Key Leadership
Ann Marie Barry
President
Ann Marie discovered her passion for volunteering while volunteering at her daughter’s elementary school. She held various roles in their PTA including VP, Treasurer and President. She led the school fundraiser for several years raising enough money for the school to buy computers for all the classrooms.
Once the PTA days were complete, she started volunteering in the Prince of Peace St Vincent de Paul food pantry. It was so rewarding, she took on more roles within the conference.
Prior to moving to Georgia, for 14 years, she was the Director of Finance for a 475-bed nursing home in Rochester, New York.
Ann Marie received a BSBA in Accounting from John Carroll University, a Jesuit university in Cleveland, OH. She and her husband have two teenage daughters.
Fred Gehrisch
Vice President
Operations
“Helping one person might not change the world, but it could change the world for one person.” – Anonymous
This is what St. Vincent De Paul Prince of Peace Conference does every day and that is why I am involved.
Hi, my name is Fred E. Gehrisch and I am a retired Sales Executive, who managed a $55 million dollar business unit and I enjoy giving back to our parish, neighbors and community.
Our volunteers are dedicated at what they do, and it is a real pleasure working with them. We work hard at making sure they have the resources available to them and with your support we will realize our vision of a better tomorrow for those in need.
Diane Graves
Vice President
Community Resources
I have an MBA from the University of Connecticut; one year of law school, and have soloed in Cessna airplanes. This has helped shape my life.
My career started as a statistical analyst for the Connecticut Department of Public Welfare and moving on to the Consumer Advocate Office in the Connecticut Public Utilities Commission. Move to Southern New England Telephone Planning where I wrote tariffs and responsibilities included coin phone and local service, development of 911 service.
My job led me to Atlanta, Southern Bell, where I met my husband and ultimately, I went to work for him, a sole practitioner lawyer. I managed the business, paid the bills, sent out invoices, and did all the work of running an office, prepared draft responses to documents requested in lawsuits.
In my church life, I was coordinator of the RCIA program at St. Thomas More (still working for lawyers – even Tudor ones). This led me to St. Vincent de Paul Society. After George died, I moved to Flowery Branch and continued with SVdP, became a Stephen Minister. Community pride helped me become a Poll Worker and then Manager in Hall County for 5 years.
Ann Padderatz
Manager
Pantry Resources
Ann Padderatz has been an active member of Prince of Peace Church since 2013. She enjoyed a lengthy and esteemed career with the State of New Jersey Department of Treasury & Addiction Services, dedicating 38 years to the organization. Her commitment to aiding those in need is continued by her involvement at the SVdP – POP food pantry.
After retiring, Ann relocated to Georgia with her husband to be near their son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. In retirement, Ann found more time for her passion for gardening, fishing, and looking for ways to become involved in her new community.
Ann is looking forward to continuing her journey to impact many lives. She is thankful for the chance to serve and finds great satisfaction in making a positive difference in her community.
Supporting Leadership
Joanne Wojcik
Grants Manager
Joanne and her husband have been members of Prince of Peace for approximately 10 years. She retired from the Federal Government, with the last 18 years of her career work focusing on various facets of grants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Once she learned of the activities taking place at Saint Vincent de Paul Prince of Peace (SVDP – POP) she felt she could contribute towards fundraising activities related to grants. Added bonus she gets a good cardio workout by helping to unload the U Haul rental truck once a week as we unload upwards to a ton a food to stock the food pantry for our Wednesday and Friday afternoon drive through pantry efforts.
From helping non-profits organizations work through the process with CDC grant announcements to now reviewing, asking questions, and writing, she sees her grant experiences are coming full circle. SVDP – POP has an enthusiastic group of volunteers looking to improve the quality of life for those less fortunate in our area. Whether working in the food pantry, ordering food for next week’s delivery, or sitting at her dining room table (which is now a grants writing desk) she is grateful to be where she is at, doing what she is doing, to help improve the quality of life for our neighbors in need.
Sheila Truesdell
Training Manager
My husband and I retired in 2015. We have a blended family with three adult children, their spouses and four grandchildren.
I began my career as an elementary school teacher. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Educational Technology, I worked as a training developer for a government contractor, then for corporate retail. I became a training manager in the savings and loan industry where I oversaw the development and delivery of technical and management training programs. Later, as vast new opportunities to train corporate systems emerged, my focus changed and I became a technical training manager/director at SAIC, now known as Leidos. I ended my career at Mitchell International providing systems training and technical documentation for auto repair shop clients.
When I discovered St Vincent de Paul (SVdP) at Prince of Peace, I was grateful to find a way to satisfy a desire to serve the poor. I started in the pantry, then discovered a wealth of opportunities to help our neighbors-in-need in fellowship with other volunteers.
Other opportunities that emerged included: learning to respond to helpline calls from neighbors in distress and developing a variety of training and reference materials for various volunteer roles and for our client tracking system. I value the role that training can play in helping volunteers feel comfortable and successful in our organization, and I embrace the opportunity to serve as the training leader for our conference.
Neal Gamradt
Technical Manager
I grew up in Minnesota but have lived in Gwinnett County since 2002. My wonderful wife Eposi and I have three amazing children.
I have worked in the web design industry since the late 1990s and currently work as a Principal Architect at Warner Bros. Discovery.
My wife and I volunteer a lot at Prince of Peace and enjoy helping where we can. Eposi also pitches in with technical duties when work prevents me from being available, such as daytime meetings.