ABOUT BYRON AND FRANCINE PIROLA
Dr Byron and Francine are Directors of the Marriage Resource Centre and are recognised leaders in marriage education, with a particular emphasis on understanding its sacramental nature in the Catholic faith. They have five children and a wealth of down-to-earth practical experience in the daily realities of marriage, relationships, family life and parenting.
Married since 1988, they are founders and directors of the marriage enrichment seminar SmartLoving Marriage (formerly Celebrate Love) which has been operating in Australia since 1990, and more recently in the UK, NZ, Malaysia and Singapore. They are also authors of the multi-media marriage preparation course SmartLoving Engaged (formerly Embrace) which is used for Catholic marriage preparation in dioceses across several English speaking countries. It was recently adapted for online delivery and is the most advanced offering in the world in this format.
They are current Chairs of the Australian Catholic Marriage and Family Council, an advisory council of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Francine is also a former member of the Executive of the Catholic Society for Marriage Education. They are former past Presidents of the Australian Council of Natural Family Planning and have represented the Australian Catholic Bishops at meetings of the Pontifical Council of the Family. They are regular keynote speakers at Marriage Conferences, both in Australia and overseas.
Byron and Francine are recognised leaders in Catholic lay leadership programs. Byron was a founding leader in the Antioch Youth Movement and both have served the church at parish, diocesan and national levels for over three decades.
They are members of the Executive of PMRC (Australia), a registered charitable organisation and Directors of both the Marriage Resource Centre and LivingWell Media; two of the three primary activities of PMRC Australia.
In addition to their work in the Marriage Resource Centre, in 2003 they launched LivingWell Media to accommodate their growing publishing activities of the PMRC, including high quality digital media products. They are authors and creators of the My School Diary series which is used by more than 100,000 Catholic school students and teachers. The popular CathFamily initiative was launched in 2008 to support Catholic families in raising their children in faith. In 2015 they launched FRANKLY to resounding success with over 55,000 copies sold of the first edition.
Francine has worked almost her entire professional life in PMRC (Australia) where she has been the primary author and developer of programs and products. She graduated from Fordham University (NY) with a Masters in Religion and Religious Education in 1990 and from University of NSW where she graduated with a BSc with First Class Honors and was awarded the University Medal in Physiology in 1988. Her children and family remain her most cherished enterprise.
In addition to his work with the MRC and LivingWell Media, professionally for over thirty years Byron works as an adviser to CEOs and Chairmen of leading companies both in Australia and overseas. He joined McKinsey and Company in 1986 where he served clients in Sydney, New York and London. In 1992 become a founding partner of the Sydney based strategic consulting firm, Port Jackson Partners Limited, of which he is now Managing Partner. In addition he is a Non-Executive Director of Australian and London listed public companies, and a Director and Chairman of a number of private companies. He graduated from the Commonwealth Centre for Gene Technology, Adelaide University with a PhD in Biochemistry in 1986 and BSc with First Class Honors in Biochemistry from the University of NSW in 1982.
5 Aug 2016
Available For Commentary
Byron and Francine are Directors of the Marriage Resource Centre and are recognised leaders marriage education, with a particular emphasis on understanding its sacramental nature in the Catholic faith.