Who We AreLeadership/BoardNCNWR 2012 Board of Directors
 Chair
Julie Gilberto-Brady
Communications Coordinator
School Sisters of Notre Dame NAMA
Elm Grove WI
Julie Gilberto-Brady of River Forest, Illinois, is the communications coordinator for the School Sisters of Notre Dame’s North American Major Area. Julie began her career as a newspaper reporter in North Carolina before moving to Texas, where she covered higher education and then was assistant national/foreign editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. After moving to the Chicago area 16 years ago, Julie worked as a writer and public relations consultant. Julie’s work for the School Sisters of Notre Dame at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women conference was named an NCNWR Best Practice in 2008. She has been an NCNWR member for seven years, was chair of the membership committee and has served on the NCNWR board since 2010. Julie is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree in communications and of Northwestern University with a master's in communications.
julie-nama@ssnd.org
 Vice Chair
Debbi Della Porta
Director of Communications
Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community
Merion Station PA
Debbi Della Porta is director of communications for the Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community, based in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. Her previous experience includes over 25 years in public relations for a school, non-profit agency, and as a consultant. Her communications specialties are strategic planning and the use of research in devising communications strategies. She earned a master’s degree in professional communications from LaSalle University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Debbi participated in the “Reconfiguration: Communication Challenges and Opportunities” panel discussion at the 2006 NCNWR Conference in San Antonio, Texas, where she shared information about communications and webcasting. Debbi’s work in communications and technology for the Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community was named as an NCNWR Best Practice in 2010 and 2011. She has served on the NCNWR board since 2009 and became vice-chair in 2010. She chaired the NCNWR development committee. Debbi is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the American Marketing Association.
ddellaporta@mercymidatlantic.org
 Treasurer
Barbara Mullen, CSJ
Director of Mission Advancement
Sisters of St Joseph of Chambery
West Hartford CT
Sister Barbara Mullen, CSJ, is director of mission advancement for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery, based in West Hartford, Connecticut. The United States Province is one of 14 Chambery Provinces with a combined membership of close to 1,800 sisters and lay associates on five continents. Along with nursing degrees in gerontology, Sister Barbara earned her master’s in communication/public relations from the University of Hartford. Her professional background includes careers in nursing education, gerontology, health care administration, finance, and communications/public relations. She has worked in both her community and in the public sector in public relations for more than 25 years and has provided graphic design and editorial work to the Archdiocese of Hartford for its "Safe Environment Program."
Sister Barbara offers consultation services in long-range/strategic planning to religious communities in New England. A long-time member of NCNWR, she co-chaired the Board from 2001–2002 and began serving again in 2009. She co-chaired the 2010 conference planning committee. Sister Barbara is a member of the New England Communicators for Women Religious (NECWR).
bamcsj@aol.com
 Director
Teri Bockstahler
Communications Director
Sisters of Notre Dame, Toledo Province
Toledo OH
Teri Bockstahler has 30 years of experience in public relations and development, primarily with non-profit organizations. Prior to her current position, she served as PR and development director for the Alzheimer’s Association of Northwest Ohio. For 15 years, she was with the Mercy Health System, now known as Catholic Health Partners, based in Cincinnati, sponsored by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. During that time, she worked for three Mercy hospitals as communications director and also directed development for five years.
Teri taught public relations at the University of Toledo for three years and also worked as a consultant. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Teri is active in PRSA and served as chapter administrator for the NWO Chapter of PRSA for five years. She is also president of her parish pastoral council.
tbockstahler@toledosnd.org
 Director
Eileen Dickerson
Director of Development
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart
Yardley PA
Eileen Kelly Dickerson is development director for the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart in Yardley, Pennsylvania. A Philadelphia native, Eileen was taught by the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart at Cardinal Dougherty High School. Eileen holds a bachelor of arts in journalism degree from Rider University. Her communications experience includes newspaper reporting and feature writing, advertising copywriting, ghostwriting, public relations and publicity, marketing, event planning and nonprofit organizational communications. Eileen is the co-author of “Chuse Thy Clothes With Thine Own Eye,” an award-winning book on Quaker history.
