The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Dr. Bryan Szumlas has been appointed CCSD's new chief superintendent and chief executive officer, effective March 1, 2020.
Dr. Szumlas succeeds current Chief Superintendent Gary Strother, who announced his retirement in June 2019 after eight years leading CCSD.
Dr. Szumlas is currently an Area Director with Calgary Catholic providing services to schools in north central Calgary and Airdrie. He has been employed with Calgary Catholic since 1990 and has served in numerous capacities, including classroom teacher, assistant principal, science supervisor, vice-principal, principal, supervisor of teaching and learning and director with Instructional Services. Dr. Szumlas is a graduate of the University of Calgary (B.Ed., M.Ed., Ed.D.) and has made many educational presentations at the local, provincial, national and international levels. He is especially known for having chaired the Alberta Assessment Consortium.
"The priority for the Board has been in finding an individual with a deep faith commitment, strong education credentials, broad exemplary professional experiences, and who possesses the personal attributes and leadership qualities capable of moving forward an organization that already enjoys an excellent reputation provincially. The ideal candidate profile established by the Board through extensive consultation with stakeholders was exacting. The Board of Trustees is confident that it has found this individual in Bryan Szumlas," said Mary Martin, Chair, Board of Trustees.
Dr. Szumlas believes that as Chief Superintendent it will be very important to not lose sight of what matters most, the students. "This is truly the achievement of a long-term goal," says Dr. Szumlas. "It is with utmost humility that I face the challenging task of providing administrative leadership to the largest Catholic division in the province. Every recommendation we make as a senior administrative team to our Board must be rooted in the question, how does this impact students in the classroom?" Dr. Szumlas firmly believes in working closely as a team, valuing each person and that "with God at our side, we can make the necessary and sometimes tough decisions so that Calgary Catholic students can live and learn in our Catholic faith."
The Board of Trustees was very pleased with the quality of candidates that were drawn from its nation-wide search and informed its selection on the criteria developed through its consultation and Division-wide survey results. The Board is confident that Dr. Szumlas will continue to build on the excellent reputation of the Division as an educational leader and an Alberta Top 70 employer.
Dr. Szumlas is married to Sandy, who is a Kindergarten teacher at Ascension of Our Lord School; they have two children, Katrina and Justin, both graduates of Notre Dame High School in CCSD. As a family they enjoy the outdoors, especially hiking in Alberta's wilderness.
