The Catholic University of America’s ‘Visionary’ New Board Chairman Takes the Wheel| National Catholic Register

To an outsider, Rob Neal, the recently elected chairman of the board of trustees at The Catholic University of America (CUA), might not seem like an obvious choice for a key leadership position at the university founded by the Catholic bishops of the United States.

For one thing, he’s not an alum, unlike many of his fellow lay board members. A product of California’s state university system, Neal, who entered the Catholic Church as an adult, has never attended any Catholic educational institution.

What’s more, the real estate executive, philanthropist and recreational race-car driver lives in Newport Beach, California, some 2,600 miles away from the university’s campus in Washington, D.C.

But talk to the people who have worked alongside Neal on CUA’s board of trustees and you’ll hear him described in terms like “visionary” and “big thinker” with a “passion” and “enthusiasm” for the university. These qualities, they say, are just what CUA, amid a changing and challenging environment for higher education, needs most in a leader.

In March 2024, two years into CUA President Peter Kilpatrick’s tenure, the university launched a new branding campaign (“Lead with Light”), which aims to make the school stand out for its academic excellence and fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

‘The’ National Catholic University

Neal, 65, a managing partner of the commercial real estate firm Hager Pacific Properties based in Newport Beach, California, shared his ambition for CUA during an interview with EWTN News in Indianapolis at the National Eucharistic Congress. The school’s branding campaign is not just a public-relations move for its new chairman of the board -– according to Neal, it’s part of a mission to make the school known as “the” national Catholic university.

“I wanted to make sure that I could bring some leadership that would allow Catholic University of America to be exactly that — the Catholic university of the entire land,” said Neal, noting that the school enjoys a singular status, having been established in 1887 by Pope Leo XIII, who, by papal decree, established it as the national Catholic university in the United States under the authority of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference.

“Many people look at us that way, but many in the United States — most — don’t know us. They don’t know that we’re the bishops’ conference’s school. I think if you asked them, they’d probably say Notre Dame is,” Neal said.

Neal called the University of Notre Dame “an extraordinarily fine facility,” adding, “but they don’t have the imprimatur that Catholic University of America does.”

After mere months in his new role, Neal’s zeal for his mission has earned praise from Kilpatrick, who in 2022 succeeded longtime president John Garvey.

“I am genuinely impressed by the enthusiasm and energy with which Rob Neal has embraced in his role as chairman of the board of The Catholic University of America, creating a sense of urgency and passion for what promises to be a productive tenure,” Kilpatrick told the Register.

“Rob and I share a deep commitment to the mission of Catholic University, as well as a positive outlook on the future of authentic Catholic higher education. I look forward to working alongside Rob, whose exceptional talent for building relationships and bringing together diverse perspectives will undoubtedly inspire collaboration and drive our collective success,” he said.

Fellow CUA trustee John Corcoran called the selection of Neal as board chair “an inspired one.”

“He is a man of deep faith who blends many talents seamlessly — a husband and father, a business leader, and a visionary. Rob is a big thinker who does not accept the status quo. Working with President Kilpatrick, I see that the future of Catholic University with Rob Neal as board chair is bright,” Corcoran told the Register.

For his part, Neal told the Register he sees his role as encouraging a variety of viewpoints.

“My style has always been one of collaboration. That’s really to invite and to encourage all perspectives, all positions, all opinions,” he said. “This is how you get the best out of a board.”

A Catholic Convert

In his role, Neal leads a diverse 45-member board comprised of prominent leaders in business, academia and the U.S. Church, including six cardinals.

As someone who has generated $5 billion in property deals for his company — and races cars for fun — you could say he’s very comfortable in the driver’s seat.

Rob Neal, race-car driver(Photo: Kevin Swartout/Vital Speed)

Even so, rising to chairman of a Catholic university is a surprising turn of events for a person who was raised in a “nominally Protestant family” and had no real faith at all until he met his future wife Berni.

Berni made it clear that she wouldn’t marry him unless he became a Catholic.

Neal complied; his commitment to his new faith just wasn’t very strong, at first, he admits. Then, about 10 years into their marriage, everything changed.

One day his children asked him, “Why don’t you go to church with us, Dad?”

“That did it. That got me going,” he said. “I’m late to the party, but converts are the very best, as you know, because we made our decision as adults, and we take this thing super seriously. That’s what converts say. My wife argues the opposite as a cradle Catholic, so we go back and forth on a number of things,” Neal said.

For her part, Berni Neal credits the Holy Spirit for being “a gale-force wind at our backs, helping us and guiding us and putting in our path the most amazing people, apostolates, calls to action.” The couple has been married for 40 years and have two grown children and a pair of grandchildren.

