Who we are
Franciscan Media’s Board of Directors
Dr. Pauline Albert is a scholar, writer, and research practitioner, and her focus areas include the interface of leadership, ethics, and spiritual development. Formerly, she served as a professor and assistant dean at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, teaching in both the US and Europe at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
She became an academic after a long career in business in which she worked around the world in a variety of management positions, her last with Intel Corporation.
She holds s PhD in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University, an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and a BA from Emory University in Romance Languages.
For the last 10 years, Pauline has led numerous workshops and consulted with a wide variety of Franciscan organizations where she has shared her doctoral study on the leadership of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi. Her most recent engagement was as director of curriculum for the Padua Program, supporting the professional development and formation of mission leaders in Franciscan organizations.
Bill Barkalow formed Integra Management LLC. after selling his company in 2007 for the purpose of assisting privately held companies grow their organizations. His 30 years as a chief executive have prepared him for the opportunity to guide clients through the strategic planning process, organizational and leadership development, as well as other operational areas of leading a company. In addition, Bill has helped create effective boards for over 100 companies, with the purpose of obtaining predictable results and enhancing the overall operating performance.
After 10 years in leadership positions of large corporations with Litton Industries and The Toro Company, Bill left the corporate life to lead and run smaller, privately held companies. In 1987 he joined the Irwin Company, a $30 million family-held power tool accessory manufacturer headquartered in Wilmington, Ohio. Under Bill’s leadership, the Irwin Company grew to over five times its original size, with over 1,300 employees and 9 plants around the world. The company was successfully sold to a leading industry supplier in the mid 90’s.
Over his career Bill has served on many boards for public as well as private companies. In 1991 he was selected as a member of Who’s Who in US Executives and was twice nominated as Entrepreneur of the Year. Bill graduated with a BS degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of Findlay.
Margaret Carney is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. Her education in theology and Franciscan studies took place at Duquesne University, the Franciscan Institute of St. Bonaventure University and the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. She served on the commission responsible for the revisions of the Rule of the Third Order Regular in 1982 and completed her research on the Rule of St. Clare in 1988.
From 1999-2004 she was the Director of the Franciscan Institute and served as a founding member of the Commission on the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition. Her presidency of St. Bonaventure University began in 2004 and she retired from that post in 2016. She continues to serve as a lecturer and leader for Catholic higher education and Franciscan organizations of the United States.
Her most recent book is Light of Assisi: The Story of Saint Clare.
Gabe Cooper is the founder and CEO of Virtuous Software, the responsive CRM and fundraising platform that helps nonprofits create personalized donor experiences at scale and build lasting relationships with all donors.
After serving in a leadership role at a large nonprofit in the early 2000’s, Gabe went on to help build a series of successful products in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. His team’s work has been featured by Apple, the New York Times, CNN, Mashable, Forbes, USA Today, and Wired.
His drive stems from a passion to create market-defining software and help charities reimagine generosity. He frequently writes and speaks about empowering nonprofits to grow generosity through technology. He is the author of the top-selling nonprofit book Responsive Fundraising, and he is the co-host of The Responsive Fundraising Podcast.
Father Bill Farris, OFM, currently serves as the vicar provincial of St. John the Baptist. He joined the friars in 1971 and began ministry as an associate pastor in Southfield, Michigan, in 1977. Father Bill received an MA in English from the University of Detroit, followed by an MA in Franciscan Studies from St. Bonaventure University.
He spent nine years directing the formation of young friars, then 11 years in parish ministry. Father Bill also served 12 years as president of Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Click here to learn more about the Friars of St. John the Baptist Province.
Steve Hangen served as the Chief Information Officer for three different companies in the Dayton, Ohio area: Mikesells Snack Food Company, WinSupply and Reynolds & Reynolds. While Steve was at the Reynolds and Reynolds Company, a software and service provider for automotive retailing, he also served as the vice president of software engineering and product development. He also worked at NCR Corporation for 20 years where he served as assistant vice president of information technology. Steve also had an independent consulting business.
A graduate of The Ohio State University, Hangen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the College of Engineering. In addition, he has done post graduate work in business at the University of Dayton.
Hangen was a member of the board of trustees of the Dayton Technology First Organization and chaired the Dayton Area CIO Council. Steve was awarded TechnologyFirst’s leadership award as Dayton’s IT Executive of the Year in 2014.
Father Gregory Jakubowicz, OFM, is Franciscan friar and a member of the Holy Name Province (soon to be the national Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe).
Father Greg has spent the majority of his time in ministry serving in higher education. He has taught at St. Bonaventure University and Hilbert College; was an administrator at the former Washington Theological Union; served as Vocation Director of Holy Name Province; and has ministered in campus ministry at Siena College, Hilbert College, St. Bonaventure University, and at SUNY University at Buffalo South Campus and Medical School where he is currently based at St. Joseph University Parish in Buffalo, New York. At St. Joseph University Parish, he serves as a weekend assistant presiding at the Masses. Father Greg also is on staff with the Franciscan Pilgrimage Program where he helps pilgrims learn more about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi as they travel to Assisi.
Father Greg is a native of suburban Buffalo, New York.
