Our Staff
BRIAN BUTLER - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR + CO-FOUNDER
Email: [email protected] Brian is executive director and co-founder of Echo Community, which cultivates chastity and authentic masculinity and femininity with teens, young adults and families via the lens of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Brian has authored several books and programs, including “YOU: Life, Love & Theology of the Body.” He has produced numerous initiatives as part of the New Evangelization, including the original productions of GARDEN, the musical. He is the founder of a dynamic retreat for teens and young adults called ECHO, and his latest book is entitled GARDEN Meditations. Brian’s bachelor’s degree is in Communications and he holds a Masters in Theology. He has 20+ years of ministry experience at the parish, school, diocesan and non-profit levels, and is a popular speaker and trainer around the country. Brian enjoys music, sports, the outdoors, and spending time with his wife, Lisa, and their four children. |
ADAM FUSELIER - MANAGING DIRECTOR
Email: [email protected] Adam has been with the Echo Community team since 2013. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Theology from Ave Maria University in 2011, and he completed his Master's degree in Theology at the Augustine Institute in August 2018. He served at AMU for two years as a Residence Director and as Coordinator of Student Activities, overseeing all student-led clubs, ministries, and apostolates before moving to Louisiana to work with Echo Community. He enjoys spending time outdoors, long-distance running, and copious amounts of coffee. He has a passion for living in the heart of the Church and inviting others into relationship with Jesus Christ. Adam is very grateful to God for the gift of serving on such an awesome team with Echo Community and looks forward to all that God has in store. |
CORTNEY EUSEA - FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR
Email: [email protected] Cortney has been with Echo Community since August of 2012. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Theology from Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans and now serves as our CIA (Central Intelligence Agent) at Echo Community where she handles everyday tasks like scheduling, accounting, event coordination, and most importantly, makes sure there is coffee for Adam. She enjoys spending time indoors, normal pace walking, and copious amounts of water. She also can usually be found laughing, making Katie laugh, re-watching a TV series (not at work, and mostly Boy Meets World), and spending time with the people she loves. Working at Echo Community and being a part of this family is one of the greatest gifts to her so far. |
JANET HOWELL - OFFICE MANAGER
Email: [email protected] Janet comes from a background of 20 + years of working in the corporate world as a Weapons Contract Analyst, Fleet Logistics Manager, and Wedding Coordinator. With this background, it may seem like a crazy fit for Echo Community, but she's excited to utilize all of her gifts she's acquired along the way to serve this ministry. From discovering more about the gift of the Theology of the Body, to working with the team, and being empowered in her vocation as a wife and mother, Janet is excited to see what more God has in store! Janet lives in Mandeville, Louisiana with her husband, Tim, and two children. |
RITA WEST GERNON - CREATIVE OUTREACH
Email: [email protected] Rita joins the staff after 7 years of partnering with Echo Community - from serving at ECHO retreats, to directing the summer missionary program, and providing music for parish missions. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Southeastern Louisiana University and over ten years of experience leading worship and speaking, both nationally and internationally. She’s written, recorded, and released 2 albums. She has also collaborated with other Catholic artists on collective recordings and is a founding artist of NOVUM Records. Rita enjoys the cozier things in life - a cup of freshly roasted coffee, flipping through magazines of beautiful houses, and spending quality time with her family and friends. She is excited to use her gifts as part of the Echo Community staff and further the mission that God has in mind for the ministry. |
board of directors
JORDAN HADDAD, Ph.D.
