Rider University Names Lehigh Graduate, Former Alvernia President John R. Loyack as Its Next Leader

May 15, 2025

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Rider University has named John R. Loyack, a former Lehigh University administrator and president of Alvernia University as its eighth president.

Loyack will succeed Gregory G. Dell’Omo this summer, according to a statement from the Lawrenceville, N.J., school.

Loyack most recently served as president of Alvernia, in Reading, where he completed a $60 million fundraising campaign in 30 months, according to Rider.

Earlier, he was executive vice president at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre.

Loyack is a Certified Public Accountant who has also held positions in the corporate world. He was president and chief executive of Optim Energy, chief executive of CPG International and chief financial officer of PNM Resources.

He is a graduate of King’s College with an MBA from Lehigh University.

Rider is a private university that was founded in 1865 as Trenton Business College. It has about 4,000 students, graduate and undergraduate. It merged with Westminster Choir College in 1992, and was granted university status in 1994.