wfn.org | Church finance agency gets new general counsel

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 9, 2002   News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202) 546-87227Washington
10-71BP{150}

NOTE: A photograph of Irene Howard is available at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html online.

By United Methodist News Service*

Irene Howard, chancellor of the United Methodist Church's Mississippi Annual
(regional) Conference, will become general counsel of the denomination's
General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) on July 1.

An active member of Madison (Miss.) United Methodist Church, Howard will
join Michelle Thorne and David Ullrich, associate general counsels, in
working to protect the legal interests of GCFA and the denomination.

While on the GCFA staff, the general counsel is often consulted by other
units and leaders of the church, particularly the bishops.

Howard has been a managing partner of the DelKen Group Inc. since 2000.
Previous professional positions have included vice president and chief
counsel of KLLM Transport Services Inc. in Richland, Miss.; partner of a
private law firm in Jackson, Miss.; special assistant to the executive
director of a Mississippi Legislative Audit Committee; and division director
for the Mississippi State Personnel Board. 

She earned her juris doctor degree from the Mississippi College School of
Law in Jackson; a master of science in public administration from Florida
State University in Tallahassee; and a bachelor of arts in sociology from
Millsaps College, a United Methodist-related institution in Jackson.

A member of the chancel and hand-bell choirs in the Madison congregation,
Howard has also served her church and conference as a member of the pastor
parish relations committee, lay member to the annual conference, an officer
in the United Methodist Women and a member of various conference boards. She
is an active participant in the Kairos prison ministry. 

"The United Methodist Church has long been willing to wrestle with the
important social issues of our time with the goal of seeking reconciliation
and healing," Howard has said. "In support of this long tradition, I believe
that GCFA and the legal department have a significant role to play in
helping our denomination balance the legal and the ecclesiastical.

"Although GCFA is charged with protecting the denomination from liability,
we must, at the same time, do so in a way that aids our clergy leadership in
realizing our church's mission of fulfilling God's purpose in his world,"
she commented.  "I hope to add value to this important endeavor."

Howard succeeds Mary Logan, who left the staff last October to serve as
chief operating officer of the American Dental Association. Logan had been
on the GCFA staff since 1995.

# # #

*Steve Zekoff, assistant general secretary for communications at the General
Council on Finance and Administration in Evanston, Ill., provided the
information for this report.

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United Methodist News Service
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