Jordan Haddad, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology and the Director of Lay Ministry Programs and Lay Formation at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, LA. In addition to his role at NDS, he is also a Co-Founder and Co-Director of The St. Louis IX Art Society, a Scholar Associate of the Society of Catholic Scientists, and the Director of Lay Formation and Parish Renewal at Divine Mercy Parish in Kenner, LA. He has previously served as an assistant campus minister at Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, LA, and a theology teacher at Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans. Jordan met his wife, Shannon, at ECHO in Summer 2012, and has benefited tremendously from the ministry of Echo Community ever since. He currently lives in Kenner, LA, with his wife, Shannon, and their two daughters, Lily and Elizabeth. |
DAVID CUSIMANO
David Cusimano has been working for over twenty years with small and middle-market private companies in capacities ranging from entrepreneur to middle-market investment banker and M&A advisor. He has led numerous business value growth, M&A, valuation, financial analysis, and CFO engagements. David sees business as a calling through which we get the chance to live the Gospel in our ordinary lives. He has enjoyed teaching several college level courses in economics and business and leading the financial modules of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. David holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University, an M.A. in Economics from University of Texas at Arlington, and an M.B.A. with finance and international business concentrations from Tulane University. |
JEREMY CALL
Jeremy Call is an associate with the Law Offices of Treadaway Bollinger, in Covington, Louisiana. He is a graduate of Jesuit High School and received his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University, where he majored in Accounting with a specialization in Internal Auditing, and minored in Political Science. Jeremy received his Juris Doctorate degree and Diploma in Comparative Law from the Paul M. Hebert LSU Law Center. He is a fellow of the Loyola University Institute of Politics. Prior to joining Treadaway Bollinger, Jeremy was privileged to serve as the judicial law clerk to the Honorable Judge Ralph Tureau for the 23rd Judicial District of Louisiana. Jeremy is the husband of Sarah Call, and the father of three Holy Family students. In addition to being an Echo Community board member, he also serves as the Vice President for the Board of Directors of the Holy Family Homeschool Apostolate. |
JEREMY REUTHER
Jeremy Reuther is the Assistant to the President for Mission at Jesuit High School, working with faculty and staff on curriculum and Catholic identity. He has been with Jesuit for 16 years serving as a theology teacher, campus minister, department chair, and communications director. Jeremy lives in New Orleans with his wife Kate and their three children, Charles, Julia, and Michael. Jeremy serves as Vice President of Echo Community’s Board of Directors. |
YVETTE LACOUR
Yvette LaCour joined the Board of Echo Community in January of 2022. Yvette served as the Director of Development at Notre Dame Seminary from 2010 until 2021, managing all aspects of fundraising for the seminary including grants, events, annual fund, campaigns, alumni relations, etc. She is currently managing a family business. Yvette has served as a volunteer with the Louisiana Youth Seminar Board of Directors, the Catholic Women in Action committee of the Catholic Community Foundation, the St. Clement of Rome Pastoral Council and School Board, and the Archbishop Chapelle High School Advisory Board. Yvette has been married to her husband, Greg LaCour, for 26 years and they are the parents of five children. |
FR STEPHEN DARDIS
Fr Stephen Dardis was born and raised in New Orleans. After graduating from Christian Brothers School in 1992, he attended Jesuit High School where he finished in 1997. He entered the Texas A&M Cadet Corps on a Marine Corps scholarship and was involved in student ministry at St Mary’s Catholic Church, where he felt most strongly the calling to the priesthood. In 1998 he entered the Legionaries of Christ in Connecticut as a Religious, ministering for twelve years in New England, Mexico, New York, and Italy. With a Licentiate in Philosophy and a Bachelor’s in Theology from the Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, Fr Steve has gratefully found himself well equipped for the journey. He was ordained to the Priesthood in Rome on December 15th, 2012, by Cardinal Velasio De Paolis. After returning for further outreach in New York, he was sent to New Orleans in 2013. He served three years as chaplain of Christian Brothers School with the Legionaries, and in 2015 he began his transition into the Archdiocese, as Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Lourdes in Slidell. Since July 2018 he has served as Pastor at Holy Family Church in Luling. One of his most enjoyable ministries has been serving the young adults and teens who attend the ECHO retreats. |
KATIE IBARRA
Katie Ibarra is married to Jerome, and also a mom of 4 children, two living and two in heaven. She teaches theology at Dominican High School, an all girls high school in New Orleans. She worked on staff for Echo Community from 2013-2016 and has been so blessed by the ministry both personally and professionally. She is passionate about relational ministry and meeting people in the beautiful mess of their lives! |
SARAH DENNY
Sarah Denny has worked in different capacities with Echo Community since 2014 and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary (2014). Currently, she is in the final stages of earning a Ph.D. in Bioethics (2022) from Regina Apostolorum, one of the pontifical universities in Rome. Her dissertation, which focuses on the differing philosophies that affect the practice of women’s health, argues for a "third way" of sex education that includes teaching young people fertility awareness-based methods as an integral facet of proximate vocation preparation. Sarah has taught and coached at Archbishop Chapelle High School, has worked as a campus minister on the campus of LSU, and has worked in many different capacities for Woman’s New Life Clinic—fundraising, counseling women in crisis pregnancies, and teaching women about their fertility as a practitioner with the Creighton Model System. Having given countless presentations, her passion is integrating the demands of medicine with the tenets of personalism, keeping central the gift of what it means to be a human person. More than anything, she enjoys life's simple pleasures--running, kayaking, traveling, dabbling in photography, and (of course) eating gelato. |