James F. Sanft will begin serving March 3 as president of Concordia Plan Services, administrator 
of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s health, disability, life, and retirement benefit programs.
Sanft, 45, succeeds Paul W. Middeke, who is retiring after serving four-and-a-half years in the post. Middeke also served the Synod as vice president-finance/treasurer from 1999 to 2001.
Sanft joined Concordia Plan Services (then known as Worker Benefit Plans) in 1999 as its first director of actuarial services. Since then, he has held a number of positions in the organization, including serving as co-interim executive director in 2003, and most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer, overseeing b
enefit administration/operations, information technology, products and services, and education and outreach.
Prior to joining Concordia Plan Services, Sanft was an assistant actuary at Ameritas Life Insurance Corporation, Lincoln, Neb. (1994-99); actuarial assistant at Minnesota Mutual Life, St. Paul, Minn. (1988-94); and a teacher at Concordia Lutheran High School, Fort Wayne, Ind. (1985-86).
Sanft, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, holds a master’s degree in mathematics and statistics from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and a bachelor’s degree in education from Concordia University Nebraska, Seward.
He and his wife, Janell, have three teenage sons and are members of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Sunset Hills, Mo.
Posted Feb. 5, 2008
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