Prep Chooses President
Creighton Prep’s Board of Directors, named its new President, Mr. Michael Giambelluca, the current Principal of Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Fr. Andy Alexander, S.J., the Board member chosen to be President during the search, said, “Michael stood out, among the thirteen candidates we formally interviewed, because of his strong roots in the Jesuit tradition, because of his experience as an administrator in a Jesuit school, and because of his wonderful personality.”
The national, open search was begun after the Board, which includes five Jesuits, first attempted to locate a Jesuit. Working with the Provincial of the Jesuit Province which sponsors Prep, the names of a number of Jesuits surfaced. In the end, no Jesuit was able to be assigned in July of 2012. The search was then opened to Jesuit and lay candidates and included over 40 applicants from around the country. That pool was ultimately reduced to two finalists who were brought to Prep’s campus in late October for day-long meetings with the Prep community.
Before nominating Mr. Giambelluca to the Board, the Search Committee received approval from Fr. Thomas Lawler, S.J., Provincial of the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus, who interviewed the candidate himself and ultimately will mission the new President. Mr. Giambelluca will begin his position on July 1st, 2013.
Mr. Giambelluca joins the ranks of lay leaders of Jesuit High Schools in the country, where 20% of the 59 Jesuit secondary school Presidents are lay.
Feedback from those who met Mr. Giambelluca was extremely positive. The visit helped a number of constituents have confidence in imagining how effective a lay President could be in promoting the mission and the academic excellence of the school. One of the demonstrated qualities of Mr. Giambelluca’s leadership was the role he played in his school’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A number of interviewers liked that the candidate said leadership in a Jesuit school was for him a “vocation,” rather than “a job.” One person’s feedback simply had the words, “He’s the one we’ve been looking for.”
A transition team will be put in place at Prep to prepare for the new President’s coming. He will visit Prep several times, prior to his start date, and will attend the national meeting of Jesuit high school Presidents in February.
Speaking for the Search Committee, Fr. Alexander said, “We are confident that Mr. Giambelluca will receive an enthusiastic reception by the Omaha community and that there will be strong support for the leadership he will provide for Creighton Prep.”