For Immediate Release
Contact:
Vicki Biggs
Director, Integrated Communications
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
www.lcms.org | 314-996-1236 | 314-556-3829 (cell)
ST. LOUIS, February 11, 2013—The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) Foundation has named David Fiedler its new president effective Feb. 12.
The LCMS Foundation serves to connect donors with charitable giving opportunities. Its gift planning counselors work with families, congregations and other church entities to help plan and direct their passion for giving to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s ministries.
Fiedler will oversee the LCMS Foundation’s trust and investment activities, provide direction to its gift-planning and other fundraising efforts, communicate with partner organizations, and assist the board of trustees in establishing the organization’s overall course and direction.
“On behalf of our board and staff, I am very pleased to welcome David as the Foundation’s new president,” said Wayne Price, the LCMS Foundation’s chief financial officer and interim president. “He brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to this important position. We look forward to many years of his leadership.”
Fiedler has been serving The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) as executive director, General Services since 2005. In that role, he oversaw corporate operations, including a $5 million budget, and provided business services and facility-support management for three facilities housing 550 employees.
Prior to that, he was senior manager for LCMS Human Resources for eight years. His career has come full circle as his first position in service to the church was in 1995 as a development officer with the LCMS Foundation, working on behalf of the former LCMS World Mission, the global Gospel outreach of the LCMS.
Fiedler succeeds the Rev. Dr. Tom Ries, who began serving June 1, 2011, as president of Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn. Ries was LCMS Foundation president for seven years. Price has been serving as interim president since 2011.
“I am excited to work with the Foundation because of its employees, dedicated servants who know their field and who work very hard in service to the Lord and His people in the LCMS,” Fiedler said.
Fiedler has a bachelor’s degree in German and Political Science from Washington University, St. Louis, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Mo. His experience includes military service; he was commissioned as a second lieutenant though the Reserve Officer Training Corps and spent eight years in the Army Reserve.
A prolific writer, Fiedler has authored articles and several books, including The Enemy Among Us: POWs in Missouri during WWII (2003), a history of German and Italian prisoners of war in Missouri for which he received the Governor’s Award for the Humanities.
About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The 2.3 million-member Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis. Through acts of witness and mercy, the church carries out its mission worldwide to make known the love of Jesus Christ. Learn more at www.lcms.org.
About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foundation
Founded in 1958, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foundation is the Synod’s primary organization providing Lutheran donors with charitable expertise and opportunities to ensure that families are provided for and beloved ministries are supported. The LCMS Foundation also manages financial instruments and the gifts they represent, entrusted to it by congregations, organizations, and individuals. As of fiscal year 2012, the foundation had more than $910 million of assets and generated more than $59.9 million in new funds for 513 LCMS ministries. For more information, visit www.lcmsfoundation.org.
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