Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce that a veteran development director with an impressive track record of fundraising and deep roots to Orange County’s Catholic community has been named the new Associate Superintendent of Development for Orange Catholic Schools.
Debbie Meck-Loughran joins the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange from the University of Notre Dame, where she served as Director of Regional Development. In this role, she was charged with driving philanthropic engagement across Southern California. She successfully raised millions of dollars annually for the university.
Debbie joins us at a transformative time for the Diocese of Orange and our extraordinary schools. Bishop Vann, himself a product of Catholic education and having personally seen the transformation Catholic education offers families and students, has made schools sustainability one of his top priorities. As we implement our Strategic Plan, we continue to make sure our schools further advance the work of the Holy Spirit and develop students academically, socially and spiritually. Our schools are growing, and we need to make sure our talented educators have the financial resources to continue to provide our more than 62,000 students with a world-class Catholic education. Debbie will play a key role in this effort.
Debbie is a strong, experienced development officer with a passion for Catholic education. She has the business acumen and marketing prowess to create new and grow existing sustainable revenue streams across the Diocese. She’ll work in close partnership with our schools’ principals and parish pastors to enhance school endowment funds and increase annual giving while expanding major gift programs.
Debbie has extensive experience growing donor relationships – especially in Orange County. Prior to joining Notre Dame, Debbie served as development coordinator for Rosary High School, where she successfully increased alumni giving and launched a new communications strategy for an annual development campaign.
While Debbie understands the world of development, she also understands the classroom. She has worked as a teacher at Village Preschool in Yorba Linda and a substitute teacher in the Diocese.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Leadership Development in Education from Chapman University.
Debbie lives in Yorba Linda with her husband, Terry, and son, Andy, who attends Servite High School. Terry and Debbie have three older children, Kit, Ryan and Kelly, who attended Rosary and Servite high schools. Debbie’s first day was April 15.
Please join me in welcoming her to our wonderful Diocese.
Yours in Christ,
Erin Barisano, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools