wfn.org | Episcopal Church appoints new chief financial officer/treasurer

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-304

Episcopal Church appoints new chief financial officer/treasurer

     (ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold has announced that Ralph L. O'Hara has 
been appointed treasurer and chief financial officer for the Episcopal Church.  In this 
position he will serve as treasurer of both the General Convention and the Executive 
Council.  The Very Rev. George Werner, president of the House of Deputies, and Pat 
Mordecai, the chief operating officer of the Episcopal Church Center, joined the 
presiding bishop in making the final selection.

     Prior to this new appointment,  O'Hara was corporate controller for Chicago-based 
GATX Corporation.  A 1966 graduate of the Wharton School of the University of 
Pennsylvania, with a Master's in Business Administration from Washington University in 
St. Louis and additional study at Harvard Business School, O'Hara will assume his new 
position at the Episcopal Church Center in New York in November.

     "Ralph is a CPA and an experienced financial professional with global exposure," 
according to Mordecai.  "He has been responsible for the development of an annual 
corporate operating budget of about $30 million at GATX, a specialized leasing and 
finance company with an asset portfolio of over $5 billion and pension fund investments 
of $300 million."

     According to Mordecai, "O'Hara's position at GATX required that he articulate 
complex financial matters to the company's business leaders, his own staff, and 
ultimately the shareholders.  Audit, controls, cash forecasting and budget preparation 
all have been functions of his position at GATX.  His management style had been 
described as direct and decisive, yet flexible in responding to the changing demands of 
staff and in building management teams."

     O'Hara is an active Episcopalian serving on the vestry and as chairman of the 
finance committee at Christ Church in Winnetka.  He has also served as a trustee and 
president of the board of the Chicago Child Care Society, the city's oldest social 
service agency, which provides adoption and foster care, teen pregnancy services, day 
care, and family stabilization counseling.  He also is on the board of Lawrence Hall 
Youth Services, an Episcopal charity providing residential care and education to 
emotionally vulnerable youths.  He and his wife Mary have three grown children.

     Commenting on his appointment, O'Hara said, "This is a time of particular 
challenge and opportunity for the church.  I am delighted to be joining the management 
team as we advance our mission and outreach."