Board Members
Jeffrey Baerwald, S. J.
Jeffrey is a member of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus and is an Associate Professor at Santa Clara University, Department of Counseling Psychology. Jeffrey directs retreats both nationally and internationally and speaks and writes on the topics of integration of neuropsychiatry and Ignatian spirituality. Before moving to Santa Clara, Jeffrey was founder and clinical director of the Loyola Clinical Centers in Baltimore, MD. He was born and raised in Minnesota and is happy to live where snow is experienced and enjoyed from a far distance on the mountains.
James Briggs
Jim, Chair of the Board of Companions, is the Executive Assistant to the President of Santa Clara University and serves as his chief of staff. He has been in this role since 1999 after having served the previous ten years as Vice President for Student Services at Santa Clara. Prior to coming to Santa Clara, Jim held administrative positions at the University of California, Berkeley, Georgetown University, and the University of Miami. He is married and has four married daughters and seven grandchildren.
Gene Gerwe
Gene, a native Iowan, came to California as a Navy officer during the Korean War, where he met his wife, Barbara. With a degree and background in Finance, he worked for Caltech, the University of Chicago and Santa Clara University.
Gene served 10 years on the Board of Directors of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and currently volunteers and advises on fundraising for Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services. He is also involved in his parish, St. Francis of Assisi, where he and his wife initiated "The Bread Project", involving some 50 people, transferring approximately 200 loaves of left-over bread and bagels from a nearby bakery, packaging them and distributing them to 10 shelters and kitchens.
For Gene, who is currently a second year Companion, describes his experience in the Companions as "a stimulant to prayer life and an inspiration to serving the poor and powerless in our society".
Anne Grycz
Anne was born in San Francisco and has lived all her life in the Bay Area. She graduated from the University of San Francisco and taught high school Spanish and History until her first child was born. She has two adult children, one of whom is a daughter with developmental disabilities.
Anne is the Director of the Institute for Leadership in Ministry in the Diocese of San Jose and works closely both with the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos and Santa Clara University’s Campus Ministry. She completed the three year Pierre Favre program which trains individuals to direct the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
When asked what drew her to the program she pointed to the generosity and spirit of the volunteers. She serves as a spiritual director and finds it a privilege to be on the journey with such interesting and committed people.
Elizabeth Lilly
Elizabeth, "Liz," is Director of Community and Parish Partnerships for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County in the Diocese of San Jose, California. She belongs to the Parish Social Ministry section of Catholic Charities USA, an association whose members are committed to strengthening the social mission of the parishes in an organized, sustainable and communal way. She is the diocesan contact for the JustFaith programs. She also oversees the management of volunteers in over 30 agency programs and serves on the Awareness committee of Step Up Silicon Valley: Campaign to Cut Poverty in half by 2020.
Liz, an experienced pastoral minister, has 25 years of experience in parish ministry. Prior to joining Catholic Charities three years ago, Ms. Lilly was Minister of Parish Life at Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga, California, where she served as central parish leader, in lieu of an ordained priest pastor, and had overall administrative and pastoral responsibility for the parish. Ms. Lilly has served on the diocesan Liturgy Commission, and on numerous other diocesan committees including those dealing with the catechumenate, environment and art, parish lay compensation, and the Institute for Leadership in
Bernie Purcell
Bernie is a wife, mother and grandmother, she is also a recently retired lay minister and educator. Having been in lay ministry over forty years, she has worked in the three local dioceses of the Bay area. Her ministry has focused on Faith Formation for children and teaching in the elementary grades of both Catholic and public schools. Bernie lived for many years in the Oakland Diocese where she served on the Pastoral Leadership Placement Board.
Bernie is enjoying retirement and being with her grandsons when possible and doing volunteer work.
Mark Potter
Mark works for the California Province of the Society of Jesus as the Provincial Assistant for Social Ministries. His job is to support, encourage, and promote the integration of the social mission of the Jesuits across the many institutions and ministries of the Province. Mark is married to Kristin Heyer, a professor of Christian ethics in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University. They have two young children, Owen & Luke.
Kevin Quinn, S.J.
Kevin is Executive Director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education as well as Professor of Law at Santa Clara University. He joined the Ignatian Center in 2006, and the law faculty in 2007, from Georgetown University where he was a Professor of Law and a Faculty Affiliate of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. At Santa Clara, he offers a seminar in Bioethics and the Law.
Kevin, a member of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, entered the Jesuits in 1973. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1985. He is a graduate of Fordham University and holds advanced degrees in theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. He received his law degree and Ph.D. (in jurisprudence and social policy) from the University of California at Berkeley.
Susan Votaw
Susan's experience teaching art, special education, and English in secondary schools led her into administration at both continuation and comprehensive high schools in San Jose. During her last six years of principalship she participated in the Advanced Lay Leadership Program offered by the Diocese of San Jose’s Institute of Leadership in Ministry, receiving an MA in Pastoral Ministries from Santa Clara Universityin 2005. She is currently on staff at St Francis of Assisi Parish, working in the areas of spirituality and liturgy. Susan has received extensive training in spiritual direction in the Pierre Favre formation program at Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, CA. Her other ministries include spiritual direction and working with the homeless.
