Mark Hamstra, Superintendent of Chicago Christian Schools, leads a three-campus system serving nearly 900 students across Chicago’s Southland. A husband, father, veteran, coach, and educator, he is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of leaders.
He graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in history, where he played football and participated in Army ROTC. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Mark has over 14 years of military service, including two overseas tours and a combat deployment advising the Afghan Army in Southern Afghanistan. He also obtained a master’s degree in Leadership Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso during his active duty.
After military service, Mark pursued a career in education, spending 12 years in Chicago’s public charter schools. He held various roles, including dean, teacher, football coach, and high school principal at Noble Network of Charter Schools, which serves 12,000 students.
Mark returned home two years ago to lead his alma mater, Chicago Christian. He and his high school sweetheart, Sandy, whom he met 25 years ago, cherish their life together and their four children at Chicago Christian. Both Mark and Sandy have deep-rooted connections to the Chicago Christian community.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!