wfn.org | Foundation Promotes Senior Executives, Hires New CFO

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Note #5875 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

02-May-2000
00172

	Foundation Promotes Senior Executives, Hires New CFO

	Corporation still searching for a new headquarters site

	by Evan Silverstein

FLORENCE, Ky. -- The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation promoted some
senior managers and announced the hiring of a new chief financial officer
(CFO) during a meeting here April 27-29 of its Board of Directors.

	The Foundation also bade farewell to Thomas W. Baylor, vice president and
controller, who is retiring at the end of May after seven years with the
Jeffersonville, Ind.-based corporation. Baylor, 65, started at the
Foundation in January 1993, as controller, and became a vice president a few
years later. He is planning to retire to Charlottesville, Va., to be closer
to family members living in the area.

	"Enjoy living the good life," Jim Henderson, the board chair, said after
announcing Baylor's retirement.

	Dennis J. Murphy was promoted from Senior Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer to Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer.
In his new post he will focus more on "investments and the strategic effect
of the investments in the Foundation's future," Murphy said.

	"I'm responsible for the investments, from a staff point of view and for
all of the nine investment managers and two custodians that work as
consultants for the investment process," said Murphy, who has been with the
Foundation almost 20 years. "Basically, my job remains the same in a more
narrow scope then before. The CFO title is being given to a new person."

	That new person is Gregory T. Rousos, an executive with long-term medical
provider ResCare, Inc., of Louisville, Ky. He recently accepted the position
of Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Foundation officials
announced during the meeting.

	Rousos has about 15 years of management and financial-services experience,
including stints as treasurer and controller. He served as director of
management and information systems with the Thornton Oil Corp., in
Louisville from 1995 to 1997. Prior to that, he was manager of strategic
planning and the assistant controller for KFC. He is an accounting, computer
and information-sciences graduate of Ohio State University in Columbus,
Ohio, and is expected to start at the Foundation within the next month.

	"I'm really looking forward to having him here," Murphy said of Rousos
after the meeting.  "I think he's going to be a great addition to the team,
and he'll add a great deal of expertise to the Foundation."

	Nancy H.  Strapp was elevated from vice president of development to senior
vice president of development.

	"It is not a change in my responsibilities," Strapp said, adding that the
change in title "is more recognition for the work of the department than it
is necessarily a personal recognition."

	Meanwhile, Chief Information Officer Douglass J. Yeager, who has been with
the Foundation nearly 15 years, will change positions after a summer
sabbatical, becoming a consultant to new President/CEO Robert E. Leech.

	"I will be working to develop the internal projects we have going," Yeager
said. "So in a consulting and a project-management role internally, trying
to put all the pieces together to what we're doing. That includes systems,
that includes non-systems issues. I will also be doing a lot more
relationship stuff with the national church."

	The Foundation receives and administers gifts from individuals and manages
funds for Presbyterian churches and organizations. Gifts are invested and
the proceeds are distributed according to the instructions of the donors.

	               Coping with a tragedy

	Leech said Foundation staff members are "moving on" after last year's
tragic attempted murder/suicide by John Keck, general counsel for the
Foundation. Keck used a high-powered weapon to fire multiple gun shots into
co-worker and former girlfriend, Karen Adams, during an altercation at her
suburban Louisville home on Dec. 1. A second employee and Adams' new
boyfriend, Andrew Slentz, was wounded trying to escape. Keck then committed
suicide. Adams survived the shooting.

	"I'm pleased to tell you I think the healing is taking place," Leech said
in his report to trustees and staff. "Our two injured employees, Andrew
Slentz and Karen (Adams), are back at work and back at work for some time.
They are doing well, and we're respectfully remembering John Keck's life and
contribution, but we are moving on. And I think that the Foundation is very
resilient ... one of the more resilient organizations I've ever seen."

                      Facilities update

	Officials reported that new offices are still desperately needed for the
rapidly growing Foundation, which has outgrown its current building in
southern Indiana. However, officials said they are not sure how they will
deal with the problem. A facilities committee is looking at possible
options, which include building a new facility and relocating to another
building in Jeffersonville or Louisville.  The current building cannot be
expanded any further.

	"The pure bottom line is, we have outgrown our facility and in fact we are
in,
I think, a serious situation," said Leech. "I don't know what the answer is.
We're looking. We have a committee. We're looking at facilities. All I can
tell you is we have to do something, and we  have to do it soon. We need a
modern facility. We need one wired and set up for an organization like
ours."

                     Hailing a new era

	A "new chapter in the Foundation's history has begun" with Leech's arrival,
said Henderson, who served as the corporation's interim president until
Leech came on board in January.

	"I think the most significant thing I can report to you is my perception
that the transition of this new leadership has gone extremely well, and from
my viewpoint Bob has made a very big impact in Jeffersonvillle," said
Henderson, who is now chair of the Foundation's board of trustees. "But more
importantly, he's making a big impact on the church all across this land.
The search committee at our last meeting established very high expectations,
and I think Bob is filling those shoes and living up to those expectations."

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