J. A. O. Preus III

Dr. Jacob Aall Ottesen Preus III (born 1953) is the former president of Concordia University in Irvine, California. He served as president of the university from 1998 to 2009. Previously, he was a professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. On September 23, 2009, he resigned his position as university president to become Executive Vice President for Mission Advancement for Bethesda Lutheran Communities[1] in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Preus graduated from the University of Missouri in 1975. He received his M.Div. (1980), S.T.M. (1986), and Th.D. (1986) from Concordia Seminary in Clayton, Missouri.

His father J. A. O. Preus II was the eighth president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and drew fame for his role in the church schism of the 1970s known as Seminex. His grandfather J. A. O. Preus was a politician who served as Minnesota's eighth state auditor and 20th governor. His extended family has been very prominent in American Lutheranism, especially within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).