Loyola Legacy Fall 2022

A New Chapter in Loyola’s Leadership

This July, Loyola Academy welcomed Rev. Gregory J. Ostdiek, SJ, as its ninth president. Father Ostdiek’s key responsibilities will be leading the Academy’s Jesuit, Catholic mission, sustaining focus on its strategic vision and directing the institutional advancement program.

Father Ostdiek, a native of Dayton, Ohio, holds B.A. degrees in mechanical engineering and English from the University of Dayton, M.A. degrees in English from Pennsylvania State University and philosophy from Fordham University, an M.Div. in theology and a Th.M. in scripture from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and an Ed.M. in educational policy and management at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Recently, he completed an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Rev. Gregory J. Ostdiek, SJ

He entered the Jesuits in 2008, teaching physics, coaching and moderating ministry activities and clubs at several Jesuit schools, including Loyola. He was ordained in 2019. He has served as a parish priest and prison minister. Currently, he is an administrator at Brebeuf Jesuit in Indianapolis and on the Boards of Loyola Academy and St. Xavier in Cincinnati.

Prior to joining the Jesuits, Father Ostdiek was a member of the United States Navy for 12 years, where he served on a variety of ships, including as a navigation instructor, a reactor training assistant responsible for the training of a 450-person department on a nuclear power plant and an executive officer and navigator second in command overseeing an 80-person crew that was deployed twice to the Arabian Gulf.

“I am tremendously excited to join Loyola Academy in its mission of serving Chicagoland and the world,” states Father Ostdiek. “Loyola is a school with incredible students, a tremendously talented and caring faculty and staff who show daily their dedication to the school’s mission of forming women and men for others in service to the Church and the world and an amazing community. I am humbled and honored to be chosen to serve them in turn.”