Archbishop William E. Lori announced Nov. 30 that Gregory A. Farno will join the Archdiocese of Baltimore as chancellor of education, effective Jan. 17, 2024.
Farno retired in October as regional president for the Maryland Region of Truist Financial Corporation. Prior to his tenure at Truist, he held various positions at SunTrust Bank, including president, managing director and senior vice president.
The chancellor for education ensures the long-term sustainability of Catholic schools through enhanced operational efficiency and oversight, the archbishop said. The position was first held starting in 2014 by James B. Sellinger, now chancellor emeritus, who retired in June 2022.
As the chancellor of education, Farno will oversee the business operations of the Catholic school system. His responsibilities will encompass strategic initiatives for the advancement of Catholic schools, including enrollment recruitment and retention, financial stability, and the implementation of effective marketing and communication strategies, according to a letter from Archbishop Lori announcing the appointment. Farno will also actively engage in fundraising, the development of local school boards and advocacy for public policy.
“We are truly blessed to welcome Mr. Farno into this significant role of leading our Catholic school system. He is an individual with a longstanding commitment to education, to his community and to his faith,” the archbishop said. “His solid record in leadership and organizational success makes him an ideal person to take on this important position. I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to build upon our Catholic school’s strong, Christ-centered foundation, where every student is valued and where learning is celebrated.”
Farno said people asked him as his retirement neared what he planned to do. He told them he was not sure, since he had never been retired, but he envisioned traveling and engaging with topics he was passionate about, including education and children’s concerns. However, he couldn’t even sleep in on his first Monday of formal retirement, as he found himself having breakfast with Archbishop Lori, where the archbishop asked the retired banker to consider becoming chancellor for education.
Farno told the Catholic Review in an interview that he had gotten to know the archbishop when Farno chaired the 2021 archdiocesan education gala. He also knew Sellinger well through various connections and admired greatly the work that he and the team had done.
Though he had never thought of it before the archbishop asked him and he started to understand the position and the opportunity, “the more I learned, the more people I talked to, the more excited I got.”
He realized this was what he envisioned for his retirement. “But I didn’t probably articulate it that way, (but) this is helping children, it’s education and it’s a business,” he said.
Farno said he has learned in his 45 years in business in Maryland that education in general – not just Catholic education – is vital in the state.
“Education is the single most effective way to make sure we change the trajectory of young people’s lives because we break what is commonly called the cycle of poverty in certain challenged areas,” he said.
He served six years on the board of St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, a grades five through eight school that serves families with modest income by providing full-tuition scholarships to all students. Such students would statistically have a 60 percent graduation rate from high school, but 100 percent of graduates from St. Ignatius Loyola go on to graduate from high school, and about 85 percent go on to post-secondary education.
“And, wow, all because they got a Catholic education at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy. And so that’s why it’s important to me,” Farno said. “There’s a lot of different places that provide education to our young people, all of which are great. I think the Catholic school system, from what I’ve seen, does such a fabulous job of changing that trajectory for young people, the success rates that you see.”
He said he is no expert, still learning about the scope of the Catholic school system, but he did not need to be convinced that the school system in the archbishop is extremely effective.
“If there was anything in my power to help just a little bit, that would be a great way for me to invest my time,” he said.
Farno said having great teachers and recruiting more of them is an area on which he wants to focus. “It feels like it all starts with having great teachers. And I hear that everywhere; I’ve got two brothers who are teachers.”
He said student enrollment will be another priority, and the story of the schools’ successes needs to be told well.
Farno, with his wife Kathy, is a longtime parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Timonium, where she has served as a parish corporator since 2007. They have two children: a daughter, Meaghan, who lives in Baltimore, and a son, Patrick, who lives in Tennessee with his wife, Caroline, and infant son, Thomas.
He said his faith has always been important as he navigates “the challenges of raising a family, being a good husband, being a good father, being a good banker, being a good neighbor, being a good friend, whatever it might be – faith becomes important. You need that North Star. You need something to guide you and I think my wife, myself and our kids have all gravitated to figuring that out.
“If you have that as a starting point, then you think about the mission of the schools in the archdiocese to provide a Christ-centered education that is academically excellent and empowers students to reach their full potential – spiritually, intellectually, physically, socially and morally – that that lines up pretty well with how I think I want to conduct my life,” Farno said.
Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org
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