from the USA TODAY Network, where he is the ethics and standards editor. Before that, he was the network’s East Region executive editor, overseeing more than 50 newsrooms. He has also served as editor of the Naples Daily News, the editor and general manager of Spanish-language el Nuevo Herald, and the senior news editor of the Miami Herald.

Manny won his first Pulitzer in 1999 as part of a team that uncovered massive voter fraud in the Miami mayoral race. He won his second in 2001 for his chronicling of the federal raid that removed Elián González from his relatives’ Miami home.

Among his many other journalistic accomplishments: He has exposed sex trafficking in the Caribbean, produced reporting that led to the convictions of numerous public officials, changed Florida law and helped free a man serving a life sentence in prison for murders he did not commit.

Manny is also a national leader on championing diversity and inclusion in our industry. In 2018, he was recognized with the Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership.

If you want to know how Manny will approach his new job, read what he told us when he applied: “My promise to you: to be the best. [Create a team that’s] diverse in skills and background, confident yet humble, critical thinkers, with common sense, who persevere and learn that ‘no’ in journalism is just a stoplight to ‘yes.’ And we’re going to have fun. Lots of fun.”

Manny will officially start in his new role next month. For him, job No. 1 will be to fill out the rest of the investigative team. Stay tuned for more updates on this ambitious partnership.