Lucibeth N. Mayberry is now president and chief executive officer of CoreCivic, after the company’s board appointed its chief strategy officer to succeed Patrick D. Swindle. CoreCivic’s announcement says Swindle stepped down for health reasons and that Mayberry also joined the board; MarketWatch independently confirms the transition.
Swindle had been CEO since January 2026 and will remain available as a special adviser during the transition. Mayberry has been with CoreCivic since 2003 and served as executive vice president and chief strategy officer since May 2025. That history makes this a continuity move: the board is changing the top executive while keeping a long-serving operator close to the business.
An internal operator takes the seat
The board pointed to Mayberry’s deep understanding of CoreCivic, leadership across strategic initiatives and the trust she has built across the organization. Mayberry said she will continue the current capital-allocation strategy, maintain the focus on operational excellence and build on the progress already under way.
The first fact to keep in view is the shape of the mandate rather than a new slogan. Mayberry inherits an operating business she already knows, a board seat she has just taken and a transition in which her predecessor remains available for guidance. It is a more measured handoff than a search-led reset, and it follows Jeff Hibbard’s planned move into EOG’s CFO seat, another recent example of a company using an internal leadership bridge.