Greg Schwietz, President

A cradle Catholic and a Catholic college graduate, Judy Cozzens is best known in Serra as the enthusiastic speaker and chairperson for College Connection for Catholics. She is no longer chair, but continues to advise and volunteer for the initiative, now called Newman Connection, which connects high school graduates with the Catholic presence at their college, especially ones that have campus ministry offices.

She is also a frequent speaker at Serra regional conferences on the topics of “Starting Parish Vocation Activities” and “Passing on Our Beautiful Catholic Faith.” Judy was honored as the Outstanding Serran of the Year for District 6 in 2006 and 2010.

Judy has held the offices of Communications and Programs vice president for the Serra Club of Southwest Denver. She is currently a member of the Twin Cities, MN club. She is the a member of USAC’s national Vocations Committee, and was the Vice President for Vocations from 2015-2016.

Judy is a very active volunteer in pro-life ministries and volunteers as support staff for training missionaries at NET Ministries, an organization which evangelizes to young Catholics via retreats, Masses, and other activities targeted to youth.

“My husband and I believe that we have been blessed with good health and time and should use our retirement to give thanks to the Lord and promote His work in our family, our community and our nation,” says Judy.

Last but certainly not least, Judy’s son, Andrew Cozzens, was ordained auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Dec. 9, 2013. He succeeds Bishop Peter Christensen as Episcopal Adviser for the USA Council on April 5, 2014. She asks for prayers for him in his new journey.

Col. (Ret.) John J. Halloran, Jr., has been a member of the Serra Club of Lake Charles, LA, since 1990. He is U.S. Army retired after 32 years of service and is a veteran of Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom 1. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Math, and Master’s degrees in Administration and Pastoral Studies. He is active in many Catholic fraternal organizations including the orders of Malta and the Holy Sepulchre, Knights of Columbus, National Catholic Committee on Scouting, and the Boy Scouts of America.

Since its inception in 2008, John has been responsible for coordinating and producing the annual Clergy and Religious Recognition Mass and Luncheon in the Diocese of Lake Charles. Thanks to contributions from the Catholic Daughters, Knights of Columbus, Knights of Peter Claver, Parish Altar Societies and Serrans, the event has raised and distributed $22,150 to 121 priests, brothers, sisters, and deacons celebrating five-year (or multiples of five) ordination and/or vow anniversaries.

In Serra, John as served his club as Communications vice president and president, and was District 13 governor, and Region 5 Director.

“Communications is the continued key to success,” John says. “Being retired, I have the ability to travel.  I believe that clubs and districts need to see key leaders so they know that the Serra leadership cares about their club’s health and welfare.”

John was born in Margaretville, NY. He now lives in Moss Bluff, LA, with his wife, Nila. They have three children and 13 grandchildren.

Richard Arians first joined the Serra Club of Mankato, MN, in 1995, and joined the Rochester, MN, club when he moved there in 2001. In Rochester he served two non-consecutive terms as president and a term as District 7-S governor. Upon relocating to the Mankato area, he re-joined his original club, serving a term as President while also serving as the Region 8 director. Richard has been a regular contributor USA Council Rally’s and leadership trainings.  He has been the chairman of the Leadership Committee for the past two years.

“As Programs Vice President, I work with the organization to reinforce the critical nature of its mission and re-engage all leaders in this mission,” he says. “Serrans need to maintain a focus on our critical need for vocations in our Church.”

Mr. Arians has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics Education from the University of Wisconsin and earned an MBA from Augsburg College (MN) in 2012. His professional interests include serving as a business consultant for local companies, a USTA tennis umpire, and supplemental insurance agent. He regularly substitutes as a teacher at the Loyola Catholic High School in Mankato, Minnesota. He and his wife Ruth live in Madison Lake, MN, where they are active members of All Saints Catholic Church. They have two children.

Nancy Gibson has been a Serran since 2004 and is a member of the Serra Club of Johnson County, Kansas.

Nancy has a bachelor of science degree in nursing and worked as a nurse manager and patient educator. She retired in 2011 after 47 years as a nurse to devote her time to Serra and various church ministries.

