Co-Chair
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Gladys is currently serving as the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life and the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Prior to her call at Mount Holyoke Gladys was an Assistant to the Bishop in the New Jersey Synod, ELCA for 16 years and served St Matthew's Lutheran in Jersey City and St John's Lutheran in Newark, New Jersey during her time on synod staff. She plays the guitar and has written numerous songs. She has also served as chaplain, preacher, retreat resource person, and Bible Study leader at several synodical, regional, national, and international events.
Co-Chair
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Len was first elected to the Board of Directors of LC/NA in 2002 as the Regional Director of the then Northeast Region. In 2004 he was elected as Secretary to the Board and in 2006 was elected to serve as Co-Chair of the Board with Jeannine Janson. Len also served on the Philadelphia ONE VOICE committee and has lead talks at local congregations about the RIC process and what it means to be a welcoming congregation. Len has his Master of Science in Nursing in Executive Leadership, is licensed as a registered nurse and a nursing home administrator. He currently works in executive administration for a large continuing care retirement community in Pennsylvania focusing on the Assisted Living and Skilled/Long Term Care areas. Len was a voting member to every ELCA churchwide assembly from 1989 to 2005. Len is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, Assembly of Men in Nursing and the Gerontological Nurse Association. He is also certified as an End-of-Life Care trainer and a foster parent in the state of Pennsylvania. Len is the proud parent of an 13-year-old little boy that he adopted in August 2005 after providing foster care since 2003. In 2008 Len married his life partner, Kent in San Francisco during the time the LC/NA Assembly was in meeting. Len and Kent have adopted two more children, Douglas (age 11) and Shane (age 12) and they live outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and are members of St John's Lutheran in Folcroft, Pennsylvania.
Vice-Chair of Development & Treasurer
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Richard received a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN and was ordained in 1986. Richard is rostered in ministry by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM). In 2006, after 15 years of service, Richard left Thrivent Financial for Lutherans where he had served as a Senior Financial Consultant. He studied with Frederic Hudson and was certified as a professional life coach for organizational development and adult learning by the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, CA. Richard served in a half-time position as Director of Wingspan Ministry at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church from January 2007-June 2008. He also was Executive Director of the Foundation of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, Mahtomedi, MN from April 2007-March 2009. On April 1, 2009 Richard joined Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota as Director for Congregational Relations/Major Gifts. Richard lives with his partner, Patrick, in Roseville, MN and they enjoy spending time in Sahuarita, Arizona. Richard currently serves as treasurer of the board for Dodoma Tanzania Health Development, a non-profit charitable organization supporting the work of Dodoma Christian Medical Center in Dodoma, Tanzania.
Secretary
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Rose has served as the Region 2 Coordinator since the LC biennial assembly in 2006 and recently joined the Goodsoil Legislative Team. Over the past two years she has worked with LC chapters and allies to encourage and assist them in legislative organizing, chapter building, and leading workshops. She has attended all five 2008 synod assemblies in Region 2, and feels blessed to have met so many great people. Rose is also a member of LC/NA's Full Inclusion committee, is completely and publicly out and identifies as a queer person. This January Rose graduated, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor's in Business: emphasis Applied Computer Science and is currently pursuing candidacy within the ELCA. In her non-LC/NA life, Rose is an active member of Faith Lutheran Church in Phoenix, Arizona where she serves as VP of Congregational council, lector, and is on numerous committees. To make a living she works at a community college where she fulfills system administration and project management roles. For fun, Rose plays in the litter box with Stray Cat Theater, a small, cutting edge experimental theater troupe and participates in a Socrates Café philosophy discussion group. She is a voracious reader, having a life long passion for sci-fi books and a recently discovered penchant for 1950's lesbian fiction.
Director of Communications
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Phil has served as the Director of Communications for LC/NA since 2005. Prior to that, Phil had extensive experience in both governmental and industry practice of public relations, concentrating on media relations and external issues management. Phil brings more than 25 years experience to his role in LC/NA. A retired career Army infantry officer, Phil also served as a Public Affairs Officer, culminating with service as one of the press spokespersons for the Secretary and Department of the Army. After retirement from the Army, Phil worked in public relations in the aerospace industry, culminating in working in the London headquarters of the global company as Director of Media Relations. Phil lives in Arlington, Virginia, and is a member of the Metropolitan Washington, DC Synod of the ELCA. He is active in various roles in his home congregation, conference, and synod.
Director of International Programs
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Philip W Moeller, PhD is a Senior Safeguard Specialist (Social and Environmental Issues) serving as a consultant to the World Bank for Eastern European projects. His previous experiences are with USAID, the UNPP and the Asian Development Bank as well as academic positions. For six years he served on the Board of the Division of Global Mission of the ELCA and he is active on the synodical and congregational level. He has served as the co-convener of the Metro Washington DC Chapter of LC/NA and currently serves as Director of International Programs of LC/NA. He is the co-author of over 20 books on foreign countries and international affairs, and he lectures independently on globalization and economic development planning.
