By Staff

Nov. 25, 2015:  The Rev. Dr. John A. Nunes of Valparaiso, Indiana, has been elected unanimously by the Concordia College-New York Board of Regents to serve as the school's ninth president. 

Nunes, 52, has served for the past two years as the Emil and Elfriede Jochum Chair at Valparaiso University and plans to finish the current academic year before assuming the Concordia presidency on July 1, 2016.

"What a marvelous opportunity God is giving me to serve at Concordia College-New York, a forward-looking 21st-century community of learning. I love that this school is peerless with respect to student diversity and deeply rooted in the values that make Lutheran higher education exceptional," Nunes said.

Concordia Board of Regents Chairman T. Scott Wittman noted that Nunes was unanimously and enthusiastically selected by the board to be the ninth president of Concordia College-New York. "John's unique combination of qualifications, skills, and experience is perfect to lead the college forward, building on the 16 years of tremendous leadership provided by President George," he said.

The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), said, "We are very pleased with Dr. Nunes' call to Bronxville. The challenges our universities face are daunting, but John has the gifts to lead this treasured institution at this time. He will bring a joyous and churchly face and build upon the strengths of the institution. Of that, I'm confident."

Nunes, an ordained LCMS minister, was president and chief executive officer of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore, from 2007 to 2013. LWR is an international nonprofit organization working to end poverty and injustice worldwide.

Prior to joining LWR, Nunes taught theology at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Illinois, and served as a management consultant, urban parish pastor, and community organizer in Dallas and Detroit.

He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Concordia College (now Concordia University), Ann Arbor, Michigan; a master of divinity degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada; and both a master of theology degree and a doctor of philosophy degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He also has received honorary doctorates from Concordia University, Ann Arbor, and Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Nunes is the author of Voices from the City: Issues and Images of Urban Preaching and, with his wife, Monique, the children's book Little Things Make Big Differences: A Story about Malaria.

Monique Nunes will also begin work on July 1, 2016, serving as director of international programs at Martin Luther School (MLS) in Maspeth (Queens). Martin Luther School executive director Randal C. Gast said Monique Nunes "brings vibrancy" to the program, which currently serves 85 students and is projected to grow to nearly 200 students by the fall of 2017.

She "understands how this important program is an extension of our mission outreach," with six students baptized last year and two this year, Gast said, and "is the person who will take our international program to the next level here at MLS."

Pictured here:  The Rev. Dr. John A. Nunes.

Photo courtesy Concordia College