Regina Coeli Academy Board
The members of the Board of Directors are leaders in many local, national, and international organizations. They have expertise in education, theology, psychology, science, and business. This combined experience has enabled the Board to maintain the school, and meet the demands of the curriculum and administration. The members of the Board of Directors are:
Board of Directors
William McLaughlin Chairman
Denise O’Connell, Vice Chair
Robert Fitzmartin, Treasurer
Ned Gelhaar
Michael Patterson
James Todd
William McLaughlin, Chairman
Bill joined the RCA Board in December 2022 and became Chairman in June of last year. Bill is a life-long Catholic and a graduate of Georgetown University and Bishop McDevitt High School. In addition to his work at RCA, Bill is President of the Archdiocesan Holy Name Union and a lector at The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. In his day job, Bill, a former Certified Public Accountant, is head of recruiting for Stevens & Lee, a middle market law firm that is part of The Stevens & Lee Companies. He previously worked at Dechert LLP and Price Waterhouse (now PwC). Bill was also adjunct faculty at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for 15 years.
Bill and his wife Lisa have been married for 25 years and are active parishioners at Our Lady Help of Christians. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Denise O’Connell, Vice Chair
Denise O’Connell has a long history of commitment to Catholic education. She taught for 29 years in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia before finding her way to Regina Coeli Academy. Denise has taught grades 1 and 2 at RCA and thoroughly enjoyed bringing the love of Our Lord to her students in a classical curriculum. In 2020, she retired from teaching and is enjoying the time that stepping away has afforded her. In 2021, Denise was invited to join the Board of Directors at RCA and she is enjoying her reconnection to her beloved school.
Denise holds a B.S. in Elementary Education with a minor in psychology from West Chester University. She and her husband Bill have two grown sons and seven grandchildren. In her free time, Denise enjoys spending time with her family and friends, reading, and going on long walks.
Robert Fitzmartin, Treasurer
Bob has been involved at Regina Coeli Academy through volunteering with bookkeeping and reporting functions. This experience led to his accepting the Treasurer position on the Board.
Mr. Fitzmartin is a graduate of Cardinal Dougherty High School and Temple University where he obtained his accounting degree. He is currently retired from the City of Philadelphia Finance Department where he served in various accounting and budgeting positions for 39 years. He was the Operating Budget Director at the time of his retirement. Bob lives in Fox Chase where he and his wife raised three daughters, and he has served on Fox Chase community boards as Treasurer over the years. They are active members of St. Cecilia Parish.
Bob has three grandchildren who attend RCA, and he is delighted to see the amazing progress they have made in their education and self-confidence along with learning and practicing Catholic morals. He is impressed by the quality of teachers and staff with their absolute commitment and dedication to all the children of RCA. This appreciation of RCA leadership and teachers led him to reach out and offer any assistance he could provide to the school.
Bob enjoys spending time with his daughters and five grandchildren and enjoys hiking, photography, reading, listening to music, and vacationing with friends and family.
Ned Gelhaar
Ned Gelhaar received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of California at Davis and has practiced law for over 30 years. He is licensed in California, Pennsylvania, and New York and is a member of the New York City, Philadelphia, and Montgomery County Bar Associations, as well as the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Michael Patterson
Mr. Michael J. Patterson boasts a distinguished career spanning over 45 years in Catholic education, serving as both a teacher and administrator. Notably, he recently concluded his tenure as the founding headmaster at The Regina Academy at St. John the Baptist in Ottsville. During this period, Mr. Patterson successfully guided the school’s transition from a parish elementary institution to a classical Catholic academy. He is eager to contribute his wealth of experience to the Regina Coeli Academy board.
Throughout his career, Mr. Patterson has consistently taught history classes, emphasizing the greatness of our Faith, our country, and Western Civilization. As an adjunct professor at Neumann University, he directed his efforts toward enhancing the classroom skills of fellow educators. Furthermore, Mr. Patterson has served as a guest lecturer and consultant for first-year teachers and administrators, with several former staff members now holding administrative positions throughout the Delaware Valley.
