Patricia Barnes is the founder of Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls, a subsidiary of Lancaster Colony’s T. Marzetti Co. specialty foods division.

Mrs. Barnes was nicknamed Sister “at birth” by her older sister, who couldn’t pronounce Patricia. A native of Troy, Alabama, she attended Troy University and studied interior design at the University of Alabama and Auburn University. She enjoyed brief careers as an airline flight attendant and an advertising agency media buyer before marrying and settling down to raise daughters Charlotte and Chrissie. She returned to her hometown of Troy to work as an interior designer in the family furniture business.

In 1992, Mrs. Barnes founded Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls as a home-based business using her grandmother’s heirloom roll recipe. With the guidance of food broker George Barnes, she led the company through several years of explosive growth, opening a state-of-the-art bakery and expanding production to more than a million rolls a day. The couple married in 1995. They sold the stock of the company to Lancaster Colony Corporation in 2000 but continue to oversee operations of Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls.

In addition to her leadership role at Sister Schubert’s, Mrs. Barnes devotes a great deal of energy to philanthropic and charitable causes. She serves as Culinary Ambassador for the State of Alabama and sits on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. She was presented the Woman of Achievement Award at the 2005 Kappa Delta sorority convention.

The Alabama Broadcasters Association recognized Mrs. Barnes as its Citizen of the Year in 2009. Given annually, the award honors an Alabama citizen for distinguished public service and outstanding contributions to the wellbeing, prosperity and progress of the state.

The author of Sister Schubert’s Secret Bread Recipes, published in 1996 by Oxmoor House, Mrs. Barnes released her second book, Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters, in fall 2009.

Proceeds from book sales benefit the Barnes Family Foundation, which Patricia and husband George Barnes founded in 2001. To date, the foundation has donated more than $2.3 million to charities, scholarships, historical preservation and the creation of a home for abandoned children in the Ukraine. In January 2009, Mrs. Barnes received the Silver Gorlov medal from the city of Gorlovka, Ukraine for establishing Sasha’s Home, which provides loving family care for up to 40 children awaiting adoption.

A strong supporter of education, Mrs. Barnes serves Auburn University as a Visiting Executive in the Lowder School of Business, as a member of the Women’s Philanthropy Board and as a member of the Dean’s Board of the School of Human Sciences. She has participated in the Ben H. Williams Distinguished Speaker Series at Baylor University and sits on the Foundation Board at Troy University.

Today, Mrs. Barnes resides in Andalusia, Alabama, with husband George, 8th-grade-son, Evans, and adopted son Alex, who is seven. Daughter Charlotte is pursuing a career in medical sales, and daughter Chrissie operates her own business. Daughter Laura is pursuing a degree in psychology at Auburn University. The couple has seven grandchildren.