Nancy has been involved in her parish for many years. She has taught religious education to 1st and 2nd year confirmation students for the past 10 years. She also taught 2 kindergarten religious education classes. She is a Eucharist Minister, member of the Parish Vocation Ministry, member of Companions in Faith working with a Hispanic parish and school as an outreach from her parish, member of the Archdiocese Vocation Committee, member of the Blisters for Sisters planning committee for the annual walk to recognize and honor the sisters in the Kansas City area, member of the planning committee for the Priest/Seminarian Golf tournament and the planning committee for the Pitching for Priests softball game between the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City/St. Joseph, Mo.

Nancy joined Serra at the urging of a couple of members of her parish. She really didn’t know much about Serra but after the first meeting she joined and decided to learn and become involved. She has served in her local club as the VP of Programs, VP of Membership twice, club President and is currently a club trustee. She is also District Governor for Region 9, District 12-2 Central.

Nancy is currently the Vice President of Membership for the USA Council of Serra International. She served as Chair of this committee for 2 years prior to accepting the VP position. Her committee has been meeting on conference calls for the past 3 years and have been able to accomplish much to build membership within Serra. She has a great love for the Lord, The Church, her family and Serra.

Nancy has three adult married children, five grandsons and one very spoiled granddaughter

Past USA Council Membership Vice President Mark Bonkiewicz is well known in Serra for his engaging and dynamic speaking style. Mark has served his Omaha Serra club as president, Membership and Programs vice president, and as trustee. He also served as District 9-W governor for four years.

Mark may have been a Serran for only 12 years, but in those 12 years he has recruited 10 new members for his own club and led three different teams to charter three new clubs with a total of 94 members. “Two of the clubs are located in the Grand Island, NE Diocese, where there are more cows than Catholics!” Mark says.

Mark’s business career of over 40 years has focused on outside sales, marketing, and sales management. He owned and operated his own consulting business for 11 years.  Currently he is Senior Sales Associate at Orent Graphics of Omaha Nebraska.   He is a member of the National Speakers Association.

Ray Vales has been a Serran for 11 years and belongs to the Serra Club of South Bend, IN. Ray has served as District 37 governor and was Vocations vice president for his club.  Recently, Ray served two terms as Region 7 director before accepting his current role as USA Council Treasurer in 2015.

His goal is to “communicate the urgent need of the Church for priests and religious, and to stress the importance of being a Serran and our relevant work to meet that need.”

Ray is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and Columbia University with a master’s in business administration. His business career was in accounting and his last position was vice president of finance for Harcourt College Publishers. He has lived all over the country, but now lives in Granger, IN, with his wife of 43 years, Susan (who is now president of the South Bend club). Susan and Ray have six children.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Region 6 Director Gino Dimattia became a member of the Serra Club of Lima, OH, in 1997. “I joined Serra to help connect with fellow Catholics in what was a new community for me,” he recalls.

Gino went on to serve as chairman of the Parish Contact Team, club chairman of Vocations Committee, club president, District 51 governor in 2009, chairman of USA Council Vocations Committee in 2010, and USA Council Vice President of Vocations.

In his role as national Vocations vice president, Gino was able to bring Serra’s message to the wider vocations community. “With the assistance of members of the Vocations Committee and the feedback of Serra clubs, I was able to write an article on how parish vocation committees can influence a culture of vocations that was published in the Summer 2013 issue of Horizon Magazine,” he says. “This (magazine) is published quarterly by NRVC, an organization with which Serra has a working relationship in the area of vocation ministry.”

Gino is unmarried and works at St. Rita’s Medical Center as an occupational therapist.

Sally Nance is a charter member of the Serra Club of Williamson County, TN and has been a Serran since 1994. She has served as club Communications and Programs VPs and as President. She is District 18 Governor and a recent recipient of the “Face of Serra” Award.

Sally has been a member of St. Philip’s Catholic Church for over 30 years. She owned a travel agency, but is retired now. She lived in Asia for 14 years with her late husband who worked with the U.S. State Department. She has two grown children and three grandsons.

John joined Serra in 2009 in DuPage County located west of Chicago. He is currently in his third year as president and has served in other Vice President positions. Additionally he serves as Communications Committee Chair for the USA Council.

John and his wife Pam have three married children and five grandchildren. They reside in Lombard, Illinois and have been active members of St. Pius X Parish for thirty years. John is Business Manager and Pam works as part-time secretary for the parish. John owned a graphic arts company in downtown Chicago for thirty-eight years. He has held volunteer leadership positions in the Diocese of Joliet, Boy Scouts, National and Local Printing Associations and the Garden Club of Villa Park. He is a Third Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.