In addition to his professional achievements, Mr. Patterson, along with his wife Susan, is the proud parent of three daughters, all educated in Catholic schools. Celebrating over 45 years of marriage, they are also grandparents to five granddaughters.
James Todd
Over the past 40 years, Mr. Todd has worked for a variety of companies both large and small including Fortune 500 and high-tech venture capital-funded companies. He also has significant entrepreneurial experience having worked for a small environmental testing company and most recently as a business owner of an e-commerce based software development company.
His background, skills, and expertise include sales, marketing, technology licensing, business development, project management, and business management & operations with both e-commerce and bricks and mortar businesses.
Mr. Todd volunteers time as an usher, choir member, and coordinator for special liturgical events. He also serves on the board of directors for a non-profit organization founded to provide assistance to Alumaku, a small village of approximately 4000 people, in southern Nigeria. Over the years he has also been actively involved in the Pro-life movement, founded a non-profit organization to battle Planned Parenthood funding in New Jersey, and was the founder of Pewsitter.com, a Catholic news aggregator website.
Mr. Todd, graduated in 1980 from the University of Nebraska with a degree in Agriculture. He was born and raised in Nebraska on a family farm and has significant agricultural experience with farming and livestock operations.
Timothy J. Murnane, Chairman Emeritus
Timothy J. Murnane is a professional engineer with 41 years experience with the Rohm and Haas Company and has a BS and MS degrees in Structural/Civil Engineering from Villanova University as well as metallurgical engineering education from Drexel University. He is the recipient of numerous professional awards during his distinguished career for technical excellence and significant contributions to Rohm and Haas. For the last 15 years of his career, he was an active leader in the “Reliability Revolution” at Rohm and Haas which led to dramatic productivity improvements in many places across the company.
Tim is the father of 9 children and shares 35 grandchildren with his wife Mary Jane. He has been a Catholic activist for the past 30 years. Tim’s Catholic lay initiatives include:
- Founder of The Philadelphia Catholic Forum, a Catholic speaker’s apostolate from 1987 to 1992
- President of the Marian Consortium of Catholic Lay Organizations in Philadelphia, 1992-1993
- Principal Author, Catholic Catechesis for a New Evangelization, Sept. 1992
- Chairman, Stand Up for Life annual Pro-life dinner, 2001 to 2005
- President of the Board, St. Francis Xavier Archdiocesan Grammar School, 2004-06
- Chairman of the Board, Regina Coeli Academy, 2007 to 2023.
- Chairman of the Board, Regina Academies, 2014 to present (there are now four academies K to 8 and K to 12, plus a high school honors track at Cardinal O’Hara H.S.)
- Organizer, Evolution: The Untold Story, a conference for Catholics outlining the science behind Intelligent Design and the interest of Catholic leaders – Oct. 2009.
- By invitation, Tim has taken his Intelligent Design message internationally to Ireland and the United Kingdom.
- MC for the Humanae Vitae Conference at St. Simon and Jude, W. Chester, 5/2018.
- MC of the Family Fully Alive Festival w/ Dr. Scott and Kimberly Hahn, St. Joseph’s, Downingtown, 9/2018.
Other
- Tim and his family have been members of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Doylestown for 47 years where Tim is a Eucharistic Minister.
- Tim has travelled widely in Europe, Asia and South America as a mentor and trouble shooter on reliability and manufacturing productivity issues for the Rohm and Haas Company.
- During his time at Rohm and Haas, Tim received four Vice President Awards, two Talucci Quality Awards and the prestigious Otto Haas Award for technical excellence. He advised the University of Dayton on the development of their reliability curriculum.
- Tim has taken his Intelligent Design (ID) message to over 80 audiences where he discusses the negative effects of Darwinian evolution on our faith and culture while showing that the Darwinian mechanism for macroevolution is no longer plausible.
- Tim led the Regina Academies in creating a Catechetical Imperatives document that defines the crucial catechetical issues of our day including science and faith.
- Tim is CA Captain for the Mid-Atlantic Knights of the Immaculata annual retreat and other activities that focus on male spirituality and leadership at Malvern. The group has grown rapidly in the last several years with over 900 men having attended.