Georgetown University is a private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States that was founded as Georgetown College by Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore in 1789. The president of Georgetown University is its chief executive officer, and from its establishment until the 1960s was also the rector of the university's Jesuit community. The president is elected by and may be removed by the university's board of directors, and is ex officio a member of the board. The president is also one of five members of the university's legal corporation, known as the President and Directors of Georgetown College, which was first chartered by the United States Congress in 1815.