On March 25, 2015, the Marquette University High School Board of Directors, with the approval of the provincial of the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus, voted unanimously to elect the Rev. Michael J. Marco, SJ, to be the 11th president of Marquette University High School, effective July 1, 2016.

Father Marco, 53, will serve as president-elect for the 2015-16 school year. He will succeed the Rev. Warren Sazama, SJ, who will complete his term as president on June 30, 2016.

“The Ad Hoc Presidential Transition Committee found the best candidate for Marquette High in Father Mike Marco,” said Bruce Arnold, chair of the school’s board of directors. “It was not only our hope to find the most qualified person to be our next president, but also to continue our 158-year tradition of having the school’s top leadership position be held by a Jesuit priest. We are thrilled to have both.”

Father Marco brings to Marquette High more than 20 years of Jesuit secondary education experience, including 10 years of executive experience as president of two other Jesuit high schools in the country. Father Marco has served as special assistant to the president at Marquette High since 2013. He previously served as president of Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland from 2010-2013, and president of Walsh Jesuit High School in Ohio from 2003-2010. From 1996-2002, Father Marco served at Creighton Preparatory High School in Nebraska as a theology teacher and department chair, director of campus ministry and assistant to the president. He also taught psychology and theology and coached baseball at Marquette High early in his career from 1989-1992.

Father Marco holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Creighton University, and a teacher certification from Marquette University. He also holds a master’s degree from Boston College in religious education, and a master of divinity degree from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

He studied philosophy for three years at Saint Louis University in preparation of his ordination to the priesthood. Father Marco currently serves on the boards of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee, which opens in Fall 2015. Father Marco is a Nebraska native.

“These are exciting times at Marquette University High School and I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to lead a high school with such a rich Jesuit history and strong Catholic tradition,” said Father Marco. “Father Sazama is leaving Marquette High in a very strong position, and I am confident that along with the entire Marquette High community we will continue to be an institution that honors faith, scholarship and community in all that we do.”

Father Sazama has served more than 25 years at Marquette University High School, including the past nine years as president. He is a 1964 alumnus of Marquette High. Following the transition on June 30, 2016, Father Sazama will be 70 years old and will accept a new assignment within the Wisconsin Province. In 2014 he celebrated his 50th anniversary of entering the Society of Jesus.

“On behalf of the Jesuits of the Midwest, I am very pleased that the board of directors of Marquette University High School has elected Father Michael Marco, SJ, as the next president,” said Father Thomas A. Lawler, SJ, Wisconsin Province provincial and 1983 graduate of Marquette High. “Father Marco is a fine Jesuit and priest, and a gifted administrator and leader. I have every confidence that Father Marco will be an excellent leader and will continue Marquette High’s legacy as one of the best high schools in the region.”

Marquette University High School is the premier Catholic, Jesuit, college-preparatory school for young men in Wisconsin and strives to form leaders who are religious, loving, seeking intellectual excellence, committed to justice and open to growth. Current enrollment is 1,084 students. Students come from 175 different schools in the five-county area, with 26 percent from the City of Milwaukee. Last year, MUHS students averaged a score of 27.5 on the ACT, and 98% of seniors enrolled in a four-year college or university following graduation.