St. Louis University has named the president of a Jesuit college in New York as its next president.

Fred P. Pestello will be SLU's first permanent lay president in the school's 196-year history. He will fill the role on July 1.

Since 2008, he has been the president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. He was also the first lay president of that school.

“I am humbled and honored to follow in the footsteps of the Jesuit presidents who have come before me, and I am deeply committed to carrying on the mission they have fostered so well,” Pestello said is a prepared statement today.

He previously spent nearly 25 years as faculty member at the University of Dayton, a Catholic, Marianist institution. He is a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland.

“Dr. Pestello has spent his entire career in Catholic higher education, and he understands and embraces SLU’s Jesuit mission.” said J. Joe Adorjan, chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, in a prepared statement.