OLEAN, N.Y. — The time had come for Archbishop Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic School to seek a new brand of leadership.

And after a two-year search, officials have selected a new school president. 

Tom Manko, a Cuba native and longtime public education administrator, will transition to the private institution, effective July 14.

“We’re thrilled,” said Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic board of trustees president Beth Powers. “… we, as a board, said we are not going to compromise our vision for what we want in a president, we’re not going to be in a rush, we’re going to find the right person.”

Powers said Manko will be Walsh’s first official president in roughly 10 years.

“We wanted somebody who could readily understand a school that is a Catholic private school, not just a private school,” she added. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they had to be a president of a private Catholic school before, but they had to be somebody who could readily understand it.”

She said the school, at which students from Bradford, Pa., are eligible to attend, was looking for a candidate well-versed in community and political outreach, as well as grant writing, alumni relations and recruiting. And since Walsh is partially dependent upon donations, Powers noted Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic needs an advocate for the Invest in Education bill, which would provide tax incentives to donors.

“We wanted somebody who understands excellence in education and has a passion for it and is not so bound by bureaucratic kinds of concerns,” Powers said. “… we wanted somebody who has the personality and the capability to very much be an ambassador for the school and the public and working with our elected officials.”

Manko said he’s eager to fill those expectations.

“I accept the challenge excitedly and enthusiastically,” Manko said. “It’s just another way that I can contribute to the core value of an educational program.”

He currently serves as superintendent of the Mahopac Central School District, which houses approximately 5,000 students, in Putnam County.

He previously was superintendent of the York and New York Mills school districts.

While admitting the transition from public to private will offer challenges, Manko said he’s confident the school will succeed under his leadership.

“This is basically a private corporation, as I see it, but it’s faith-based, which is unique because not all corporations have a faith component,” Manko said. “I’m a practicing Catholic. I love my religion. I accept other faiths, as well. As long as we believe in good things, good things will happen to those people.

“When you come to a school like Archbishop Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic, you can actually zero in on and focus on the things that are important to education … Here, you can peel back the onion a couple layers and get at the core sooner than you would otherwise.”

Manko was a 1972 graduate of Cuba Central School. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in history from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. He then earned master’s degrees from Colgate University — where he met his wife, Janet — and Syracuse University.

His appointment came at an ideal time for continued improvement, Powers said.

“We’re really at a point in this school where we’ve done a tremendous amount in terms of growing the curriculum and creating a robust curriculum and robust learning environment,” she said. “We’ve done a lot with the physical infrastructure — the classrooms of the future, the parking lot and all kinds of renovations that we’ve done here, restoring the building to its original architectural genre.”

Principal Mykal Karl said the Walsh/Southern Tier Catholic goal is to become an “educational powerhouse.” But for that to become reality, the small, private school also needs strong business leadership, she explained.

“We have to have a good synergy at the leadership top, where you have someone running the business and someone running the academics,” Karl said. “How do we continue to excel? It’s by having that partnership at the top.”

Manko lives in Avon with his wife, with whom he has three sons, Stephen, 31, Daniel, 29, and Michael, 27.