Leadership Biographies
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Executive Management
Teresa J. Rasmussen
President and Chief Executive Officer
Teresa (Terry) Rasmussen has overall leadership responsibility for Thrivent and its many businesses, guiding the organization on its mission to help members be wise with money and live generously. She is also a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors. Prior to her role as president and CEO, she was president of Thrivent’s fraternal business after serving 10 years as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.
Paul R. Johnston
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Paul Johnston is general counsel and corporate secretary of Thrivent. In this role, he leads professionals in Thrivent’s legal, compliance, corporate governance, privacy, corporate security, business resilience and organizational training functions. He previously served as a vice president and deputy general counsel at Thrivent.
Vibhu Sharma
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Vibhu Sharma oversees all corporate financial services at Thrivent, including the accounting, tax, actuarial, business risk management and corporate real estate functions. He joined the organization in 2019 as senior vice president and chief financial officer.
David S. Royal
Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer
David Royal oversees all investments at Thrivent, including mutual funds, variable products and the general account. His responsibilities include being president of Thrivent Asset Management, and president and trustee/director of Thrivent Mutual Funds and Thrivent Series Funds.
Lisa Flanary
Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy
Lisa Flanary is responsible for driving Thrivent’s enterprise strategy into execution in her role as senior vice president of corporate strategy. She oversees transition management, long-term development and innovation, and planning, reporting and analytics. She also supports senior leaders in defining and executing their near-term enterprise strategies.
Karen Himle
Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs
Karen Himle leads Corporate Affairs, which includes brand, communications, government affairs, community affairs and the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art. Himle joined Thrivent in 2014 as vice president of Corporate Affairs.
Sarah Jansen
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Sarah Jansen leads Thrivent’s information technology (IT) function, supported by a team of more than 700 IT professionals. She joined Thrivent in February 2018 as chief information officer with responsibility for delivering technology solutions to support Thrivent’s enterprise strategy.
Tina Smith
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Tina Smith oversees the teams that provide strategic human resources advice and enterprise support for talent acquisition, benefits and compensation, organizational design, and workforce culture and effectiveness. Smith joined Thrivent in 2007 in the General Counsel's Office, serving as vice president, deputy general counsel.
Nikki Sorum
Senior Vice President of Membership
Nikki Sorum leads the Membership business area, Thrivent's approach to help more Christians be wise with money in ways that grow membership and deepen engagement. She has been with Thrivent since 2002, when she became vice president of new business ventures and the financial consulting group. Sorum was promoted to senior vice president in 2003, leading investment products and marketing. She became a divisional vice president in 2008, managing the Midwest and West field divisions and the Financial Guidance Team.
Terry Timm
Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Terry Timm is chief administrative officer at Thrivent. In this role, Timm oversees a broad operations function that includes Information Technology, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs and Brand, Procurement and Property Management, Project Management, and Life and Annuity Operations.
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Board Of Directors
Bonnie E. Raquet
Chair of the Board
Bonnie Raquet has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since 2010 and was elected to serve as chair of the board, effective February 2018. Raquet was Cargill's corporate vice president, Corporate Affairs, from 2000 until her retirement in 2011. Over that span, she led Cargill's worldwide corporate affairs activities, including government relations, media, communications, brand management, marketing services and corporate responsibility. She also represented Cargill's business and corporate policy interests.
N. Cornell Boggs III
Vice Chair of the Board
N. Cornell Boggs III has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since December 2013. He serves as chair of the Governance committee and serves as a member of the Human Resource committee and the Executive committee. Boggs currently serves as a senior advisor for Barker Gilmore, a corporate legal advisory firm. Previously, Boggs served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Toys 'R' Us, Inc., where he led its global legal and legislative affairs functions.
Kenneth A. Carow
Board Member
Kenneth (Ken) Carow was elected to the Thrivent Board of Directors in February 2013. He serves on the Finance committee and the Human Resource committee. Carow is a professor of finance and currently serves as the executive associate dean of faculty and research at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business Indianapolis (KSBI). He also served as associate dean for Indianapolis Research and Programs, as a co-director of the Kelley Direct American Banking Association Program, and as chair of the undergraduate program at KSBI. Prior to his time at Indiana University, he was assistant professor at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Bradford N. Creswell
Board Member
Bradford (Brad) Creswell has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since February 2018. He serves on the Audit committee and the Strategy committee. Creswell is co-founder and managing partner of NCA Partners LLC, a private equity firm in Seattle, Washington. Prior to joining NCA, Creswell was vice president at Bankers Trust & Company. He started his career in the audit department of Arthur Young where he earned his CPA.
Lynn Crump-Caine
Board Member
Lynn Crump-Caine has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since August 2016. She serves on the Audit committee, the Human Resource committee and the Governance committee. Crump-Caine spent 30 years of her career at McDonald's Corporation where she served as executive vice president of worldwide operations. In that role, she directed global operations departments for more than 31,000 McDonald's restaurants worldwide. Prior to that position, she was senior vice president of U.S. operations. As a field executive, she was responsible for sales and profits in McDonald's largest domestic territory.
