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Canisius High School Today
Fellow Crusaders,
As a proud member of the Canisius High School class of ’81, I am honored to serve as the
school’s interim president. We wish John Knight success in his new position at St. Ignatius
Prep in San Francisco and thank him for his years of service to the Canisius community.
I take the helmof an organization that is clearlymoving in the right direction: Our
faculty and staff are competent and motivated. The school’s finances have stabi-
lized. Enrollment is near an all-time high. Athletic and classroom facilities are bet-
ter than at any time in Canisius history. Finally, the entire organization is getting
back to the roots of our Ignatian identity.
Over the next year, I hope to deepen my friendships with as many alumni as pos-
sible. For those of you whom I haven’t yet met, here’s a brief history of my journey
after graduating fromCanisius:
I ama 1985 graduate of The College of the Holy Cross andworked for several years
in Tokyo for the Toshiba Machine Co. I returned to Chicago in 1987 to work at the
“Chicago Tribune” and received my MBA from the Kellogg School (Northwestern
University) as a part-time student.
In 1990 I returned to Tokyo on a Japanese government scholarship and went to
work for Coca-Cola. In the mid ‘90s I held several management positions with
Coke in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. I returned to Buffalo in 1997 and
have lived with my wife and five children one block from Canisius for the past 15
years. I currently serve as Honorary Consul-General of Japan at Buffalo and on several com-
munity boards.
Mymain focus will be to re-engage our alumni with the school and to build on the excellent
work of my predecessors.
A.M.D.G.
Joe Koessler ‘81
President