In December, members of the International Representative Council (IRC) met to conduct elections for several International Service Board (ISB) positions that are currently held by members whose terms are due to expire 1 April 2021 (Officer terms on the ISB are for four years and members may serve for a maximum of two terms).
The two positions of President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) held by Chris Wood and Bradley Tharpe respectively need new officers as Chris and Brad have served their two terms and need to step down. The other positions are held by officers whose first terms have expired; all agreed to run for a second terms. We are pleased to announce the results of these elections as follows:
President: Enrique Traver (Brazil)
CFO: Jay Peregrine (USA)
Conference Chair: Antonio Schafer (Netherlands)
Membership Chair: Fernando Maldonado (Mexico)
Education Chair: Jeannie Vazquez (Uruguay)
Translations Chair: Gabriel Rymberg (Israel)
We welcome Enrique as the Association’s President Elect and Jay as our CFO Elect. Enrique has previously served two terms as President of Urantia Association of Brazil and was the Chair of the Latin American Continental Conference in Sao Paulo in 2018. In addition, he helped found the Urantia School in Brazil. He is also a multi-linguist and is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, and has a reasonable understanding of French. Jay is well known throughout the readership community and served as Urantia Foundation’s IT man for several years before serving many more years as the Executive Director. He brings decades of leadership and wisdom to our International Service Board.
And thank you to Antonio, Fernando, Jeannie, and Gabriel for your willingness to serve a second term.
Another development that recently occurred is that our Secretary John Nugent sadly had to step down after receiving a shocking diagnosis of advanced Multiple Myeloma. Our thoughts and prayers are with John and we will miss him very much. On a happier note, Joanne Strobel from the United States volunteered to take John’s place as Secretary and has now received the official approval of the IRC. Joanne serves as Secretary of the Urantia Association of the United States (UAUS) and is also a part time staffer with Urantia Foundation, so she also brings to the board valuable experience in serving Urantia organizations.
So, from 1 April 2021 the ISB will look like this:
President: Enrique Traver (Brazil)
Vice President: Andres Rodriguez (Colombia)
Secretary: Joanne Strobel (USA)
CFO: Jay Peregrine (USA)
Conference Chair: Antonio Schafer (Netherlands)
Membership Chair: Fernando Maldonado (Mexico)
Education Chair: Jeannie Vazquez (Uruguay)
Translations Chair: Gabriel Rymberg (Israel)
Communications Chair: Kathleen Swadling (Australia)
Dissemination Chair: Willem Jeths (Brazil)
Study Group Chair: Andres Ramirez (Colombia)
Latin American Continental Coordinator: Wilson Leon (Colombia)
European Continental Coordinator: Sebastian Nozzi (Germany)
African Continental Coordinator: Collins Lomo (Ghana)
Urantia Young Adults International: Samantha Noir (France)
Executive Administrator: Margaret Slater-Thompson (USA)