As the end of the 2022-2023 school year approaches, the Keeping the Faith strategic plan for Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Cleveland announces the hire of two key people: Drew Courter, director of Catholic identity, and Michael Suso, director of marketing for Catholic elementary schools.
The hires are key components of the initiative that was launched in January by Bishop Edward Malesic. KTF seeks to build on the rich history and tradition of excellence and faith formation by strengthening the system of elementary Catholic education in order to keep irresistibly Catholic, academically excellent, operationally sound and geographically accessible schools available across the diocese where demand exists.
Courter will work with the pastors, school leaders, the Office of Catechetical Formation and the Office of Catholic Education to help lead the efforts to provide spiritual and human formation for school leaders, faculty, staff and parents. He also will help implement a common vision for the Catholic identity of the schools in line with the benchmarks envisioned by the bishop and to help ensure the Catholic vision/pedagogy is a part of the whole of Catholic education.
An Ohio native, he grew up in Columbus and has worked in both elementary and high schools. Courter earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida and a master’s degree in theological studies from the University of Dayton, where he also taught undergraduates. In addition, he has worked with children who have severe or multiple disabilities.
Courter and his wife Kelly have five children and will be relocating to the diocese.
As director of marketing, Suso will work with the Communications Department and the Office of Catholic Education to promote the benefits of Catholic education with a consistent, unified diocesanwide marketing effort on various platforms and he will assist individual schools with their marketing efforts.
A graduate of Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School in Chardon, Suso earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Notre Dame. He was assistant director of the Alliance for Catholic Education at Notre Dame and later returned to NDCL as a coach and theology teacher. For the past decade, he has been NDCL’s director of admission sand has served annually as an adjunct professional specialist for Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education. During his tenure as NDCL’s director of admissions, it was the only Catholic high school on Cleveland’s east side to consistently maintain and grow its enrollment, becoming the sixth largest of the 20 Catholic high schools in the diocese.
Click here to learn more about the Keeping the Faith initiative.