Bishop Michael F. Burbidge announced Sept. 10 the appointment of Peter de Keratry as chief development officer, effective Oct. 14.
As chief development officer, he will serve as the chief development strategist and advisor to Bishop Burbidge, direct all major fund-raising programs, and provide oversight to the diocesan Office of Development as it seeks to grow endowments and charitable funds in support of the ministries and programs in the diocese and diocesan Catholic Charities.
For the past 30 years, de Keratry has worked with numerous non-profit and Catholic organizations, ranging in size and mission, and in capacities including volunteer, consultant and senior staff. He began his professional development career as development director for the St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Later he joined the consulting staff of Community Counseling Service, where he worked with Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools and other church ministries. De Keratry was appointed campaign director of the Citadel Foundation where he stayed until he founded Petrus Development in 2004, a fundraising consulting firm dedicated to assisting Catholic campus ministries in creating sustainable fund development programs.
He continued his work with Petrus until he sold it to his longtime business partner in 2020. In addition to his work with Petrus, he served as the director of resource development for the Archdiocese of Brisbane in Australia and later the campaign manager at the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Since 2016, de Keratry has served as the first executive director for the secretariat for stewardship and development in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Since 2021, he has also served as the executive director of the Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma. He is a part-time program coordinator for the Institute for Catholic Philanthropy at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., an institute that provides nine credit hours towards a specialized MBA or certificate in Catholic philanthropy.
De Keratry earned his bachelor’s in speech communication from Texas A&M and a master’s in philanthropy and development from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona, Minn. He is also a Knight of Malta.
De Keratry and his wife are proud parents to four children.
