A man who has been a voice for the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City for about the past seven years will become the new interim president of Father Tolton Regional High School in Columbia.
Deacon Dan Joyce has accepted the role, following the resignation of current President Bernard A. Naumann Jr., who will leave to care for his aging parents. Joyce will take the position July 1.
Naumann served as the school's president and principal. Jefferson City Bishop Shawn McKnight determined the duties should be separated, according to a news release from the diocese.
McKnight also appointed Gwendolyn Roche as the school's new principal.
Joyce, an attorney who currently serves as the diocese's communications director, served nearly 32 years in Missouri state government, working in budget, legislative, upper management and legal jobs, before going into communications at the diocese.
"The president of a high school these days is primarily the public face of a school," Joyce said. "They work with alumni and look for organizational grants and endowments."
Joyce had to work with budgets in about all of the jobs he had in state government, he said.
He added the position wasn't something he'd sought, but that he's been involved in Catholic education his entire life. He started out in Catholic schools as a child, later earning a bachelor's degree from Marquette University and a law degree from St. Louis University, both Jesuit institutions.
"I've been part of it my whole life," Joyce said. "It's meant so much to me that I want to be a part of it."