By Gretchen Keiser

New personnel and new quarters underscore the importance of development to the archdiocese of Atlanta.

Since the new fiscal year began July 1, a development office staff made up of two people has been augmented by the addition of a new director of development and by an experienced fund-raiser who will head up the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal.

Development director Carroll Sterne, and the expanded staff, will move shortly into renovated space opposite the archdiocese since the 1980’s.

In addition to that history, Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, has heard of the need for a strong development office from the newly created advisory structure to him, the Archdiocese Planning and Development Council (APDC) and its related committees.

Sterne said the need for a development director was brought to the archbishop from the council and that its Development Committee formed a search subcommittee that assisted in the hiring process.

Formerly vice-chairman of the Southern Bank Group, Inc., a post he left earlier this summer, Sterne said his professional background emphasizes banking, but this is an opportunity for him to step into the non-profit sector where he has donated his time frequently.

Most recently he has been serving as chairman of the Finance Committee of the APDC and served two years on the archdiocesan finance council that preceded the new structure. He also chaired the Cathedral of Christ the King parish council during the time of a turbulent debate over remodeling the church.

A native of Atlanta who has been involved in banking for the past 17 years, primarily in the city, he hopes to bring the fruit of those years to aid the archdiocese.

The Catholic Church in north Georgia is “kind of a well-kept secret, and we’re probably done that to ourselves” by not emphasizing the ministries of the Church, he said.

“There is a lack of awareness of what we really do (as a Church) – and we do a lot. That is what I would like to make people aware of …We are providing needed services for an entire north Georgia community and I don’t think people are aware of that.”

A graduate of Marist and Vanderbilt University, Sterne is married and the father of two children. His wife, Reverend Martha Sterne, is assistant rector at All Saints Episcopal Church, Atlanta.

The next Archdiocesan Annual Appeal will be directed by Jane Enniss, a fund-raising professional who has served at the United Way and the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation and who has also donated her services to the community.

A Grant Park resident with her husband, David, and parishioner at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Mrs. Enniss is a south Georgia native who grew up on a farm. A graduate of Albany State College, she received a master’s degree from Atlanta University in early childhood education and a Ph.D. in career development from Georgia State University.

She spent eight years with the Southeastern Institute of Entrepreneurship and Management where she was a grant writer and developed training programs for small-business owners.

From 1980 to 1985 she oversaw the distribution of funds to non-profit organizations that sought the aid of the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation, Inc., which has assets of about $85 million from donors.

From 1985 to 1989 Mrs. Enniss worked for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta as a vice president.

She said her experience has taught her that people are educated donors who are presented with many worthy causes to support financially. “They want to know how their money is collected, where it is spent, and they want to see results,” she said.

Her experience working in a variety of counties and with diverse groups will be put to use as she turns her skills to work for the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal.

“When I look at the number of registered Catholics and the potential to raise the funds to meet the needs, I think the potential is unbelievable,” she said. “But we have to get the message out there of what is needed and what it will be used for.”

The development office staff also includes Trish Johnston, who will continue to work on aspects of the Appeal and on second collections and as liaison to schools’ development directors, and Eddie Bauer, whose responsibility center on proposals to foundations.

“With this (development) office, the archdiocese is now more strongly prepared to address its needs,” Archbishop Lyke said of the appointments.

Sterne “knows Atlanta and the business and corporate community well” and has an outstanding reputation, he said. Mrs. Ennis will “bring to the Appeal not only her years of experience of professional expertise, but also a sensitivity to the people and the programs of the archdiocese.”