Print Issue: May 9, 2002

Gary Meader Named To Succeed McNamara As CFO

By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - Gary Meader will become the chief financial officer of the archdiocese on May 15, while continuing to fulfill the responsibility he has had for the past year as CFO of the Office of Catholic Schools.

Meader, a certified public accountant, succeeds Mike McNamara, who is retiring from the position he has held since 1989.

Meader was CFO from 1987-99 of Cotton States Insurance Group, Atlanta, where he previously served as controller from 1976-87. From 1969-76 he was an auditor and manager in St. Louis and Atlanta for the accounting firm of KPMG. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

"It's a big job and I've got big shoes to fill, but I'm looking forward to it," Meader said. "What I want to do is really learn how everything fits together. I'm not going to come in and make changes just to make changes. I want to see how things look. I think we're in pretty good shape finance-wise. Mike's done a great job there. We've worked closely for the last year."

As chief financial officer for Catholic schools, Meader has worked on standardizing charts of accounts and budgeting, and on internal auditing and has met with the schools' finance committees, principals and business managers. He has been involved with cash management of the archdiocesan schools office and of Catholic Education of North Georgia, Inc., a corporation formed to issue tax-exempt bonds for the five new schools built in 1999 and 2000.

He did consulting work for Catholic education for about six months before his appointment there. After leaving Cotton States, he formed his own consulting firm, working as a securities analyst to cover the insurance industry from 2000-2001.

"I've just always been a great believer in Catholic education. I was glad to serve in that capacity in the schools and I'm going to keep the responsibility of being CFO for all Catholic schools as well as for the archdiocese," he said.

Meader, who will be 56 on his first day as archdiocesan CFO, is a native of St. Louis. He and his wife, Kathi, have three sons. A convert to Catholicism prior to his marriage, he has been a member of All Saints Church, Dunwoody, since the 1980s. He is grateful to serve the church after his lifetime of experience in the for-profit world.