Director of Multicultural Relations
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(co-director)
The son of a German-American Lutheran mom and a Mexican-American Roman Catholic dad, René and his brother were raised Lutheran. Attending Sunday School, confirmation classes, vacation bible school in the summer were part and parcel of growing up in his family. In high school, René was part of the Southwestern Texas Synod Youth Board. Following graduation from Nordheim High School, René attended Texas Lutheran College earning a BA in Communication Arts-Media Studies and Spanish. He also earned the college's Certificate of Bicultural Studies. While at Texas Lutheran, René took on leadership roles with the Mexican-American Student Association, interned at a Spanish-speaking television station in San Antonio, and studied Spanish and Anthropology for six weeks in Querétaro, México. After completing requirements for a Texas Teaching Certificate in Secondary Spanish, he moved to Houston where he has been teaching for 12 years, currently at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, a western suburb of Houston. He is heavily involved in his home congregation, Grace Lutheran of Houston, spending the last two years serving as the Chair of the Call Administrative Team, and rejoices in the fact that a new pastor has been called. René has served as Director of Multicultural Relations, now Co-Director, since the 2004 LC/NA assembly mandated that board position be created. He looks forward to continuing the work for LC/NA to become an anti-racist organization that celebrates its and society's diversity.
Director of Multicultural Relations
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(co-director)
Co-Director of the LC/NA Multicultural Relations Committee since 2006, Jim served two years on the Pacifica Synod Council and the Commission for Church in Society. Jim helped established a Gay/Lesbian Task Force on which he served for 10 years. He has been a member of LC/NA for more than 20 years. Jim is retired after 34 years of teaching public school music but continues his career as an organist. He received his bachelor's degree from Capital University in Columbus and a master's from California State University Los Angeles. He has led and organized discussions and workshops around race, gender and public affairs issues. With the Pacifica Synod, he helped to form and spoke to resolutions dealing with LGBT issues. He led discussions on several of the studies developed by the ELCA on sexuality. This past biennium, Jim represented LC/NA at conferences of the African American Lutheran Association, the National Black Justice Coalition, The Multicultural Event of ELCA and the Ninth White Privilege Conference. Through presence at these events, LC/NA became known and gained potential for coalition building. Jim also organized an awareness event for LC/NA leadership within the African American community in Chicago. He is encouraged by the efforts being made by LC/NA to work towards becoming an anti-racist organization.
Bisexual Representative
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Connie has been a member of the Southeastern Synod RIC Core Team since 2005. She worked on the Atlanta One Voice campaign and served as co-convener of the LC-Atlanta chapter from 2006 to 2007. She is currently an MDiv student at Candler School of Theology; previously, she taught college English for 15 years. She is a member of St John's Lutheran Church, Atlanta, where she likes to keep things riled up.
Canadian Representative
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Karen has served on the Board of Directors of Lutherans Concerned in Canada since August 2007, and has been an active member of LCNA since the inception of the local LC-Kitchener / Waterloo chapter in 2005. Karen has been active in her current Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada congregation for the past 12 years, especially in the areas of community ministry, music/worship, youth, and missionary liaison. Karen spent a year studying at the Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute in Camrose, Alberta, followed by volunteering for 20 months with Lutheran Youth Encounter in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Karen has a B.Sc. in Nursing, and has worked as a RN for 15 years, mostly in geriatrics. Karen has an interest in global and multicultural issues, as she was born and grew up in Brazil as a child of Lutheran missionaries of pure Danish descent, with an American mother and a Canadian father, and she speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, and a little French. Karen currently volunteers with the local AIDS Committee, and co-leads / facilitates a new peer support group for bisexuals in her area. Living with a chronic "invisible" debilitating health condition, Karen also understands and can advocate for issues related to disability.
Transgender Representative
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Nicole Garcia began her life as Michael. In 2003, Nicole started her transition from male to female. Nicole has completed her transition and is a strong, confident Latina. Nicole's transition was featured in the winter edition of the Concord. Nicole is a member of the LC/NA Multicultural Relations Committee, the Secretary of the LC/Colorado Chapter, and is the Convener of the St Paul Lutheran Church (Denver, Colorado) RIC Committee. For the last two years, Nicole has served as a Voting Member at the Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly. This year, Nicole was elected to be a Voting Member, from the Rocky Mountain Synod, to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.
Youth Representative
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Geoff recently graduated from Monarch High School in Colorado and is attending the University of Puget Sound as a freshman this fall. He plans to pursue both an Art and Business Major, and continue schooling for a masters in education. His senior year accomplishments include serving as the Colorado State Treasurer for the Future Business Leaders of America and playing Varsity Soccer. He has represented Christ the Servant Lutheran Church at the RIC training in Sante Fe in 2007. Geoff has also been serving on Christ the Servant's Welcoming Statement Task Force since August of 2007 and will receive updates on the groups progress and continue to send his input as often as possible. As Youth Representative to the board, Geoff looks forward to sharing his story, and listening to the stories of others in order to strengthen his faith, but more importantly in hopes of strengthening the faith of others.
Chaplain to the Board
(not a voting member of the Board)
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The Rev Rachel Thorson Mithelman is a native of northern Iowa, and has served congregations in Minnesota, California and Wisconsin, before returning to Iowa to serve as Senior Pastor of St John's Lutheran Church in Des Moines. A graduate of Wartburg College and Luther Seminary, Pastor Mithelman was ordained in 1983. Participation in local and regional ministries related to hunger, fair trade, domestic violence, and the full inclusion of all of God's children in the church have been her passions throughout her 25 years of ministry. She is married to the Rev Jack L Mithelman and is the mother of two adult children. The Rev Mithelman resides in Des Moines, Iowa.
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