Joe Ferrara is Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff at Georgetown University. He has served in this role for 13 years. In this role, he has worked closely with the President and the Board of Directors to manage major university initiatives and advance the university’s strategic and operational objectives. Some examples include:
- In August 2015, President DeGioia asked Joe to lead the University’s response to the history of slavery at Georgetown and in the American Jesuit order.
- In June 2017, President DeGioia asked to Joe to lead Chief Operating Officer (COO) operations pending the appointment of a new permanent COO.
- In March 2020, President DeGioia asked Joe and the COO to co-lead Georgetown’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joe has been at Georgetown since 2002 and previously served as Associate Dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy (during Joe’s time there it was called the Georgetown Public Policy Institute). Joe helped to establish several new graduate and certificate programs and taught courses to both pre-career and mid-career graduate students. Joe led the move of the school from the Car Barn to Old North in 2010. In 2006, Joe was selected by the graduating class to receive the Leslie Whittington Award for outstanding faculty. Prior to his service at Georgetown, Joe worked for over 15 years in government service. Most of his federal career was with the U.S. Department of Defense, where he worked on budget, acquisition, and legislative matters in a variety of assignments. Joe was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and entered federal service through the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship Program.
Joe has been recognized for his service at Georgetown and in government, including the Thrive Award for Service to First-Generation, High-Need Students (the inaugural recipient), the Whittington Award at the McCourt School, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Civilian Service (three times), and the Vice President Gore’s “Hammer” Award for Reinventing Government (two times).
Joe earned his Ph.D. in Government at Georgetown and has published in a number of academic and professional journals, including the American Politics Quarterly, the Journal of Church and State, and the National Security Studies Quarterly. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in political science and public policy.
Joe is married to Martha Ferrara, CPA – they were married at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. Joe and Martha have three adult children, who attended Blessed Sacrament Grade School and Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia. While their children were at Blessed Sacrament, Joe was elected to three terms as president of the Blessed Sacrament Parent-Teacher Organization. He also coached Catholic Youth Organization basketball and Little League baseball for many years.