Isaacson, Miller Recruits 49th President for Georgetown University
October 30, 2025 – Boston-based Isaacson, Miller has recruited Eduardo M. Peñalver as the 49th president of Georgetown University. John Isaacson, Anita Tien, Berkley Braden, and Jane McInerney led the assignment. Mr. Peñalver will succeed interim president Robert M. Groves, who has led Georgetown for the past year after former president John J. DeGioia stepped down from his role in 2024 to recover from a stroke. “We are pleased to welcome Eduardo Peñalver to Georgetown University,” said Thomas A. Reynolds, chair of the board of directors. “President Peñalver is an exceptional leader steeped in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition who brings a wealth of experience in higher education, a global mindset, a commitment to social justice and academic excellence, and a bold vision for Georgetown’s future. We look forward to him joining our Georgetown community.”
Mr. Peñalver has served as the 22nd president of Seattle University, a Catholic, Jesuit institution, since 2021. He was the first layperson to lead the university since its founding in 1891. Prior to Seattle University, Mr. Peñalver served as the dean of Cornell Law School. He studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and law degree from Yale Law School. He also clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
As a leading scholar on property law, Mr. Peñalver has taught law at Fordham Law School, the University of Chicago Law School and Cornell Law School. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale law schools.
“I’m deeply honored to have the privilege of serving as Georgetown’s next president,” Mr. Peñalver said. “I would like to thank the presidential search committee and Georgetown’s board of directors for entrusting this role to me at such a pivotal time for Georgetown and for higher education. I am also grateful to Jack DeGioia for his decades of transformative leadership and to interim president Bob Groves for his careful stewardship this past year.”
Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C., and founded in 1789, is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit University in the United States. Over its 236 years, Georgetown has become a leading global research university, routinely ranked among the top twenty-five in the country, with individual schools ranked more highly.
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A nationally recognized search firm focused on recruiting transformational leaders for mission-driven organizations, Isaacson, Miller has conducted thousands of placements over more than three decades. More than half of the firm’s work has been in academia, involving university presidents, college chancellors and deans. The firm has filled top leadership posts at Wellesley College, Washington State University, Miami University, Howard University, Bowdoin College, Dartmouth, NYU, Virginia State University, and the University of North Carolina, among others.
Proven Search Consultants
Mr. Isaacson, the firm’s chair, founded Isaacson, Miller in 1982. He has led searches in many areas of the firm’s practice. Mr. Isaacson has helped the firm develop its cumulative knowledge of the craft of search and has attended, with increasing interest, to the missionary purposes of institutions, the political and economic disciplines of specialized markets, and the emotional and intellectual learnings that leaders acquire in a committed working life.
Ms. Tien conducts searches for leadership at arts and cultural organizations, foundations and colleges and universities. Within higher education, her practice includes presidents, provosts, deans of colleges of arts and sciences, the fine and performing arts, computer and information sciences, and chief information officers.
Ms. Burke joined Isaacson, Miller as an associate in 2019. She joined the firm with notable experience in higher education, k-12 education, and international education, most recently serving as an assistant director of admission at Georgetown University.
Ms. McInerney began her career at Isaacson, Miller in 2008 as a reference specialist and transitioned to recruitment in 2021. Given her previous background in academic medicine as a research scientist, she focuses on searches for academic medical centers, scientific and research organizations, and higher education. Some notable clients have been the University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, Medical College of Wisconsin, Virginia Commonwealth University, and University of California, Davis.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
