By Jay Sorgi • Posted November 5, 2026

Springfield, Delaware County’s own Dave Winter has run his own business and coached track and cross country at St. Pius X School in Broomall.

Now he’s stepping into his new role as the parish life director at Holy Cross Parish in his hometown, a role he began in mid-October after discerning God’s call and through conversations with archdiocesan leadership and the parish’s Deacon Thomas Taylor.

“There are a lot of parallels there in terms of running your own business and running a parish, and I thought that this was the best way for me to give back,” Winter said. “God’s got the plan. It all kind of came together.”

The graduate of St. Francis Assisi School in Springfield opened his own Fleet Feet franchise in the township, which offers custom-fit running shoes, in 2024.

He believes his new role, which focuses on the business aspects of running a parish with 2,300 members, will enable the area’s priests to serve more in sacramental ministries.

“We (have) daily Mass now here at Holy Cross, and we’re able to do that by allowing the priests to do their priestly duties, while I’m able to leverage my gifts to keep the parish up and running,” he said, “freeing up the priests to be able to go out and celebrate Mass.”

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has recently implemented parish life directors in several parishes, which is a component of Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez’s vision for the current Trust and Hope initiative. The position empowers a lay person to lead management of the parish and grow new ministries without the need of a full-time pastor.

This allows retired and active priests from neighboring parishes to more readily provide sacraments to the faithful.

(Learn more about parish life directors here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIyNHwxSLqg)

Winter, who has a master’s degree in business from Villanova University and plentiful experience in the investment world, said he has seen some amazing priests who manage the business aspects of a parish well.

Conversely he recognizes that seminaries don’t teach as much about operating a business as the six years of education he received and the decades of experience he has gained in the business world.

“Running a parish is much like running a business, in terms of fundraising, marketing, repairs, going to the bank and understanding banking relationships, understanding how to market, how to bring in communities,” he said.

“From that lens, it’s been very helpful having gone through years (in business). I see a lot of parallels in running my store as to running (a parish) — the need to be able to dabble in marketing, finance, human relations. That helps in making me a more well-rounded parish life director.”

He says this new vocation offers some of the motivations that compelled him to leave the corporate investment world to become an entrepreneur.

“I wanted to do something that was more values oriented, and to not have to tow the corporate line per se, and be able to kind of operate from my heart, from my faith and how I work,” he said.

Winter sees many similar skills and experiences that carry over to running a parish.

He previously had to call employees to find out who could staff certain days. Now, he calls priests to find out who could celebrate Mass. He transfers his experience marketing his shoe store to Delco’s runners and workers who stay on their feet and pivots it to building the spirit of missionary discipleship in the parish.

“It’s going outside the four walls here. It’s getting out there to Catholics and to non-Catholics alike to introduce them to God’s love,” he said.

“It’s through the food drives, the clothing drives, offering a good education through the Catholic school here. A lot of the students that attend here are not Catholic, so this is a great opportunity to continue to draw families in and introduce them to our faith.”

Those are ways he hopes to showcase Holy Cross Parish’s strengths, particularly the church building itself and the openness of parishioners to get their hands dirty in helping the parish thrive.

“Growing up, to me, it was the ‘cathedral’ of Delaware County. It was just this beautiful church that’s a great magnet for people in the area,” he said.

“Since I’ve arrived, there’s so many parishioners that have come up to me, and they’re excited for this next chapter, (saying) ‘I’m eager to help and lend a helping hand.’ That just shows the strength of the parish, the desire.”

Winter has seen parishioners engaged in community service through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which operates through the parish, and he particularly sees the opportunity of bringing young families into the parish through activities that draw young people whom he believes are yearning for more in life than what they’re experiencing.

All this to Winter is work that is much more fulfilling than the finance world, work that answers the call God gave him in fostering and growing what he calls a “small but mighty” parish.

“All these little steps along the way led to this,” he said, reiterating that “God’s got the plan.”