wfn.org | ELCA Council Elects Christina Jackson-Skelton as Treasurer

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 11, 2001

ELCA COUNCIL ELECTS CHRISTINA JACKSON-SKELTON AS TREASURER
01-286-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) elected Christina Jackson-Skelton to a six-
year term as ELCA treasurer. Jackson-Skelton, 36, will assume the
role of treasurer Feb. 1, succeeding Richard L. McAuliffe, who has
served as ELCA treasurer since 1992.  McAuliffe announced earlier
this year he would not seek a third term when his present term
concludes Jan. 31.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves
as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies. The council met here Nov. 9-11. Assemblies are held every
other year; the next is Aug. 11-17, 2003, in Milwaukee.
     The ELCA presiding bishop, vice president, secretary and
treasurer are the church's officers.  The ELCA Constitution specifies
the treasurer is to be elected by the council; all other officers are
elected by the churchwide assembly.  Jackson-Skelton was nominated by
a search committee which included the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA
presiding bishop; the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary; three
members of the ELCA Church Council executive committee; and two ELCA
members who are financial services executives.
     Since 1996, Jackson-Skelton has served as director for finance
in the ELCA Division for Global Mission (DGM).  In that role, she has
planned and directed the division's financial policies, served as
treasurer and comptroller, directed budget planning, and served as a
financial consultant to division staff, mission associations,
missionaries and related churches and agencies outside the United
States.
     She was DGM's assistant director for finance from 1993 to 1996,
and was DGM's accountant for overseas operations from 1989 to 1992.
     Among the duties in her new role as ELCA treasurer, Jackson-
Skelton will be responsible for a wide range of financial matters
related to the churchwide organization.  They include implementation
of council-approved policies involving financial, accounting,
insurance, property management, investment and money management
systems, and related services for churchwide units.
     "Christina brings to this office a deep commitment to mission,
broad understanding of finances and 12-and-one-half years' experience
in the churchwide organization," Hanson said.  "She will be an
excellent steward of the church's resources, a strong administrator,
and a person whose living faith permeates all she does."
     "I am looking forward to serving the church as treasurer and
will strive to do so competently and faithfully," Jackson-Skelton
said.  "It has been a privilege and joy to work in global mission
these past years, and I am excited by the opportunity to work more
closely with additional areas of the ELCA's ministries."
    "Of course, there will be challenges,' she added.  "Yet, during
challenging times in the history of our church, we have witnessed how
people of faith pull together and respond with an even greater sense
of generosity, compassion and mission."
    Jackson-Skelton was born in 1965 in Robbinsdale, Minn.  She
earned a bachelor's degree in 1987 from Concordia College, Moorhead,
Minn., one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities.  In 1988, she earned
a master of international management degree from Thunderbird Graduate
School of International Management, Glendale, Ariz.
    Jackson-Skelton and her husband, Timothy, are parents of two
children.  They attend Joy! Lutheran Church in Gurnee, Ill., a suburb
north of Chicago.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html