Bogotá, Colombia—In January, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) General Secretary César García unveiled a new staff structure developed with the assistance of consultants James and Karen Klassen Harder of Bluffton, Ohio.

The growth and maturity of MWC, commented the Harders, means that the office of the General Secretary will need to delegate more responsibility to management staff in key program areas.

The first step for García was to establish an Operations Team. The appointments so far include:

• Len Rempel of New Hamburg, Ontario as Chief Operating Officer responsible for finances and budget, maintaining and monitoring staffing, policies, job descriptions. Rempel, a Certified Management Accountant, began working for MWC in March 2011.
• Anna Sorgius of Strasbourg, France as Chief Administrative Officer responsible for managing the general secretariat office, membership, database, archiving, translators. Sorgius has worked for MWC for 13 years. She will move to Bogotá, Colombia in August after the Strasbourg office closes in June of this year.
• Liesa Unger of Regensburg, Germany as part time Chief International Events Officer responsible to lead the organization of MWC international events such as Executive Committee and General Council meetings and Global Assemblies. Unger has worked with MWC in various capacities for the past decade, most recently as coordinator of logistics for the General Council meetings to be held in Switzerland in May.
• Ron Rempel of Waterloo, Ontario as part time Chief Communications Officer responsible for managing and planning the global communications strategy, and overseeing the communication program that currently includes news service, Courier magazine and the website. Rempel began as news editor in November 2011.

Still to be appointed is a Chief Development Officer responsible for managing and planning a global strategy for fundraising and capacity building.

Also envisioned in the new structure are several coordinator positions reporting to the General Secretary. One is a Coordinator of Commissions—Faith & Life, Deacons, Mission, Peace. The second is a Coordinator of Regional Offices. The goal, according to García, is to have an MWC office in each of the five continental regions—Latin America, Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, North America.

- MWC release

Additional photos available: Len Rempel, Ron Rempel, Liesa Unger