Richard Greco, Jr.

President & Chairman of the Board

Teacher of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Italian Cinema

Richard Greco Jr. has been the president of The Montfort Academy since its founding more than twenty years ago. Mr. Greco founded Montfort out of a deep love for God and His created world, Christ’s message of forgiveness and promise of eternal life, and a commitment to forming young men and women in intellect and character. Under his leadership The Montfort Academy has grown from just four students to its current, full-capacity enrollment of 180 students and has consistently been ranked among the best Catholic high schools in America.  In addition to developing Montfort’s classical academic curriculum and special programs and managing Montfort’s distinguished faculty of 23 scholars, Mr. Greco has helped Montfort form relationships with prestigious research, academic, cultural, and religious institutions around the world. In 2014 he was part of the United States delegation to a worldwide Holy See conference on the future of Catholic education and contributed to the publication Education, A Renewing Passion: Today and Tomorrow. 

Mr. Greco established Montfort while he was still a Managing Director at the corporate finance advisory firm of Stern Stewart & Co., which he joined in 1997 and where he specialized in shareholder value creation strategies and was responsible for Stern Stewart’s expansion into Italy. The events of September 11, 2001 compelled Mr. Greco to leave the private sector for government service. In 2002 he was appointed a White House Fellow and was assigned to the Department of Defense. After his White House Fellowship year, Mr. Greco was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as the nation's 19th Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller), responsible for an annual budget of $130 billion and a global financial workforce of 7,000 professionals. He also served as the chairman of the Department of the Navy’s audit committee, National President of the American Society of Military Comptrollers, a member of the Navy’s Acquisition Integrity Board, and a member of the Executive Committee of the United States Naval Academy. For exceptional service to our Navy and Marine Corps, Mr. Greco was twice awarded the Department of the Navy's Distinguished Public Service Medal.

In 2007, at the conclusion of his government service, Mr. Greco. was named Chief Executive Officer of Filangieri Capital Partners, a private investment and strategic advisory firm named after Gaetano Filangieri, an 18th Century Italian political philosopher who had a multi-year correspondence with Benjamin Franklin. During his ten years as CEO of Filangieri Capital, Mr. Greco invested in and served as the Chairman, CEO, or Member of the Board of Directors of twelve portfolio companies from start-up to Global Fortune 500, including three publicly traded companies with more than $8.5 billion of market capitalization. During this time Mr. Greco was also a regular contributor to Longitude, a publication of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2013, Mr. Greco worked with the Banking Association of San Marino and the Pope John Paul II Foundation to design a strategy to help the Republic of San Marino re-integrate into the global banking and financial system. In 2017, Mr. Greco retired from business and joined The Montfort Academy’s faculty full-time. He still serves as a Senior Advisor at The Scowcroft Group, based in Washington, D.C., an international strategy advisory firm founded by former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, where he had been an associate immediately after graduate school.

Among Mr. Greco’s distinctions are The Department of the Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Knighthood of the Italian Republic in the Order of Merit bestowed by the President of Italy, Knighthood in the Order of Malta, Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the Filippo Mazzei Award for Public Service, and the Minatore d’Oro International Humanitarian Award.  He served as the Vice Chairman and member of the board of the Westchester County Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Department for eight years and on the board of trustees of The Hudson River Museum for fifteen years. In addition, he has served on the board of trustees of the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, the advisory board of The Navy League of the United States New York Chapter, and the advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America Westchester-Putnam Council. He has also served as a member of the advisory board of the Morgan Stanley Journal of Applied Corporate Finance and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Richard Greco holds an M.B.A. in finance from The University of Chicago, an M.A. in American Foreign Policy from The Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in Chemistry Summa Cum Laude, In Cursu Honorum from Fordham University, which he attended on a full scholarship. Mr. Greco is the author or co-author of twenty-seven published articles, policy papers, and white books on international finance and banking, American foreign policy, corporate governance, incentive compensation, humanitarian assistance, and education. He is married to Mrs. Marla Greco, and they are the proud parents of six children, including a United States Marine.