Thom named executive director

April 2, 2015

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — After serving as Concordia Lutheran High School’s principal for three years, Mychal Thom has accepted the call to be the executive director at the high school. Thom will assume the position after Terry Breininger retires in 2016.

As executive director, Thom will be responsible for overseeing the operation of the school. He will work with a team of administrators to lead the development, finance, academic, marketing, communications and enrollment programs of the school. He also will report to the board to strategically position the high school for the future.

The CLHS Board of Directors offered Thom the executive director position after much prayer and discussion. While other candidates were considered by the board and its search committee, a full national search was not conducted because the board believed that it had a strong internal candidate in Thom.

A search, led by Breininger, Thom and a committee, has begun for a new principal.

Thom was called to Concordia in 2012 as the 10th principal of the high school. He previously served as the Head of School for Lutheran High North in Houston, Texas.

Attending Oakland University on a full academic and full basketball scholarship, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2000.

In the athletic arena, he earned the award for the top student-athlete in the Mid-Continent Conference, and also was captain of the team that won the inaugural league championship for Oakland University’s men’s basketball team. As a result of his efforts at Oakland, he earned the Wilson Award, an honor given to the student who has made the most outstanding contribution to the university through scholarship and leadership. He then was awarded a full scholarship to pursue his master’s degree at Oakland, which he earned in 2004.

Thom has taught at the high school and college levels as well as coaching and serving as an assistant athletic director. In addition, Thom was a professional speaker for Making It Count Inc., traveling to high schools to speak to students about making good decisions regarding college.

After just one year of teaching at the community college level, Thom was hired to be the principal for St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, Mich. While serving as principal, he earned his Colloquy from Concordia University at Ann Arbor in 2009.

In the spring of 2009, Thom was called to be the Head of School for Lutheran High North. After three years of service in Houston, he was called to be the principal at Concordia.

Thom also currently serves as the chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of Lutheran Secondary Schools and also serves on the faculty for the Van Lunen Center Christian Executive Management program.

Breininger has served as the executive director of the high school for eight years. A 1967 graduate of the high school, he was called to Concordia in 1974 as a religion teacher and as an assistant principal before leaving to work for his family’s retail business in 1983. In 1995, he was named the gift planning counselor for the LCMS Foundation in Indiana. And then in 2000, he returned to Concordia as the head of the Concordia Educational Foundation, the organization’s endowment, and was named the full-time executive director of the high school in 2008.

Concordia Lutheran High School, located at 1601 St. Joe River Drive in Fort Wayne, Ind., was founded in 1935 as a private, co-educational Lutheran high school open to students of all faiths and backgrounds. With Christ at the center, Concordia continues to pursue educational excellence that equips individuals for lifelong learning and service as disciples of Jesus Christ. Learn more at www.clhscadets.com.

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