Staff

Mary Ellen Russell became executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference in December 2008. Prior to that, she served as the Conference's deputy director for education and family life for nearly a dozen years.

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 Walsh 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, Mrs. Walsh 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, Mrs. Walsh 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, Mrs. Walsh and her husband reside in Elkridge.

Ellen Robertson, a former state Senate aide, joined the Conference in 2008 to advocate on behalf of the state’s 136,000 nonpublic school students, including the 60,000 students in Catholic schools.

Ms. Robertson joined the staff of state Sen. Ed DeGrange (Anne Arundel) in December 2002, and previously served as an aide to former state Sen. Robert R. Neall. Ms. Robertson holds a bachelor’s degree from Roanoke College and worked for many years in business administration and as a small business owner. Her two adult sons graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Annapolis, where she served in numerous volunteer capacities.

Mary Sullivan 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.

Mrs. Sullivan worked on the Conference’s 2006 voter registration drive with the Knights of Columbus and joined the staff as communications director in 2007. Her responsibilities include the Conference's website, Legislative Action Center, newsletter, outreach to the media, and various other internal and external communications. Her news stories have appeared in The Baltimore Sun, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Dallas Morning News, Our Sunday Visitor, and The Annapolis Capital.