Scecina Memorial High School Board of Directors

Board Portal for members

George Newhart Jr., Board Chair

George Newhart

George Newhart, a 1960 graduate of Scecina Memorial High School, became Chairman of the Scecina Board of Directors, on July 1, 2016. He received his bachelor of science in accounting and an MBA from Butler University. George is a certified public accountant with more than 40 years of experience in accounting, finance, investor relations and administration, most recently serving as vice president and corporate controller with CTS Corporation.

He has served on the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors for several years and has generously supported Scecina through gifts of time, talent and treasure.

J. Barry Schneider, Immediate Past Board Chair

Barry Schneider

Barry Schneider is chairman of the board and third-generation owner at Schneider Corporation. He is a Cathedral High School graduate and earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Barry is the Immediate Past Chair for Scecina’s Board of Directors and its Executive Committee. He is an active member of the Board Facilities Committee and the Strategic Growth Plan Facilities Planning Area Team. Passionate about servant leadership, Barry has served on the planning committees for the 2008 and 2012 Greenleaf Center’s Annual International Servant Leadership Conferences. This includes speaking about servant leadership domestically and abroad. Barry, his wife, Krista, and their daughters are members of St. Louis De Montfort parish. He began his service on Scecina’s Board of Directors in 2006.

Steve Hodgson, Board Vice Chair

Steve Hodgson

Steve is the principal and chief operating officer for Wurster Construction. A 1974 graduate of Scecina, he received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Indianapolis and his M. S. in education from Butler University. He joined the Scecina Board of Directors in 2011 and is a member of the Facilities Committee. Additionally, Steve serves on the Board of Directors for the Mother Theodore Catholic Academies and the University of Indianapolis Greyhound Club. Steve and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons.

Father Bob Gilday, Secretary

Father Bob Gilday

Father Bob is the pastor of St. Therese of the Infant Jesus (Little Flower) Catholic Church, the parish where he was raised. He graduated from the Latin School of Indianapolis in 1967, received his bachelor of arts from St. Meinrad College and his bachelor of sacred theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. Prior to be named pastor of Little Flower in 2003, he had served at St. Malachy, St. Matthew, and St. Christopher parishes and as Vice-Vicar Judicial of the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Father Bob began his service on the Board of Directors in 2007 and is a member of the Executive Committee and the Mission Effectiveness Committee.

Lara Beck, Enrollment Management and Marketing Communications Committee, Chair

Lara Beck

Lara Beck has spent nearly 20 years working in public and media relations, strategic communications and reputation management. She has extensive experience working for elected officials at the state and local levels. Lara started Beck Communications in 2006 and provides strategic communications services to start-up and mid-sized companies, elected officials, municipalities, non-profits, and advocacy-related organizations.

Lara is a graduate of Marian University with a bachelor of arts degree in history and Spanish. She and her husband, Tim Henderson, live in Irvington and are parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes. Their son, Taggart, attends Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School. She previously served on and chaired the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School commission.

Patsy Bates ’76

Patsy Bates

After graduating from Purdue University in 1980 with a bachelor of science in Organizational Leadership, she began her career was quality control manager at Inland Container Corp.

In 1982 Patsy began a long career in the financial services industry. She was employed by EF Hutton and then joined Prudential Securities, which was acquired by Wachovia Securities and eventually merged with Wells Fargo Advisors. She had several roles with these organizations, including operations manager and branch manager of both the Evansville and Louisville offices. She spent her last 17 years as executive vice president, Mid America Regional president.

Patsy is happily retired as of September 2018

She and her husband, Mike, live in the Herron Morton neighborhood in Indianapolis. They have two grown daughters, Colleen and Shelby.

Patsy volunteers with the Indiana Landmarks. She has been a Tiffany Circle member of the Red Cross for the past 11 years.

Since retiring, she has been able to travel and plans to visit three more states to reach her goal visiting all 50 states. She is an avid reader and is a loyal fan of the Colts, Pacers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Purdue Boilermakers. Patsy likes to exercise with daily walks or runs.

