wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Notes about people for Oct. 7

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8951 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05538
Oct. 7, 2005

Notes about people

by Jerry L. Van Marter

	Ann Gillies, associate director of the Office of Communication in
Louisville, has announced her retirement, effective at the end of this year.

	Gillies joined the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
as associate director for Media Services in 1989 after a career in television
news. In the mid-1990s she served for two years as interim associate director
for communication, then returned to Media Services. In April 2003 she was
made associate director for the Office of Communication. 
 
	Gillies has been instrumental in developing a number of innovative
communications enterprises. She was one of the founders of VISN, the
ecumenical television cooperative that is now the Hallmark Channel. She is
now chair of the Communications Commission of the National Council of
Churches, and has served on the board of Faith & Values Media and on the
planning committee for the Faith Communicators Forum, an annual ecumenical
event for communicators held in Washington, DC.

	The fledgling Presbyterian Communicators Network, the first-ever
national network of Presbyterian communicators, held its first meeting this
summer under her leadership.

	Gillies, a polio survivor, is retiring to escape Louisville's cold
winters and to spend more time with her grandchildren.

# # #

	Robert D. Reis, of Missoula, MT, has been elected president and CEO
of the Covenant Presbyterian Insurance Program, which provides property and
liability insurance to 54 Presbyerian Church (U.S.A.) middle governing bodies
in 10 synods and 22 states from coast to coast. The program was begun in the
Synod of the Pacific in 1987, and incorporated in 2000. Its offices are in
Petaluma, CA.
 
	Reis will succeed the Rev. Philip H. Young, who will retire at the
end of this year. Young was previously synod executive for the Synod of the
Pacific.

# # #

	The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) has announced that the Rev. Eric C. Shafer will leave his role as
director of the denomination's Department for Communication in mid-November.

      Shafer, 55, has headed the ELCA's communication office since 1992.
During his tenure, he expanded the communication staff, established a
nationwide network of ELCA communicators, oversaw a multi-million dollar
national advertising campaign for the church, and expanded its radio and
television ministries and Web site.
 
	He served for eight years as chair of the National Council of
Churches' Communication Commission and was vice president of the Religion
Communicators Council as well as chair of the RCC's annual Wilbur Awards
program.

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