Father Dan Kroger, OFM, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Ordained in 1973, he taught at Roger Bacon High in Cincinnati until 1979 when he received his first assignment as a missionary in the Philippines. There he served as a rural pastor in the province of Biliran. Assigned again to teaching in 1987, he earned a doctorate at the University of Notre Dame in Christian Ethics.
He returned to the Philippines in 1992. He taught at De La Salle University, where he worked with college students and graduate students from all around Asia. He gained tenure and held the Estrada Chair of Catholic Theology. He taught at seminaries as well. He lived in Manila in an international Franciscan community of friars from the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Korea, and Japan.
In June, 2007, he became the Publisher/CEO of Franciscan Media in Cincinnati. He lives in the friar community at St. Anthony Shrine.
Tim Mathile serves as cochair and president of the Mathile Family Foundation Board of Trustees. In addition to these positions, he has started or assisted in the start-up of multiple ventures and now holds equity positions in a number of other entities.
After receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio Northern University in 1987 and an MBA from Xavier University in 1991, Tim and his wife, Peg, purchased Franklin Brazing & Metal Treating, which provides brazing and annealing services to the automotive, appliance, lawn and garden, and power-generation industries. In 2008, he founded Coblynau Partners, a private equity company whose mission is to assist business owners in pursuing their dreams. He has retired from both of these endeavors.
Tim is the Chair of the Mathile Family’s Governance Committee. He has been active on both for-profit and non-profit boards. He actively serves as a Trustee on the board of Aileron. Previously, he has been a Trustee/Director for the Mathile Family Office, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, Cincinnati Zoo Foundation, Cincinnati Art Museum, Summit Country Day School, Life Success Seminars, St. Anne’s Convent Development Board, and ONU Engineering Advisory Board.
Tim has been married to Peg Mathile for over 25 years and is the proud father of two incredible daughters.
David O’Brien is the Chief Financial Officer of the Province of St. John the Baptist, the Order of Friars Minor, a religious order of men founded in 1209 AD by St. Francis of Assisi and affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. O’Brien is responsible for planning, organizing, directing and evaluating the Province’s system of financial management and business administration, including annual budgeting, financial reporting, investments monitoring, and financial analysis of all Province sponsored ministries. Mr. O’Brien acts in an advisory role to the Province Board of Trustees on a variety of business matters, and is Chair of the Province Investment Committee.
Prior to his tenure as CFO for the Province of St. John the Baptist, Mr. O’Brien served as Chief Executive Officer of Renwick and Associates, where he executed operational and general management duties while serving as one of the firm’s leading consultants, specializing in real estate market analysis, economic damage analysis, business valuation, and economic development services.
John O’Connor is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Northwestern University. He began his career as an equity portfolio manager at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh. He continued his career at Fort Washington Investment Advisors where he worked for 27 years. He retired from Fort Washington and currently serves on six non-profit Boards. John and his wife Heidi have four children and six grandchildren.
John is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.
It was in 1978 that Joe read the life of St. Francis and was “really impressed” with one man’s ability to make such a lasting difference in the world. Father Joe entered the Novitiate of the Order and later was ordained a priest. He continued his education by completing a Master of Theology degree from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, California. He lived in Guatemala City to complete his master’s thesis concerning education among the impoverished. He holds certifications in Contemporary Spirituality from the Kino Institute, a Theology Update Certification from the International Study Centre at Canterbury, England, and in Pastoral Ministry from the University of Notre Dame.
Father Joe has served as a part-time teacher at various schools in Phoenix, as Vicar at Old Mission Santa Barbara in California, Guardian at St. Elizabeth’s Friary in Oakland, California, and as secretary to the Provincial of the Province of Saint Barbara. Father Joe has served as executive director of the Franciscan Renewal Center for 24 years and now is the President of Old Mission Santa Barbara.
Mark Stepaniak is counsel to the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. As a partner, Mark represented employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, including litigation for employers in the federal and state courts involving wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, race and age discrimination, retaliatory discharge, and wage and hour matters. He is experienced in trade secret and non-competition agreement litigation. He also represented religious organizations in alleged abuse cases across the country. Mark is an honoree of Best Lawyers in America since 1995, and was voted “Lawyer of the Year” for Management Labor Law in 2016.
Mark represented clients in the broadcast, music, automotive, soft drink beverage, plastics, logistics, distributing, dairy, and paper industries and for public sector employers, including hospitals, the Cincinnati Public Schools, and the University of Cincinnati. Mark has served as a director or trustee for various nonprofit entities including the Convalescent Hospital Fund for Children, St. Ursula Academy, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and Catholic Charities of Southwestern Ohio. In 2021, Mark received the Francis Medal for service to the Province of St. John the Baptist.
Michael Vanderburgh is executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Dayton, Ohio. A native of Dayton, Michael’s career path included police officer and corrections officer positions, ownership of a life insurance agency in northern Ohio and northwestern Illinois, and since 1999 nonprofit leadership in financial development and executive positions in Iowa, Kentucky, and Ohio.
Michael is a graduate of The George Washington University (M.A.), Wright State University (B.A), and Sinclair Community College (A.A.S.), and attended law school at Ohio Northern University and the University of Dayton.
Over a decade of service for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Michael planned and led the historic One Faith, One Hope, One Love capital campaign, which raised over $165 million in pledges to benefit regional ministries of the Catholic Church in western and southwestern Ohio.
