As its President and CEO, Ibargüen focused Knight Foundation on its donors' intent to maintain a healthy democracy through informed and engaged communities. Under his leadership, the foundation has focused on the digital transformation of journalism and citizen engagement and has become a significant philanthropic funder of the arts, using arts and culture to bind people to their communities. He led the effort to found the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. He was involved with conceiving the “Grand Bargain” that bought the Detroit Institute of Arts during the Detroit Bankruptcy.