It is an honor to be able to introduce myself to the membership of Serra International. I’ve been told that my Serra story is rather an amazing one of someone raised in the Lutheran faith, converted to Catholicism in 1961 and became a Serran in the Serra Club of Duluth, Minnesota.

In 1975, I was asked by a good friend if I would be interested in joining Serra. I was not aware if what it was all about but was curious to know more about it. In those days you would have to go through an interview prior to joining. There they told me all about Serra and I was accepted as a member. Since then, I have held most of the VP positions, the president position twice and am currently the VP of Membership.

I was the District 7 Governor from 2010 to 2012 and enjoyed the position very much. I traveled to the National Convention in Alaska and met a lot of wonderful people. The District Governor position is very rewarding, not only in the people you meet but the Bishops, priests and religious you work with. You come away from the job, hoping you’ve done a little bit of good for Serra.

I am currently working with the National Membership Committee on the retention part of membership. There is so much we have to do to get our younger generation interested in Serra and the work of Serra. We have a great need for more Priests and religious in our Catholic Faith.

I am looking forward to the position of Regional Director to which I’ve just been elected. I feel the communication between the Serra Clubs throughout Region 8 is going to be the biggest challenge– to get them all to work together and use their best ideas to accomplish the work of Serra. We have 4 Districts within the region which are District 7, the Twin City area, St. Cloud, Buffalo, Duluth. District 7S, MN Winona, Rochester, Wabasha County, Mankato, Owatonna, Sleepy Eye. District 7W, SD. Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, Watertown SD and District 137, ND Bismarck North Central. I look forward to the challenge and hope I will have the support of all the Serra Clubs in the Region.

On a personal note: My wife, Mary, has always been an avid supporter of my involvement in Serra. She and I were married Sept. 4th 1959 in St John’s Catholic Church Hugo Minnesota. We have 3 children: David, Mark and Amy, and have been blessed with Seven grandchildren: John, Mack, Melanie, Charley, Cory, Jack and Ryder.

I have been in the Heating Ventilating and Air conditioning business all of my life. We moved to Duluth Minnesota in 1967 and I started my own business in 1972 selling and servicing HVAC equipment and Building Automation until the winter of 2010 when I sold it. I have been retired since 2013 and enjoy retirement very much. It is a blessing that allows me to participate more in the work of Serra, the organization St. John Paul II called: “The Vocation Arm of the Church.”

Fred Gorges has been a member of the Wichita Serra Club Downtown for 26 years. He has been VP Programs, VP Vocations, two terms President in his club. He has been district governor of 12–2 S. and now Region 9 Director. He has been married to his wife Chris for 23 years and has one child Grace who is 15 years old.

Fred is president of a transportation company that hauls exclusively for FedEx Ground. He and his wife Chris have run this business for 19 years and has been involved in the trucking business 42 years.

A native of New Orleans, incoming Region 10 Director Don Simoneaux now lives in Plano, TX, and has been a member of the Serra Club of North Central Dallas since 1989. Don served in several club offices, including as president, has been chair of the national Communications Committee, and has served as District 46-E governor. Additionally, Don was director of the Dallas-Fort Worth Vocation Awareness Program in 2004-2005.

Don’s goals for his new two-year position as regional director are the following:
• Visit clubs in as many districts as possible in Region 10
• Restart at least three recently disbanded clubs in Region 10
• Start at least three new clubs in Region 10
• Increase member engagement in Region 10 using online technology and other tools
As webmaster for Vocation Awareness Program and an administration support provider for Catholic Strengths and Engagement Community, Don’s Internet skills will enhance and inform the achievement of his goals.

Don is a retired US Navy officer and engineer. He and his wife Carolyn have three children and six grandchildren. They are members of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, where Don serves as Lector Ministry Leader.

A former member of the Santa Clara, CA, Serra Club, Diana Seixas is now a Fresno club member and has served Serra in many positions over the past 15 years, including as club Membership and Vocations VP, and as club President. She has been a District Governor, Regional Director, and Vice President for the USA Council Communications Committee. She and her husband, Michael, are very active in Serra.