wfn.org | Lehman begins as MBM president

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

May 2, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

May 2, 2001

Lehman begins assignment as interim MBM president

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – Following the resignation of President
Stanley W. Green to lead the new mission agency of the Mennonite
Church USA, Martha “Marty” Lehman began duties May 1 as interim
MBM president.

Lehman, MBM vice president for operations since September 1998,
was named to the position by the MBM Board of Directors at its
spring meetings in Newton, Kan.  Lehman will lead MBM’s
day-to-day operations as it brings a close to a 120-year history
with the end of its current fiscal year on Jan. 31, 2002.
Because of the ongoing mission-transformation process, Lehman
will consult with Green on matters that impact formation of the
new MC USA mission agency.

“My goal is to bring MBM to a good close,” said Lehman, who
becomes the first woman to serve as MBM’s chief executive
officer.  “As the new mission agencies emerge in the next nine
months in Canada and the USA, MBM needs to continue to operate at
full capacity so we can have a good transition into the new
mission agency.”  She begins an assignment preceded by only six
others.  MBM’s top staff officers have been George Bender,
1910-21; Sanford Yoder, 1921-44; J.D. Graber, 1944-59; H. Ernest
Bennett, 1959-80; Paul M. Gingrich, 1980-94; and Green,
1994-2001.

Green’s resignation also prompted other staff changes at MBM.
Since the October 1999 resignation of Ronald E. Yoder as MBM vice
president for Global Ministries, Green also had served as vice
president for MBM’s Global Ministries division.  Alice Roth, who
retired from the post in 1998, had returned to MBM part-time to
serve as team leader for the division. Following Green’s
resignation, Roth assumed additional responsibility as vice
president for Global Ministries.

As vice president for operations, Lehman promotes
inter-divisional cooperation as well as efforts to streamline
existing operations.  As leader of MBM’s Partnership Services
division, she oversees staff for computer services, development,
finances, human resources and partnership.

Lehman joined Goshen College in July 1987 as an assistant
director of admissions, responsible for recruiting students in
the Midwest.  She was named director of admissions in July 1990,
in which she was responsible for supervising a staff of 12,
developing an admissions marketing plan and working with other
college departments to execute that plan.

She and her husband, Rex Hooley, are members of College Mennonite
Church in Goshen, where she is chair of the Women’s Fellowship
Program and a delegate from the congregation to Indiana-Michigan
Mennonite Conference.  She has served as an elder, a Mennonite
Youth Fellowship sponsor, a Sunday-school teacher and
coordinator.  She also has attended Townline Conservative
Mennonite Church in Shipshewana, Ind., and Maple Grove Mennonite
Church in Topeka, Ind.

In between attending Rosedale (Ohio) Bible College and Hinds
(County) Junior College in Mississippi, Lehman served a
four-month term in Voluntary Service through Rosedale Mennonite
Missions as a daycare worker in Cincinnati, Ohio.

She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1981, and a
master’s degree in public affairs in 1986, both from Indiana
University South Bend.  She served as a caseworker at the Elkhart
County Child Welfare Department, supervising adoptive placements
and placement of children for long-term foster care from December
1982 to June 1987.

Growing out of mission efforts begun in 1882 in Elkhart, Ind.,
Mennonite Board of Missions promotes the whole gospel for a
broken world through ministry in nearly 50 countries.

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MBM staff             PHOTO AVAILABLE