February 5, 2010
Bishop appoints members to high school boards in Evansville
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Editor’s note: The following article includes information and quotations provided in a release from the Evansvlle Catholic High School Board.
Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger has appointed the members of two newly formed school boards, completing the first step in a transition to a new governance model calling for individual boards of trustees at Mater Dei and Reitz Memorial High Schools in Evansville.
The appointments were announced Jan. 30 by the Evansville Catholic Interparochial High Schools Board of Trustees. This board will continue its oversight through the end of the 2009-10 school year. As the new individual boards are being formed for the beginning of the 2010-11 school year, a new Evansville Catholic High School Coordinating Council will also be formed to continue the interparochial relationship of the two schools.
The deans of the Evansville East and West Deaneries, Father Bernie Etienne and Father Da-vid Nunning, said they had received a strong response from the Catholic community of willingness to serve on the boards. The deans made their recommendations to Bishop Gettelfin-ger, who made the following appointments:
Reitz Memorial High School
- Susan Bell, Memorial ‘70, Community Volunteer
- J.P. Engelbrecht, Memorial ‘98, Chief Executive Officer, South Central Communications
- Sylvia Groves, Mater Dei ‘81, Supervisor, Psychological Services EVSC
- Joseph Helfrich, Mater Dei ‘84, Financial Advisor/Wealth Planning Investment Consul-tant, Fifth Third Bank
- Dennis Lamey, Memorial ‘65, Executive Vice President, Norman Backues & Associates
- Michael Lloyd, Memorial ‘76, Director Marketing Research, Old National Bank
- Robert Mehringer, Memorial ‘86, President, Access Partners
- Scott Stratman, Memorial ‘86, Attorney, Meyer Stone & Stratman
- Christopher Wolking, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Old National Bancorp
Mater Dei High School
- Judy Blankenberger, retired Principal, Resurrection School
- Theo Boots, President, Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana
- Terrence Clements, Chief Information Officer Info Services & Senior Vice President, Shoe Carnival
- Tony Fehrenbacher, Mater Dei ‘97, Attorney, Kinney Kasha Buthod
- Matthew Folz, Mater Dei ‘91, Vice President, Harding Shymanski
- Daniel Hoefling, Mater Dei ‘78, Vice President Commercial and Light Industrial, Industrial Contractors, Inc.
- Marcia Jochem, Executive Vice President Human Resources, Berry Plastics
- Dr. James Macke, Mater Dei ‘76, Medical Director, Stepping Stone
- Daniel Niemeier, Mater Dei ‘80, Associate Director Liquid Manufacturing Operations, Mead Johnson Nutrition
- Phillip Stolz, Mater Dei ‘91, Senior Manager Marketing Analytics, Mead Johnson Nutrition
“We are extremely pleased with the response from so many people in the community willing to serve in leadership positions,” said Fathers Etienne and Nunning in a joint statement released by the board of trustees.
“The rich tradition of academic excellence and faith integration will not only continue but will thrive as a result of the updating of our governance/
leadership structure,” the statement went on to say. “This will provide added strength to the leadership, governance and stakeholder involvement at each school while retaining the interparochial relationship of the high schools.”
Each of the Boards of Trustees will also have three ex-officio members, including the dean and two members not yet named — the Executive Director of the high school and the Ad-ministrator of the Evansville Catholic High Schools Coord-inating Council.
The new board members will immediately begin the process of election of board officers, committee assignments and appointment of four members each to serve on the Evansville Catholic High School Coord-inating Council.
The boards will also be undertaking the process of selecting the Executive Director, Principal and Business Manager for their high school. The process of selecting the leadership teams, beginning with the Executive Director position, is scheduled to be completed prior to the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.
The ECIHS Board also reported that, after extending his service through the end of 2009, ECIHS President Don Rupprecht has retired.
The board statement said that Rupprecht’s three and one-half years of service to Reitz Mem-orial and Mater Dei are marked by improved development and fund-raising efforts, updated accounting, procurement, project management and facilities maintenance systems and strengthened operating practices.
Rupprecht and his staff, working with the large network of alumni and other supporters and volunteers, grew fund raising results by over one-third from the 2005-06 year and partnered with the leadership of the Catholic Education Foundation to raise the level of needs-based tuition assistance to over $400,000 in the most recent school year from about $140,000 in the 2005-06 school year.
“We are very grateful to Don, not only for his accomplishments during his time as Pres-ident, but also for his work on the new governance/leadership structure, which will further strengthen our schools,” stated Marcia Jochem, current Chair of the ECIHS Board of Trustees.
Andy Goebel, retired Presi-dent and COO of Vectren Cor-poration, and a long-time member of the ECIHS Board of Trus-tees, will assume Rupprecht’s responsibilities during the transition to the new governance/leadership model.
Goebel and Rupprecht worked together on the development of the new structure. Goebel will continue to serve on the ECIHS Board of Trustees as an ex-officio, non-voting member.
Goebel said, “The quality of our two Catholic high schools — ranking among the state’s best in several areas, including graduation rates, performance on standardized tests and percentage of graduates pursuing post secondary education, along with highly competitive co-curricular outcomes at both schools — is the result of the efforts of our many stakeholders working together to provide an outstanding educational experience for our young people. The new Boards of Trustees at Mater Dei and Memorial will enable our schools to be even more successful in preparing young people in the Evansville community not only to make a living, but to make a life.”