About the President

Fr. Gregorio Lapus Bañaga, Jr., C.M.

Fifth President, Adamson University

Gregorio L. Bañaga, Jr. was born in Tarlac City on October 31, 1953. He studied at the Holy Spirit College and Don Bosco Institute in Tarlac. After graduating from elementary school, he entered the seminary of the Congregation of the Mission, popularly known as the Vincentians. His college years were spent at Adamson University where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 1975. He continued his studies in Theology at the University of Sto. Tomas, finishing his course in 1979, and was ordained a priest in March of that year.

The first years of his priesthood were spent giving popular missions in the outlying areas of Rizal, Bataan, Camarines Sur, and Pangasinan. His work in the missions was interrupted when he was assigned for a year and a half as parish priest of the St. Vincent de Paul parish in Manila. After eight years of conducting rural missions, he was sent to the St. Vincent School of Theology (SVST) in Quezon City to become the Director of Students and professor of pastoral theology. He taught at SVST for four years. While working in the missions and teaching in the seminary, Fr. Gregg, as he is fondly called, was also involved with an international non-government organization called the Movement for a Better World. He became the East Asian coordinator of the group for six years and facilitated training programs in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Japan, and Korea.

In August 1992 he was sent to the United States to continue his graduate studies. He started his master's degree in Organizational Development at the Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois. While in Chicago, he worked in a parish and was consultant to the Ethnic Ministries of Archdiocese of Chicago. One year later, he transferred to the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he enrolled in the PhD in Organizational Behavior program of the university's Weatherland School of Management. While in Cleveland he worked at a parish and became the Spiritual Director of the Philippine American Community and Chaplain of University Hospitals. He graduated from Case Western in January 2000.

Fr. Gregg was appointed President of Adamson University in 2003, succeeding Fr. Jimmy Belita, C.M., the fourth President. He was reappointed to serve another three-year term in 2006, 2009, and again in 2012. Fr. Gregg is also the first alumni of the University to become its President.