Office of Parish Development Staff

The three staff members of the Office of Parish Development bring more than 30 years of collective consulting and fundraising experience to parishes and organizations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

Jerry Minetos
jminetos@goarch.org

Jerry Minetos, Development Officer of the Office of Parish Development, graduated from Loyola University in Chicago with an undergraduate degree in Accounting and received his MBA degree from Roosevelt University. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Illinois and has received his Certificate in Fund Raising Management through the Fund Raising School at Indiana University. Mr. Minetos’s work for parishes has included lead roles in conducting stewardship seminars, managing capital campaigns, and conducting feasibility studies throughout the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He brings leading-edge business development and technology skills into the Orthodox Church environment.

Laura Paulus
laurajkpaulus@aol.com

Laura Paulus has worked with numerous parishes, metropolises, and charitable agencies of the Orthodox Church since 2000, assisting them in a wide variety of aspects of development, including strategic planning, campaign feasibility studies, capital campaign planning and management, major gifts, and annual giving (stewardship) campaigns. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University, and later received her Certificate in Fund Raising Management from the Fund Raising School at Indiana University. Prior to her work in development, Miss Paulus worked for over 10 years as a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). In this capacity, she led project teams of dozens of people through complex, multi-year efforts, helping each client to be more competitive and successful. She found the transition into development as an opportunity to apply leading-edge business development skills to help the Orthodox Church.

Abby Vlahos
apvlahos@sbcglobal.net

Abby Vlahos joined the Office of Parish Development in 2006, adding her skills in grant proposal research and writing to the department’s service offerings. Ms. Vlahos has a B.A. in Philosophy from Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. She has a broad background in development through her work at several Chicago-area not-for-profits since 1997. For more than 10 years, Ms. Vlahos's work has focused on foundation fundraising through grant prospect research and proposal writing. Her work for the Archdiocese has been one of the highlights of her career, as she has been able to apply her professional skills in service to the Orthodox Church.