Eric J. Draut
Board Member
Eric Draut of Chicago has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since February 2015. He currently serves on the Audit committee and the Strategy committee. Draut began his career as an audit manager at Coopers & Lybrand (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers). He spent 20 years with Unitrin (now Kemper Corp.), a financial services holding company, a tenure that included 13 years as executive vice president and CFO. Over that period, he also managed a $6 billion investment portfolio and led numerous acquisition, divestiture and financing transactions.
Kirk D. Farney
Board Member
Kirk Farney was appointed to the Thrivent Board of Directors in November 2011. He serves as chair of the Strategy committee and member of the Finance committee and the Executive committee. He currently serves as vice president for advancement, vocation and alumni engagement at Wheaton College in Illinois. In that role, Farney oversees alumni relations, development, planned giving, the college's Center for Vocation and Career, institutional partnerships, media relations, marketing communications and advancement services. Additionally, he holds faculty rank in the college's Department of History.
Mark A. Jeske
Board Member
Rev. Mark Jeske has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since May 2011. He currently serves on the Finance committee, the Human Resource committee and the Governance committee. A Milwaukee native, Jeske has served as senior pastor of St. Marcus Lutheran Church, an inner-city congregation, since 1980. Today, St. Marcus is a thriving, multicultural congregation with more than 1,100 members. The congregation operates numerous outreach ministries, and its elementary school, which has more than 900 students, has been nationally recognized for its Christ-centered focus and academic excellence.
Frederick G. Kraegel
Board Member
Frederick (Fred), has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since August 2008. He is the chair of the Finance committee and serves as a member of the Strategy committee and the Executive committee. Since February 2011, Kraegel has been a managing director with Parham Partners, a financial advisory firm in Richmond, Virginia. From 2003 to 2011, he served as a senior director with Bridge Associates. His activities from 1987 to 2003 involved serving as chief executive officer or chief financial officer or as an independent consultant for businesses of at least $150 million to more than $8 billion in annual revenue that were experiencing significant financial difficulties, often involving formal bankruptcy proceedings.
Kathryn V. Marinello
Board Member
Kathryn Marinello of Bonita Springs, Florida, was appointed to the Thrivent Board of Directors in August 2014. She serves as chair of the Human Resource committee and serves as a member of the Finance committee and the Executive committee. Marinello is the president and chief executive officer for Hertz Global in Estero, Florida. Prior to joining Hertz, she served as senior advisor for Ares Management. She previously served as chairman, president and CEO of Stream Global Services Inc. In addition, she has held management positions at Citigroup, Chemical Bank New York (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.), First Bank Systems and First Data Corp. She previously was a division president of General Electric Financial Assurance Partnership, and marketing and division president for General Electric Fleet Services. She also was president, CEO and chairman of Ceridian.
Nichole Pechet
Board Member
Nikki Pechet has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since 2018 and serves on the Audit committee and the Strategy committee. Pechet is CEO of Homebound, a venture-backed company creating a better way to build homes with the help of technology. Prior to Homebound, Pechet served as Vice President of Marketing at Thumbtack, a growth-stage technology company that was one of the fastest growing companies in the $700 billion U.S. local services industry. She is also an investor and advisor to several early stage technology companies.
Teresa J. Rasmussen
President and Chief Executive Officer
Teresa (Terry) Rasmussen has overall leadership responsibility for Thrivent and its many businesses, guiding the organization on its mission to help members be wise with money and live generously. She is also a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors and serves on the Governance committee and the Executive committee. Prior to her role as president and CEO, she was president of Thrivent’s fraternal business after serving 10 years as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.
Alice M. Richter
Board Member
Alice Richter has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since May 2007. She chairs the Audit Committee and serves as a member of the Human Resource committee and the Executive committee. Richter, a retired CPA, spent her entire career with KPMG. She joined the firm's Minneapolis office in 1975 and later spent three years on an international assignment in Dusseldorf, Germany. She was admitted to the KPMG partnership in 1987.
Contact our Board of Directors
To contact the Thrivent Financial Board of Directors, send a letter addressed to:
Thrivent Financial
Board of Directors (or name a specific director)
Office of the Corporate Secretary
625 Fourth Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55415The corporate secretary will collect the letters and forward them to the chair of the board or to a specific director if named.* Letters on the following topics will be forwarded as indicated:
- A complaint relating to a specific product or contract – referred to Member Relations.
- A complaint relating to accounting matters – referred to the chair of the Audit Committee.
* Thrivent will initially receive and process communications before forwarding them to the addressee. Communications may also be referred to other departments within Thrivent if applicable. We generally will not forward to the board any communication that is primarily commercial in nature, that relates to an improper or irrelevant topic or that requests general information about Thrivent.
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