February 5, 2020

Board of Regents

Born: Chicago, IL

College and major: University of Notre Dame, history

Position: President at St. Ignatius College Prep, effective July 1, 2020

“I’ve been at St. Ignatius for 45 years. I started out as a Latin and Greek teacher, and through the years moved into a variety of other responsibilities. I think the Jesuits saw things in me that I might not have seen in myself. Sometimes for one’s own professional growth you need to leave a business that you’re at, and I found I didn’t need to do that because I was challenged in my career.”

Passions outside of work:

“One hobby is farming. I keep bees, an orchard, raise vegetables – the whole “Green Acres” approach to farming. That’s one passion, the second is reading; third is genealogy; and fourth is spiritual development.”

Favorite activities during high school:

“I was a cross country runner in high school, and I enjoyed involvement in various language clubs and the science club. I worked the summers, and one job was working with migrant farm workers in the fields as they moved from the cherry picking in Michigan, down to the tomato picking in Ohio, to the cucumber picking in Indiana.”

Favorite travel destination:

“I do like to travel to my ancestral homeland (Germany) – and that’s really my favorite – but in terms of a specific city it would be the Vatican and St. Peter’s because of the affirmation of my Catholic identity. It’s a very powerful and spiritual place.”

Finding Mercy Home:

“I was first connected to Mercy Home when I was in college and I was hired as a cook at Mercy Home – that was a summer job and I did that for one summer. St. Ignatius and Mercy Home have had a long partnership in working with young people. A lot of times kids at Mercy Home come here to school at St. Ignatius, or if we have students that we knew are in trouble, we send them to Mercy Home.”

Favorite part about Mercy Home’s mission:

“I think we have to see God in each of his creations, and here we see young men and young women that, if not for the care that Mercy Home provides, would be lost souls on this pilgrimage of life. Or, worse than that, they wouldn’t even survive it.”