Dr. Norman D. Sell has announced his intention to be full-time president of the LCMS Foundation and, consequently, to relinquish his position as the Synod's elected vice president-finance/treasurer -- probably within the next nine months.
The Synod's Board of Directors has begun a search for a successor to Sell, 60, who has been treasurer since 1977 and was re-elected to the post by the Synod convention in July. A call for nominations appears on Page 11B of the October issue of REPORTER.
"This is an extremely important appointment for one of the most important positions in the LCMS, especially as regards financial matters," said Board member Christian Preus, chairman of an ad hoc succession committee.
"As a Board, we want to reach out far in order to attract the very best people in the Synod for this position," Preus said. "We want to get deeply into our congregations with this search."
Besides being Synod treasurer, Sell also has been president of the LCMS Foundation since 1981. But this year's convention separated the two offices and took action that allows Sell until the 2001 convention to decide which position he would prefer to fill. He has opted to be Foundation president.
"The Foundation has been so blessed and grown so dramatically that it deserves a full-time president who can focus on our work of linking Christians with giving opportunities," Sell says in an article prepared for a Foundation newsletter.
When Sell became its president in 1981, the Foundation served primarily as the Synod's trust department and managed about $10 million for donors. Today, it includes gift-planning and capital-funding services and manages some $750 million.
The Synod's directors, who will appoint Sell's successor as treasurer, approved a draft position description and the call for nominations at their Sept. 14-15 meeting in St. Louis. The Board asked the succession committee to recommend at the December Board meeting a plan for interviewing candidates and making an appointment.
Sell has said he hopes a new treasurer can be in place by the end of the current fiscal year, June 30. He will remain as treasurer until a successor is in place.
Succession-committee Chairman Preus said the position calls for someone "who can do more than crunch numbers, but someone who can see the big financial picture for the Synod. The treasurer would be more an administrator than a hands-on person."
The convention action to separate the offices of Synod treasurer and Foundation president was part of its work with recommendations from the President's Blue Ribbon Committee on Structure.
One Blue Ribbon Committee recommendation that the convention did not adopt, however, was for the vice president-finance/treasurer to be appointed by the Board of Directors rather than elected by the convention. But the process the convention put in place will lead to an appointed treasurer -- at least until new elections in 2001.
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This news release is published by the News and Information Division, Board for Communication Services, of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Free subscriptions to this service are available by sending an electronic mail message to mailserv@crf.cuis.edu and include the words SUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS in the body of your message. To unsubscribe, send the message UNSUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS to the same mailserv address. For more information, contact Paula Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or at (314) 965-9000.
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