BIOGRAPHY OF PRESIDENT ROBERT L. NIEHOFF, S.J.

A great homilist. Humble. Visionary. Businessman. These are but a few of the adjectives used to describe Robert L. Niehoff, S.J., who is the 24th president of John Carroll University.

Committed to serving John Carroll students and driven to always do more, Father Niehoff was inaugurated October 11, 2005.  Since then, he has immersed himself in getting to know his constituents, near and far, which included 22 alumni receptions in 19 cities during his first six months as president.

With the Board of Directors of John Carroll University, Father Niehoff has focused on financially strengthening the University. In addition, they worked together to craft and approve a Vision, Mission and set of Core Values to serve as a road map for the university, as well as six strategic initiatives, which are central to the university’s recognition as a center of learning and service. These are also featured on the President’s webpage.

Other highlights of Father Niehoff’s tenure include:

• Consistently high U.S. News & World Report rankings, including the latest results in which John Carroll was rated – for the 22th consecutive year – among the top 10 universities in the Midwest. JCU ranks 7th in the 2011 rankings.

• The highly praised Ohio Access Initiative scholarship, which makes it possible for academically qualified students from Ohio families annually earning less than $40,000 to attend John Carroll.

• A Master Plan analysis of the JCU campus included meetings of faculty, staff, and administrators, as well as members of the surrounding community. Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Massachusetts, and Cleveland’s Osborn Engineering, Ohio’s oldest engineering firm, partnered with Sasaki on the project.

• Three major philanthropic gifts in June 2007 totaling $6 million and a record response in annual philanthropic gifts to JCU; for the first time since 1999, the Carroll Fund surpassed $2 million at the end of the 2007 fiscal year.

The Road to John Carroll

Born August 14, 1953, in Puyallup, Washington – fives miles east of Tacoma -- Robert L. Niehoff, the seventh of eight children, told his parents of his intent to become a priest when he was still in elementary school. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1972, earned his B.A. in philosophy in 1977 at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, two master’s degrees in theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 1984, an M.B.A. at the University of Washington in 1986, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Gonzaga University in 1995. 

Father Niehoff was Associate Provost and Vice President for Planning and Budget at the University of San Francisco when he was tapped in 2005 to join John Carroll. 

He has always worked in higher education, non-profit organizations, or church and Jesuit community administration -- often as a financial problem-solver. Early in his career, Father Niehoff tutored inmates at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. He later served his Jesuit tertianship year in the Philippines – after which he traveled in China, Thailand and Nepal.

Since his ordination in 1982, he has served as Treasurer of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; Associate Treasurer of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus; CFO of the Archdiocese of Nassau, in the Bahamas; Financial Analyst, Co-director for Mission and Identity, Assistant to the Vice President for Student Life at Gonzaga University, and Superior of a Jesuit community.

Father Niehoff is currently a member of the Finance and Administration Committee and the Committee on Law Center Affairs of the Georgetown University Board of Directors.  He is a member of the Academic Affairs and Finance Committees of Saint Louis University’s Board of Trustees and is a member of the University Relations and Academic Affairs Committees of Regis University’s Board of Trustees.  He also serves on the Catholic Community Connection Board of Directors, the Ohio Campus Compact Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and is a member of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management. Father Niehoff is a graduate of the class of 2009, Leadership Cleveland.