Leadership Biographies
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Executive Management
Bradford L. Hewitt
Chief Executive Officer
Brad Hewitt serves as chief executive officer of Thrivent, the country’s largest fraternal benefit society. A Fortune 500 organization, Thrivent’s mission is to help Christians be wise with money so they can live more content, confident and generous lives. Thrivent has more than 2 million members and manages $136 billion in assets.
Randy Boushek
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Randy Boushek oversees all corporate financial services at Thrivent, including the accounting, tax and actuarial functions. Boushek joined the organization in 1981 as an associate actuary. After holding a variety of positions in the organization, he was named senior vice president and chief investment officer in 1999. He became senior vice president and treasurer in 2002 and was appointed to his current position in 2004.
Paul R. Johnston
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Paul Johnston is general counsel and corporate secretary of Thrivent. In this role, Johnston leads more than 200 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.
Christopher Kopka
President, Thrivent Church Solutions Group
Christopher (Chris) Kopka is president of Thrivent Church Solutions Group. In this role, Kopka leads Thrivent’s strategic and business development functions to equip, empower and deploy tens of thousands of champions and guides who serve across more than 100,000 local congregations and related ministry organizations. For the past two years, he has also served as the senior vice president for Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Partnerships to help Thrivent build a collaborative model for enterprise M&A. He joined Thrivent in 2006.
Mary Nease
Chief Human Resource Officer
Mary Nease leads the Human Resources (HR) division at Thrivent. She provides strategic HR leadership across the enterprise. Prior to joining Thrivent in 2016, Nease was senior vice president and chief audience development officer at American Public Media where she was responsible for growing audience and membership. She has experience managing multiple functions, including human resources, corporate communications, marketing, audience research and live events. In her role as vice president of corporate human resources at Travelers, Nease worked closely on the cultural integration of Travelers and St. Paul Companies during their merger. Similarly, she led field integration at Piper Jaffray during its merger with U.S. Bancorp.
Teresa J. Rasmussen
President, Thrivent Financial
Teresa Rasmussen is president of Thrivent’s core fraternal business unit. She is responsible for the organization’s focus on delivering strong membership and sales results that guide people to be wise with money and live generously. Prior to this appointment, Rasmussen served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, where she led more than 230 professionals in the Corporate Risk Management and External Affairs departments.
David S. Royal
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.
Susan Oberman Smith
Chief Actuary
Susan Oberman Smith serves as chief actuary and vice president of Product Development and Management for Thrivent. In this role, she manages the design, development and in-force management of all products, is responsible for value-added reporting and performance analysis, and provides actuarial oversight and review of financial decisions.
James A. Thomsen
President, Thrivent Holdings
As president of Thrivent Holdings, Jim Thomsen provides strategic direction and leadership to Thrivent’s subsidiaries and affiliates, including Thrivent Mutual Funds, Thrivent Federal Credit Union, cuLearn, Thrivent Student Resources, brightpeak financial, Thrivent Independent, Thrivent Trust Company, Ronald Blue Trust, Newman Long Term Care, and the InFaith Community Foundation. These independent entities share Thrivent’s mission of helping more Christians be wise with money and live generously. In this role, Thomsen is also responsible for business acquisition and the development of ventures to further serve Christian communities.
Terry Timm
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
Bradford L. Hewitt
Board Member and CEO
Brad Hewitt serves as chief executive officer of Thrivent, the country’s largest fraternal benefit society. A Fortune 500 organization, Thrivent’s mission is to help Christians be wise with money so they can live more content, confident and generous lives. Thrivent has more than 2 million members and manages $136 billion in assets.
N. Cornell Boggs III
Board Member
N. Cornell Boggs III has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since December 2013. He serves on the Human Resource & Governance and Thrivent Holdings committees. 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 and Thrivent Financial (FBS) committees. 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 and Thrivent Holdings committees. 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 Human Resource & Governance and Thrivent Financial (FBS) committees. 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 and Thrivent Financial (FBS) committees. 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 chairs the Thrivent Holdings committee and serves as a member of the Executive and Finance committees. 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 Human Resource & Governance and Thrivent Financial (FBS) committees. 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 a member of the Executive and Thrivent Holdings committees. 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.
F. Mark Kuhlmann
Board Member
Mark Kuhlmann of Kirkwood, Missouri, has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since February 2006. He is chair of the Human Resource & Governance Committee and is a member of the Thrivent Holdings and Executive committees. Kuhlmann most recently served as president of Systems Service Enterprises (SSE), a St. Louis–based information technology service business. He now provides limited legal advice and counsel to the business. Prior to joining SSE, he was senior vice president and general counsel for McDonnell Douglas Corp.
Kathryn V. Marinello
Board Member
Kathryn Marinello of Bonita Springs, Florida, was appointed to the Thrivent Board of Directors in August 2014. She is chair of the Thrivent Financial (FBS) committee and is a member of the Finance and Executive committees. 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
Nichole (Nikki) Pechet has been a member of the Thrivent Board of Directors since 2018 and serves on the Thrivent Financial (FBS) and Audit committees. Pechet is vice president of marketing at Thumbtack, a growth-stage technology company that’s one of the fastest growing companies in the $700 billion U.S. local services industry. In her role, she oversees performance marketing, sharing of Thumbtack’s brand story, developing new acquisition channels for the digital world, and building world-class teams focused on diversity and inclusion.
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.
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 Executive and Thrivent Holdings committees. 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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