The President is the Chief Executive Officer of the University and is directly responsible to the Board of Trustees. The President is the official representative for the University in all its external relations; internally the President provides leadership and direction for the university community, both directly and through the administrative officers of the various areas.

Since its founding in 1871, Christian Brothers University has been served by 23 full-term Presidents (several earlier Presidents served more than one non-consecutive terms).

  • President Maurelian Sheel, FSC | 1871-91
  • President Anthony Walsh, FSC | 1891-94
  • President Maurelian Sheel, FSC | 1894-99
  • President Anthony Walsh, FSC | 1899-1902
  • President Icarion Havighorst, FSC | 1902-04
  • President Maurelian Sheel, FSC | 1904-09
  • President Jovitus Edward O’Rourke, FSC | 1909-14
  • President Elzear Stephen Kelly, FSC | 1914-15
  • President Baldwin Witzleben, FSC | 1915-16
  • President John Joseph McMahon, FSC | 1916-18
  • President Leopold Julian Dodd, FSC | 1918-22
  • President Luke Joseph Kenrick, FSC | 1922-28
  • President Ignatius Francis McEvoy, FSC | 1928-35
  • President Luke Joseph Kenrick, FSC | 1935-41
  • President Lawrence David Bickett, FSC | 1941-47
  • President Hyacinth Richard Gerlach, FSC | 1947-53
  • President Lambert Thomas Matthews, FSC | 1953-62
  • President Terence McLaughlin, FSC | 1962-64
  • President Luke Grande, FSC | 1964-70
  • President Malcolm O’Sullivan, FSC | 1970-73
  • President Bernard LoCoco, FSC | 1973-80
  • President Theodore Drahmann, FSC | 1980-93
  • President Stanislaus Sobczyk, FSC* | 1993-94
  • President Michael J. McGinniss, FSC | 1994-99
  • President Stanislaus Sobczyk, FSC | 1999-2005
  • President H. Lance Forsdick, AFSC* | 2005
  • President Vincent Malham, FSC | 2005-08
  • President H. Lance Forsdick, AFSC* | 2008-09
  • President John Smarrelli Jr., PhD | 2009-2019
  • President John T. Shannon Jr. | 2019-2021
  • President David L. Archer | 2021-

*Interim