Sheila Barton Bosron

Sheila Barton Bosron, DDS, is a graduate of Little Flower Catholic School (1956) and Scecina (1960). She is a 1984 graduate of Indiana University School of Dentistry and practiced dentistry in private practice in Broad Ripple until retirement in 2008. She also has been an elementary school teacher in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Nagoya International School in Japan.

Sheila is married to William F. Bosron, a retired professor of biochemistry at Indiana University School of Medicine. They are the sponsors of the Edward and Patricia McCracken Scholarship at Scecina. They are members of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church.

Dan Bruno, colonel, U.S. Army, ret.

Dan Bruno

Dan Bruno, a 1977 graduate of Scecina, is an accomplished senior executive with decades of success spanning the military, community management, IT, health care, and higher education.

Dan has held leadership positions with Duke Health and the U.S. Army. He currently is chief operating office for Duke Health Information Technology. He is responsible for leading daily information technology operations across Duke Health. Dan oversees more than 300 employees who provide customer-facing IT operational support to 30,000 Duke Health clinicians, faculty, and researchers.

Dan served a full career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel and acting as the Garrison Commander at West Point. While leading daily operations, he collaborated with congressional, community, military, andacademic leaders and provided community support programs and facilities, helping achieve No. 1 in the Forbes ranking of colleges in 2009. Prior to West Point, Dan served in command and staff positions, during war and peace, in the Pentagon, Human Resources Command, 1st Armored Division, 101st Airborne Division, VII Armored Corps, and 9th Infantry Division. Among his military awards are the Distinguished Service Medal and the Bronze Star.

Dan attained his M.S. in Information Resources Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology and his BBA in Business Management from the University of Notre Dame. Dan is a native of Indianapolis, one of four Scecina graduates in his family, and happily married to his wife, Kitty. They have two daughters and three grandchildren, all living in the Raleigh/Durham, N.C., area.

Dr. Sheila (McNelis) Gamache

Dr. Sheila Gamache

Dr. Sheila (McNelis) Gamache, M.D. FACC, is a senior cardiologist at Community Heart and Vascular Hospital and has practiced medicine in Indianapolis for 35 years. An Our Lady of Lourdes and 1979 Scecina graduate, Dr. Gamache studied microbiology and genetics at Purdue University before completing her MD at Indiana University.

Sheila and her husband, Bob Bates, served on the Scecina Capital Campaign’s executive committee. They also sponsor the Immaculata Scholarship, an annual need- and merit-based gift for an Our Lady of Lourdes student to attend Scecina without hardship. Dr. Gamache volunteers for Catholic schools and parishes across Indianapolis, including serving as team physician for Bishop Chatard football since 2007.

An Irvington native, Sheila is a founding sponsor of the Old Timers Kickball Eastside Classic. She has three children, all Catholic education graduates, who also live in Indianapolis. She and Bob are parishioners at Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Father Rick Ginther

Father Rick Ginther is a native of Indianapolis and a priest for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis since 1983. He has served in parishes in Indianapolis, Tell City, Richmond, and Terre Haute. He is the past rector/pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral Parish and Director of Liturgy for the Office of Worship, Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He is currently the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Indianapolis, the Director of the Office of Ecumenism and Interreligious Relations for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, a member of the College of Deans (2011-2016, Terre Haute; 2021, East Deanery), a member of the Center for Interfaith Cooperation Board, and a member of the Greater Indianapolis Interfaith Alliance Board. He has earned a B.A. in History, an M.A. in Biblical Studies, and an M.A. in Liturgical Theology. He has been involved in many civic and church organizations over his 70 years of life.

Marie McNelis

Marie was born and raised in Hamilton, Ohio, where she attended 12 years of parochial schools before pursuing dual degrees in elementary and secondary education at Miami University. After moving to Indianapolis, Marie attained a master’s degree as a reading specialist from Butler University.

Marie began her career in education teaching speech and dramatics at the high school level. She taught reading courses at Butler University and IUPUI, became a reading specialist at the elementary level, and in 2002 started an educational consulting business called Link to Literacy. Marie spent the last five years of her career as a district literacy coach for Washington Township schools. Marie now works part-time with a tech company called Lexia Learning.

Marie has one son, Daniel McNelis ‘08. Danny graduated from Purdue University and works for Chase Bank. After 44 years in education, Marie is retired and enjoying traveling and a slower pace of living with her husband, Peter Noreika.

