Delegates quickly reelected six General Conference officers and promoted a seventh to five-year terms in Secretariat and Treasury on Sunday.
The officer who was promoted—J. Raymond Wahlen II, to the No. 2 position of Undertreasurer—replaces Juan Prestol-Puesán, who was elected treasurer on Friday.
The undersecretary, Myron Iseminger, was reelected to his position on Friday.
The officers expressed eagerness for their continuing assignments.
“It is a privilege to serve the world church in this capacity,” Karen J. Porter, reelected as associate secretary of the General Conference, told the Adventist Review after the vote. “I pray for wisdom and guidance from above as we move together into the next quinquennium.”
Here is the list of newly elected officers.
Undersecretary
Myron Iseminger has held the position of undersecretary of the General Conference since October 2011. Iseminger, born into an Adventist pastor’s home, grew up in several states in the Midwestern and southern United States. Prior to high school, he moved with his family to the Pacific Northwest, where he graduated from Walla Walla College with majors in theology, biblical languages, and business administration, and a minor in music.
After graduating with his Master of Divinity degree from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Iseminger pastored in the Upper Columbia Conference. He has also served as a pastor, treasurer, and church administrator in the Nevada-Utah and Montana conferences. Iseminger worked in the Trans-European Division as treasurer for the Egypt Field and in the Southern Asia-Pacific Division as associate treasurer before coming to the General Conference in 2010.
Myron is married to Candace, a school vice-principal and curriculum specialist. They have two children, Sierra and Michael.
Associate Secretaries
Gary Krause: Born in Fiji to Australian missionary parents, Krause is director of the Office of Adventist Mission, which cares for Global Mission and Mission Awareness. Krause has been associate secretary of the General Conference since his election to the position at the 2010 GC session. Krause is married to Bettina, a fellow Australian, and communication director for the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). They are the parents of one daughter, Bethany.
Krause is the author of hundreds of published articles and the book, God’s Great Missionaries. He’s currently enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Queensland, focusing on Seventh-day Adventist urban ministry.
Before moving to the United States, Krause worked in Australia as creative director for the South Pacific Adventist Media Centre and as an editor at Signs Publishing Company.
Karen J. Porter has served as associate secretary of the General Conference since July 2014, and is co-director of International Personnel Resources and Services (IPRS). She also works as liaison for the Deferred Mission Appointment (DMA) program. She previously served as the GC assistant secretary (December 2011-July 2014), and GC representative on the campus of Loma Linda University.
Porter attended Southern Adventist University, Union College, and Columbia Union College, after high school in Washington State. Porter and her husband, Michael, who is now ADRA’s associate director for church engagement, have served in several mission locations, most recently in the Middle East.
John Thomas has served as an associate secretary of the General Conference since September 2010. Prior to coming to the GC, Thomas spent two years as associate director of the International Relief and Rescue degree program at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, which involved training students for humanitarian service in international locations and providing aid to disaster areas. He also served for 10 years as an academy Bible and history teacher, guidance counselor, and vice principal before becoming a principal at four boarding academies.
Thomas has planned and been involved in about 35 short-term mission trips to various world regions, interacting with both prospective and returned volunteers. He graduated from Atlantic Union College with a major in Religious Education, and from Georgia State University with a master’s in educational leadership.
Thomas and his wife, Nancy, have two adult children, John and Mike.
Undertreasurer
J. Raymond Wahlen II has served as associate treasurer since 2010. Before that, he worked as the special assistant to the treasurer and director of the Seventh-day Adventist accounting software system and, even earlier, in various capacities in the North American Division and in the Far Eastern Division.
Wahlen was in church news in late 2004 when, while serving as a special assistant to the world church treasurer and attending regional year-end meetings in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, he and other world church leaders had to be urgently evacuated after a sudden uprising in that African country.
Associate Treasurers
George O. Egwahke was elected to a third term as associate treasurer. A native of Nigeria, Egwahke has worked in the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division and also served in various finance administrative positions in the Southern Asia-Pacific Division and the Africa-Indian Ocean Division before moving to the church world headquarters.
During his tenure as associate treasurer, Egwahke, who holds a master’s in business administration, has become known for urging a more deliberate focus on local church regions becoming self-reliant, especially in Africa. During the last few years, he has also served as the session manager for the General Conference session in San Antonio.
Daisy J. F. Orion was first elected as associate treasurer in 2005, becoming one of only a few women in church history to occupy a top position in the Treasury department. Three women held the position of treasurer for the early Adventist church during the late 1800s.
She arrived at the General Conference from the Asia-Pacific Division and initially worked as director of planning for Global Mission.
Orion is well known by church leaders attending the Annual Council at the world church headquarters, where she has lectured about financial policies, including the importance of conducting financial audits, and core policies for compliance testing.
Timothy H. Aka is a native of Canada, and a relative newcomer to the General Conference, which he joined from the world of business finance last year. Aka has extensive experience in the financial sector, where he worked, among other positions, as financial adviser at Edward Jones, and manager at TD Waterhouse in Toronto, Canada. He was initially elected as investment manager of the General Conference in October 2014 and became associate treasurer in March 2015.
The work of the Nominating Committee will continue throughout the week.