Photo Courtesy of Archdiocese of Atlanta

ARLINGTON, Va.–On Tuesday, June 4, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., was elected to a three-year term as chairman of the board of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA).

NCEA is the largest, private professional education association in the world. NCEA works with Catholic educators to support ongoing faith formation and the teaching mission of the Catholic Church. The association’s membership includes nearly 140,000 educators serving 1.6 million students in Catholic education.

As a professional association with a focus of Catholic school education, NCEA’s aim is to lead, learn and proclaim by developing current and future leaders; providing educational resources and strategically expanding professional development opportunities for those committed to the mission of Catholic education and serving as the national voice for Catholic schools.

Archbishop Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM Conv., son of the late Sally and John W. Hartmayer, was born on Nov. 21, 1951, in Buffalo, New York.

Archbishop Hartmayer attended Cardinal O’Hara High School, conducted by the Conventual Franciscan Friars, and graduated in 1969. Upon graduation, he joined the novitiate for the Conventual Franciscan Friars in Ellicott City, Maryland. He professed his solemn vows on Aug. 15, 1973, and received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

In August of 1974, Archbishop Hartmayer was assigned to teach at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, Maryland, for one year before entering St. Anthony-on-Hudson in Rensselaer, New York, where he earned an Master of Divinity degree in 1979. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, on May 5, 1979, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, New York.

Archbishop Hartmayer earned a master’s in pastoral counseling from Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1980 and a Master of Education. in secondary Catholic school administration from Boston College in 1992.

After ordination, Archbishop Hartmayer was assigned to Archbishop Curley High School as a guidance counselor and later became principal from 1985-87. He was then appointed principal at Cardinal O’Hara in Tonawanda, New York, in 1988 and then principal of St. Francis High School in Hamburg, New York, until 1994.

In January of 1995, he was assigned to the faculty at John Carroll High School in Ft. Pierce, Florida. On Aug. 15, 1995, he was assigned to St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro, where he was pastor for 15 years. In July 2010, Archbishop Hartmayer was appointed pastor of St. John Vianney in Lithia Springs until being named the 14th bishop of Savannah, on July 19, 2011.

On May 6, 2020, Archbishop Hartmayer was installed as the seventh archbishop of Atlanta.

Archbishop Hartmayer currently serves as a member of the USCCB Communications Committee, the National Collections Committee, chairman of the USCCB sub-committee for Communications, member of the board for CLINIC; and is a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida, and St. John Vianney College and Seminary in Miami, Florida.