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The administrative staff of the Women's Center coordinates the many responsibilities of running an organization that raises and spends about $1.3 million annually... 
Our staff of 15 women have over 120 years combined experience in pro-life outreach crisis pregnancy counseling.
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Board of Directors
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President - Bill Beckman
Vice President - Diane Bucyk
Secretary - Fran J. Shambro
Treasurer - Mark Sander
Members
- Charles Budas
- Mary Strom
(ex-officio, non-voting)
- Gloria Sedlacek
- Donald Knorr
- Mike Georgopulos
- Mark Middendorf
- Kathy Michalak
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Staff
Seated: Mary Strom, Executive Director
Standing left to right: Barbara Hartmann, Business Manager; Katie Reidy, Director of Volunteer Services; Judy Cicero, Director of Counseling; Janet Miller, Director of Special Projects
Mary Strom, Executive Director
Mary Strom assumed the position of Executive Director on May 11, 2004. Prior to this time, she had done some volunteer work for the Women's Center. Mary holds a B.S.B.A. degree in Marketing from John Carroll University, Cleveland, OH. Mary has had major management responsibilities providing overall direction for operations of national kidney disease management programs. She helped build and expand this service program within Baxter International from its start-up status in 1997. She saw the importance of providing effective care to patients on kidney dialysis, including the need to address their many other medical needs. When this successful division was sold by Baxter, Mary decided that she desired to pursue even more direct involvement in Pro-Life work.
Mary explains, "My path to the Pro-Life movement began with the viewing of Schindler’s List. I have watched that movie dozens of times and read books such as The Hiding Place and Things We Couldn’t Say. My attraction was to the beauty of love shown between people in the midst of unimaginable hatred and violence, and always to the quiet but powerful presence and working of God to bring good out of evil. Every time I was left with the same question: what would I have done? Would I have been too afraid and concerned about my own well-being to help? Without knowing the common parallel drawn between abortion and the holocaust at that time, I came to my own prayerful understanding that we were in fact experiencing a third world war right now, and so, what was I going to do? In responding to that question I incorporated a full-range of Pro-Life activities into my life such as prayer, bumper stickers, participation in Pro-Life events, political action and making financial contributions. The more I have become involved, the greater my desire has grown to commit myself more fully to the cause of the unborn."
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Conrad Wojnar, Founder
Conrad Wojnar was born on June 6, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of three children. He attended St. Casimir, St. James and St. John Bosco grammar schools, St. Mary's (Crystal Lake, IL) and Quigley North Prep seminaries. He received a bachelor's degree from Loyola University in 1973, and a master's from Northwestern in 1975. He taught high school for a year at DeLaSalle Institute in Chicago, then spent ten years in positions of increasing responsibility with the Social Security Administration, rising to the rank of operations manager of a large district office.
In 1983, Conrad founded Des Plaines Pro Life, originally a coalition of local parish pro-life coordinators, for the purpose of educating the Des Plaines area community. The vision soon grew, however, when a representative from a national umbrella organization convinced the small group to open a pregnancy counseling center on the northwest side of Chicago, across the street from a large abortion clinic. Due to rapid growth of the organization, and increasing demands on his time, Conrad and his wife decided to resign his job with the Government to devote full time attention to the growing Apostolate.
Since that decision was made in September 1985, the work has grown exponentially, now saving ten times as many babies as it did at its inception. The organization now counsels 6,000 women a year from four locations, rescues over 2,000 babies who would have otherwise been aborted, and hands out nearly half a million dollars worth of new and used basic needs items: clothing, furniture, baby items, toys, cleaning and hygiene supplies, and toiletries.
Conrad is conversational in five languages, including Spanish, French, Polish and Italian, and has made appearances on behalf of pro-life counseling work in many local English and Spanish media outlets, as well as live appearances in Brisbane, Australia, and Paris, France.
Conrad married Linda Greco in 1977. They are currently parishioners at St. Stephen Protomartyr Church in Des Plaines, and at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago. Over the years, he has been involved in various parish activities, including lector, leader of song, Legion of Mary, Respect Life coordinator, school board member, Cub Scout leader, Boy Scout committee person and catechist. Conrad and Linda reside in Des Plaines with six of their seven children.
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The administrative staff of the Women's Center coordinates the many responsibilities of running an organization that raises and spends about $1.3 million annually; employs 25 full and part time employees; utilizes the varied services of nearly 400 volunteers; and distributes nearly a half million dollars in tangible material assistance each year (clothing, furniture, baby items, etc.) This task is all the more daunting because virtually all the money to support the organization is raised through private contributions and labor-intensive fundraising projects.
In addition to the Executive Director, the following individuals make up the administrative staff:
Business Manager: Barbara Hartmann is the business manager, responsible for bookkeeping and administrative office management. She is assisted by Carol Bourrillion. These staff members are responsible for all record keeping and basic paperwork pertaining to donor, employee, and other administrative records and correspondence; accounts receivable; accounts payable; general ledger; and preparing various administrative and financial reports.
Special Projects: Janet Miller is Director of Special Projects. This department (with the help of hundreds of volunteers) accomplishes the seemingly impossible in projects such as the Mother's Day Flower Sale (over 100,000 flowers in over 100 parish locations), the annual Life Banquet (800-900 attendees and a large program ad book), and the Christmas Wreath Sale (2-3 tractor trailer loads.)
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