Dick Dowling has been Executive Director of the Maryland Catholic Conference since 1984. Mr. Dowling is a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Scranton Preparatory School and the University of Scranton. His master's degree was earned at Boston University's School of Public Communication, his Juris Doctorate at the Georgetown University Law Center.

He is a recipient of The Saint Thomas More Society's Man for All Seasons Award, presented annually to a Maryland attorney who exemplifies the spirit and ethics of the 16th Century lawyer, writer, and statesman. He is a past president of the National Association of State Catholic-Conference Directors.

Prior to joining the Conference, Mr. Dowling was a National Leadership Fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the first nonacademic to have been granted a Kellogg fellowship award. The fellowship enabled study at M.I.T., the University of Southern California, Louisiana State University, and in Brazil. Following his undergraduate work, he was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. He thereafter served as legislative assistant to former U.S. Congressman and Senator William D. Hathaway of Maine, as director of governmental affairs for the American Speech and Hearing Association, and as executive director of the American Society of Allied Health Professions.

Mary Ellen Russell, M.A., serves as deputy director for Education and Family Life and as coordinator of the Maryland Federation of Catholic-School Families. Her responsibilities include coordinating parental involvement in legislative advocacy efforts that foster equitable educational benefits for all families, especially those who send their children to Catholic and other private schools.

Mrs. Russell has also served as Assistant Secretary for Parental Advocacy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), as a Catholic high school teacher and a parish religious education coordinator. She currently serves as a member of the USCCB Committee on Education, and is a past member of the USCCB Federal Assistance Advisory Committee.

Mrs. Russell holds an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and a B.A. in English from Boston College. She and her husband reside in Annapolis with their four sons, who have graduated from area Catholic schools.

Dr. Paltell serves as the Associate Director for Respect for Life at the Maryland Catholic Conference. She is a native of Springfield, Massachusetts and a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry was earned at Iowa State University.

Prior to joining the Conference, Dr. Paltell was employed as a senior research scientist at the Procter & Gamble Company, in Cincinnati, Ohio for 10 years and in Hunt Valley, Maryland for four years. When she moved to Maryland in 1998, she became active in the pro-life committee at her parish, the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley. In 2000, she was named chair of that committee and began to focus on pro-life political advocacy as a way to contribute to Maryland’s respect life efforts. She began to collaborate with the Conference and Mrs. Patricia Kelly. Upon Mrs. Kelly’s retirement in 2001, Dr. Paltell accepted a full-time position at the Conference.

Julie Varner came to the Maryland Catholic Conference as Associate Director, Social Concerns in January 2005, when her predecessor, Jeffrey Caruso, was named Executive Director of the Virginia Catholic Conference. Before joining the Conference, Ms. Varner was a Management Analyst for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. General Services Administration.

In 2001 she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and German from Mount Saint Mary’s College (now University). While a junior at Mount Saint Mary’s, Ms. Varner was an intern at the Maryland Catholic Conference. She later drew upon her internship experience to write her thesis – “The American Catholic and the Two Political Parties”.

Raised in Havre de Grace, Ms. Varner now resides in Annapolis.

Mary C. Schneidau is a Louisiana native and a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she earned a degree in journalism and history and was named the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association's Outstanding News-Editorial Senior.

Miss Schneidau worked on the Conference’s 2006 voter registration drive with the Knights of Columbus and joined the staff as communications director in 2007. Her news stories have appeared in The Baltimore Sun, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Dallas Morning News, Our Sunday Visitor, and The Annapolis Capital.