President’s Cabinet
Janice Warner, Ph.D.
Provost
Provost Janice Warner, Ph.D., is chief academic officer for Georgian Court and leads the university’s faculty and curriculum in the GCU School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business and Digital Media, the School of Education and the Hackensack Meridian Health School of Nursing and Wellness. She has served as leader of academic and student affairs since 2018.
Dr. Warner, named one of NJBiz’s Best 50 Women in Business for 2017, was most recently interim provost. Before that she was Dean of the GCU School of Business and Digital Media, where she was responsible for seven undergraduate majors and the MBA program. In that role, she expanded and revamped programs to meet industry demands, converted concentrations in finance, management and marketing into three new majors, and made global education a key focus of the student experience. She conducted and presented research on the merits of international, collaborative online learning projects in Tanzania and Bhutan, and in 2018 led GCU students on a business tour of Germany where they learned from professionals at Amazon, BMW and other companies.
Dr. Warner has also served as a full-time faculty member and held such leadership positions as chair of the Business Curriculum Committee.
Today, she is a member of the President’s Cabinet, leads the GCU Provost’s Council, and has a leadership role on the university’s Steering Committee for Strategic Planning. She is also a member of GCU’s Middle States Reaccreditation Steering Committee. She is active with the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), serves on the board of directors of the Northeast Business & Economics Association (NBEA), and is the president of the New Jersey Collegiate Business Administration Association (NJCBAA). Dr. Warner is also co-author of GCU’s Strategic Enrollment Plan, a critical element in the university’s Strategic Compass.
Dr. Warner, who has degrees from Columbia University (B.S. and M.S., electrical engineering) and Rutgers University (M.B.A., Ph.D., management), came to academia from industry, where she maintains strong ties. A former director for Telcordia Technologies, she also serves on the board of directors for the Monmouth Ocean Development Council and the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and participates in the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
Paul DaPonte, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Mission Integration and Special Assistant to the President
Paul DaPonte joined Georgian Court in 2018 and serves the university as executive director of mission integration. He is a theologian whose scholarly interests lie chiefly in the area of theological anthropology and the theology of person. Before coming to GCU, Dr. DaPonte was an associate professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, where he taught for 10 years and also served as vice president for mission and identity. In his capacity as chief mission officer, he established The Farm at Stonehill, a two-acre working farm under the supervision of a full-time farm manager and staffed primarily by student and faculty volunteers, with the mission of growing fresh produce for underserved and impoverished communities in nearby areas and raising awareness of food justice issues. Before his years at Stonehill, Dr. DaPonte previously taught in the Perspectives program at Boston College, and before that, at Salve Regina University, one of GCU’s sister Mercy schools.
Dr. DaPonte is a proud Rhode Island native who moved with his family to New Jersey in 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Providence College and pursued graduate studies at the University of Louvain in Belgium, where he earned master’s and doctoral degrees. His Ph.D./S.T.D. thesis offered a theological response to the problem of suffering after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It was published by Orbis Books in 2009 as Hope in an Age of Terror.
Chris Krzak
Vice President for Enrollment Management and Retention
Chris Krzak is vice president for enrollment management and retention for Georgian Court University, overseeing undergraduate, graduate, and off-site program admission; the Office of the Registrar; the Office of Student Success; and the Academic Development and Support Center. University President Joseph R. Marbach, Ph.D., named Mr. Krzak to the role in early 2020 following a national search.
Before joining GCU, Mr. Krzak served at the University of the Pacific, one of California’s oldest institutions, as assistant vice president for enrollment management and executive director of admission. He has a track record of success in growing applications and enrollment by building strong relationships in the community and on campus. He brings to GCU 30+ years of experience at schools like the University of San Francisco, California State University, and the University of La Verne.
Mr. Krzak’s enrollment experience encompasses recruiting, marketing, financial aid leadership, admissions operations and data analysis. In previous roles he helped lower university discount rates, created special campaigns and recruitment strategies for transfer students, and used economic modeling to improve aid packaging for students. Overall, his work extends to the many audiences higher education must reach—first-time college students, transfers, adult learners, graduate students and those seeking professional development.
He is passionate about campus collaboration and the work of enrollment managers. He also believes that mentoring and fully supporting admissions staffers helps them reach prospective students and families. By extension, that is one of many factors that helps drive enrollment.
Mr. Krzak earned an M.S. in Organizational Management from the University of La Verne and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. He is a member and often sought-after presenter for such organizations as the Hawaii Association for College Admission Counseling, Western Association for College Admission Counseling, National Association for College Admission Counseling, and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers.
Matthew R. Manfra
Vice President for Institutional Advancement
Veteran development and alumni relations expert Matthew Manfra brings decades of experience and innovation to his role as vice president for institutional advancement at Georgian Court University. He has worked in wide-ranging development and advancement roles throughout his career. His early years were spent as an alumni affairs director, and later in human resources, at the College of New Jersey (TCNJ). He also worked at Syracuse University as their first assistant vice president for annual giving and alumni relations—two operations that were historically separate there. He also worked at Rutgers University, where he was charged with engaging alumni leaders and donors around the world.
Prior to Georgian Court, Mr. Manfra served as interim vice president of development and alumni relations at the George Washington University, the largest higher education institution in the nation’s capital. There, he led the team that completed GW’s largest campaign—$1 billion—in collaboration with an exceptionally strong development staff and by incorporating data and predictive forecasting into the campaign strategy.
Mr. Manfra holds a B.A. in Political Science from TCNJ. He is a board member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II and former secretary of the Association of Private College and University Alumni Directors.