edickerson@greynun.org
 Director
Paulette Gardner, SSA
Director of Communications
Sisters of Saint Anne
Marlborough MA
Sister Paulette’s appointment three years ago as the director of a re-opened office of communications in her congregation’s New England Province brought her full-circle from the early 1970s (co-founder of a monthly province newsletter) to today. In those 30-plus in-between years, after a brief stint in the high school classroom, Paulette worked for 14 years in college enrollment management, public relations, alumni and development offices, a dozen years in marketing, special events and fund raising with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, six years in province leadership, and back to communications within the province/congregation. Her volunteer commitments such as with the United Way in training loaned executives, reflect her professional background which includes an undergraduate degree in English and a graduate degree in public relations.
spg102@hotmail.com
 Director
Jean Merry
Communications Director
Sisters of St Francis of Assisi
St Francis WI
Jean L. Merry is the director of communications for the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis, Wisconsin. She has worked in marketing and communications for more than 30 years. Before joining the sisters in 2003, she had been with Prudential Financial for 14 years, heading up the nationwide marketing and communication efforts for its agricultural divisions, and achieved the level of vice president. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, she earned a bachelor's degree in English, with minors in journalism and Spanish. After teaching communications classes for a number of years in both public and parochial schools, she took graphic arts instruction at Milwaukee Area Technical College, and began her career in corporate marketing. She then earned her master's degree in business management at Cardinal Stritch University. Before joining Prudential, she held marketing positions at Weasler Engineering, Inc., in West Bend, Wis., and at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans in Brookfield, Wis.
jmerry@lakeosfs.org
 Director
Tanya Mullin
Communications Associate/IT Specialist
Sisters of St Martha of Antigonish
Antigonish Nova Scotia
Tanya has been working with the Sisters of St. Martha in Antigonish, Nova Scotia for the past five years, serving as both the communications director and computer specialist. Her dual role with the congregation covers a wide range of duties, from external publications, photography, and website development to networking and technology infrastructure. She earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems from St. Francis Xavier University.
communications@themarthas.com
 Director
Lisa Roberts
Director of Communications
Congregation of Divine Providence
San Antonio TX
Lisa Roberts Martinez started working for the Sisters of Divine Providence, San Antonio in 1997 and spent the next 11 years as the executive assistant to the Superior General and General Council. In July 2008, she was promoted and now functions as the director of communications for the Sisters of Divine Providence, San Antonio. She received a bachelor's degree with a major in marketing from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas in 1995. She and her husband, Simon, have three boys and live in San Antonio.
lisa.roberts@cdptexas.org
 LCWR Liaison
Annmarie Sanders, IHM
Director of Communications
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Silver Spring MD
Annmarie Sanders, IHM, serves as the director of communications for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. She has worked for the past 18 years in communications for her congregation, Marywood College and in Peru for Latinamerica Press/Noticias Aliadas. She holds a master of arts degree in public communications from Fordham University. She also serves as a spiritual director and is a member of the African Sisters Education Collaborative. She is the LCWR liaison to the NCNWR board.
asanders@lcwr.org
 NRVC Liaison
Carol Schuck Scheiber
Editor, HORIZON and Focus on Vocation Ministry
National Religious Vocation Conference
Toledo OH
Carol Schuck Scheiber is an independent writer and editor. She serves as editor of HORIZON, journal of the National Religious Vocation Conference, and "Focus on Vocation Ministry," its monthly online newsletter. She also is content editor for VISION: The Annual Vocation Discernment Guide. A 1982 graduate of Michigan State University, she started out in magazine publishing. In the 1980s she was an editor for Salt, a Catholic social justice magazine published by Claretian Publications in Chicago, and a staff writer for Loyola University publications. Pursuing her interest in social change and world cultures, she spent two years as a field worker for the Archdiocese of Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. Carol is the NRVC liaison to the NCNWR board.
cscheiber@nrvc.net
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Mary Lou Simcoe, SUSC