Jim Norton

Jim is a 1976 graduate of Scecina. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Purdue in 1980. Since 1981, he’s been with Eli Lilly and Co., where he currently is a senior engineering consultant.

He and his wife, Jeanne (Atkinson) ’75, have three grown children: Kathryn, a nurse practitioner; Daniel, a mechanical engineer; and Emily, registered nurse. They also have six grandchildren.

Jim and Jeanne attend St. Pius Catholic Church.

Anne O’Connor

Anne O’Connor is an attorney who has worked in the public sector in both state and local government throughout her career. She graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and received her law degree from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.

Anne served on the Our Faith, Our Journey, Our Time Capital Campaign Executive Committee. Anne has also volunteered in several capacities, including as a coach for the Scecina gymnastics team for the program’s first two years and as a parent ambassador. In addition, she is a Scecina Women’s Circle member.

Anne and her husband, Michael, are members of Holy Spirit Church and are the parents of two daughters, Mary ’17, and Eileen ’20. Both daughters are also graduates of Holy Spirit Catholic School.

Nick Petrone

Nick Petrone is a consultant with netlogx, a consulting services organization specializing in information risk management. Nick’s efforts are focused on the company’s outreach program, building awareness and name recognition of the organization while also establishing and developing meaningful relationships and partnerships. Nick met the owners of netlogx, Nick and Audrey Taylor, during his time with the Family and Social Services Administration and quickly came to appreciate the aylors’ tremendous expertise, professionalism and integrity. In 2011, when Nick was searching for his next career opportunity, he happily joined the netlogx family.

Nick and his family are members of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. He and his wife, Amy, are proud parents of Audrey, Scecina Class of 2015, Dominic ’17, and Sophia ’20. Nick’s interests include sporting events, politics and his faith. Having been privileged to serve in various capacities with his parish, Our Lady of Lourdes, Nick is excited to now join the Scecina Board as the Parent Ambassador Team Chair.

Rick Smith

Rick Smith, a 1969 graduate of Scecina, grew up on the Eastside of Indianapolis, attending Holy Spirit Catholic School and graduating from Scecina in 1969. He received a bachelor of science in accounting from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and then an MBA from the University of Indianapolis.

Professionally, Rick held various supervisory, managerial and executive management positions in the electric utility industry over his 38-year career. He retired from Entergy Corporation in New Orleans in 2013. Rick also served as an executive board member for Lighthouse for the Blind (New Orleans), Boys and Girls Club of Westchester County (New York) and the Nuclear Institute of Washington, D.C.

Rick and his wife, Patty (Nonte) Smith ’71, have been married for 46 years and are the proud parents of four and proud grandparents of 13. Rick and Patty reside in Zionsville, Ind., and own West Chase Golf Course.

Joe Therber

Joe is the president of Scecina Memorial High School. Previously, he was executive director of Stewardship and Development for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. As president of Scecina, Joe is the chief administrative officer of the school. His responsibilities include strategic planning; fostering Catholic identity; growing the Mission Advancement program through marketing, alumni relations, enrollment management, and development; fostering deanery, community, and archdiocesan relationships; and overseeing business, financial, and facility affairs. Joe holds a bachelor of arts degree and a master of science in Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife, Angie, have five children, and they are very active in Catholic and civic projects in their community.

Leon Waninger

Leon Waninger is the controller for Steel Dynamics, Inc., Engineered Bar Products Division in Pittsboro, Ind. Steel Dynamics is one of the United States’ largest and most diversified domestic steel producers and metals recyclers. Leon is a graduate of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

During more than 20 years as a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes, Leon has served as chair of the Finance Committee, School Commission, Parish Council, and Engagement Committee. As an East Side Catholic Cohort member, Leon worked to complete the Connected in the Spirit process with the archdiocese. He is an active member of the Irvington Development Organization. He and his wife, Carol Divish, live in Irvington and have three children. Their son, Teddy, will graduate from Scecina in 2023.

Honorary Life Members

Chris Felts

Tim Jeffers

Jim Joven

Phil Kenney

Phil Wilhelm (deceased)

Lou Zimmerman

Meet the Board