Prompted by Rob’s business success, they felt called to share their talents, treasure and passion with a host of Catholic causes. Today, they serve as stewards of The Papal Foundation, the charity dedicated to funding projects selected by the pope. Rob has also held board positions at nonprofits including Becket law group, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Leadership Institute, and the Magis Center (whose president is Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer), as well as The Catholic University of America. And Berni serves on the boards of Catholic Leadership Institute, ENDOW, EWTN, Legatus, Live Action, the Magnificat Foundation, Pueri Cantores (a Catholic student choral organization) and Thomas Aquinas College.

According to Neal, his race-car-driving hobby is not one of the things they “go back and forth on.”

Berni “is a good sport” about his penchant for racing Ferraris at speeds as fast as 170 mph. Neal’s passion for car racing began in the 1980s when he worked on the pit crew for his brother, the late Jim Neal Jr., who raced for NASCAR. He then became a collector of Ferraris and eventually a recreational driver.

Rob Neal and his wife Berni pose in front of his Ferrari race car, which features decals from Catholic University and St. Thomas Aquinas College. (Photo: Kevin Swartout/Vital Speed)

Academics and ‘Catholicity’

In his new role at CUA, Neal is eager to kick things into higher gear.

He said Catholic University is already “really the best in many areas.” He pointed to the university’s schools of law, engineering, arts and science, theology and religious studies and philosophy, as well as The Busch School of Business.

The university is rising to the top in the sciences in particular, joining an elite group of four Catholic universities recognized for scientific research, Neal said.

“One of the things I’m really excited about is next year, and perhaps even this year, we will become what’s known as an R1 university, a tier-one research university. There are only three other Catholic universities that are R1 in the United States. We’ll be the fourth,” he said.

“I think it’s that school out in South Bend, Indiana, Boston College, Georgetown, and then there will be Catholic University of America. I think this is super important because that is our peer group as we see it, and I’m excited about that,” he said.

For Neal, it is as important for CUA to be faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church as it is for it to earn accolades in academics.

“We have a really specific responsibility to speak to this inherent linkage between our Catholic faith and the desire for knowledge — our Catholic faith in obedience to the magisterium,” he said.

“It’s just a question of whether we have the fortitude, the internal intestinal fortitude to be able to follow the teachings faithfully, I would dare say, religiously,” he said. “That is what The Catholic University of America was formed for.”

Neal commended hiring decisions made in recent years, saying they have been essential to ensuring that the school stays faithful to the teachings of the Church.

“Our provost, Aaron Dominguez, like our president [Peter Kilpatrick], and so many of the management are extraordinarily faithful Catholics, faithful to the magisterium,” he said.

Neal noted that Dominguez has hired 150 new faculty members, who he said are “absolutely obedient” to the Church and its teachings.

“Their understanding of our Church, its intellectual legacy, and the dictates of our faith is complete. That’s a big part of why they were hired. They’re the best in their field, but they’re absolutely faith-filled, and that process will continue. We’re on that every day. Every day,” he said.

The university administration’s “internal intestinal fortitude” was put to the test in January 2024, when a visiting professor who brought an “abortion doula” to class to speak to the students was swiftly fired after the incident was made public. Neal told the Register it was “the right thing to do.”

“I would dare say that at many schools she wouldn’t have been terminated. But not at Catholic,” he said.

Another recent change that Neal touted as reflecting the “Catholicity” of the school is the renewal he sees in the practice of faith on campus. In 2022, Dominican priests of the Province of St. Joseph took over the university’s Office of Campus Ministry — headed by Dominican Father Aquinas Guilbeau,university chaplain, director of campus ministry and vice president for ministry and mission, who also served as cohost of EWTN’s coverage of the National Eucharistic Congress — and the students have been “delighted and energized” by their leadership, according to Neal.

“They’re so good with the kids — the kids respond to them. There’s a great intellectual tradition with the Dominicans — they’re nobody’s fool, and they don’t take a back seat to anybody intellectually. The kids get that, too,” he said.

Looming Speed Bumps

The biggest challenge facing Catholic University, Neal said, is something affecting every other college and university in the country: There are fewer students going to college today, and the trend shows no sign of stopping.

“There is something called a demographic cliff that is facing higher education. Since 2010, there are roughly 3 million kids less nationally that are going to colleges and universities than there were.”

He believes that sharing the school’s mission to be the national Catholic university in practice as well as in name will give students a reason to go to college — and give CUA an edge over the competition.

“CUA is responding to that by making it clear to more people who we are and what we stand for,” he said.

Back on Track

Out on the race track, Neal makes it very clear where he stands.

In recent years, he has had to take a break from the sport due to health issues related to his vision, but this April, on his 65th birthday, Neal was back behind the wheel at the Ferrari Challenge, a Formula One race in Austin, Texas.

Along with stickers for motor oil, his new red Ferrari 488 EVO prominently displayed advertisements for The Catholic University of America and Thomas Aquinas College.

Rob Neal races on the track.(Photo: Kevin Swartout/Vital Speed)