News Releases

LSA Board Transitions Announced

July 6, 2010 – Baltimore, MD – Lutheran Services in America, the Baltimore-based alliance of two Lutheran denominations and their more than 300 social ministry organizations, announces transitions on its national Board of Directors. New terms began July 1, 2010.

Ted W. Goins, Jr. has succeeded Patricia Savage as Chair of the LSA Board of Directors. Goins, who is President and CEO of Lutheran Services for the Aging, Inc., based in Salisbury, NC, joined the LSA Board in 2008. Lutheran Services for the Aging offers services for seniors and adults with disabilities, including nursing care, adult day care and retirement living. Goins is a certified nursing assistant and nursing home administrator, and has been in the long term care profession since 1981. He is active in state and national organizations, including the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, and has served on the N.C. Study Commission on Aging and the North Carolina State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators.

Dr. Patricia Savage, President and CEO of Allegheny Lutheran Social Ministries in Hollidaysburg, PA, served as LSA Board Chair for two years and was active on the LSA Board for six years.

Three Board members who were elected at the LSA Annual Meeting in April took office for three-year terms beginning July 1, 2010:

John Bauer is President and CEO of Bethesda Lutheran Communities, where he has overseen the merger of Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services and Good Shepherd Communities. Prior to his work at Bethesda, Dr. Bauer held several positions at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Dr. Bauer earned his Ph.D. at Marquette University, MA at Concordia Teachers College and BS at Dr. Martin Luther College. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Wisconsin Lutheran College. Dr. Bauer is the author of many papers, presentations and publications. He has been active in a wide variety of church and community organizations and activities, including the LSA Disability Network, American Society on Quality and Rotary International.

Wendy Z. Goldstein has been President and CEO of Brooklyn’s Lutheran HealthCare system since 2001. She has more than 32 years of leadership expertise in some of the country’s finest academic medical centers, including New York University Medical Center, The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Mount Sinai Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. In 2005 she was appointed to the Boards of the Sunset Park Health Council and the American Cancer Society, in 2006 she was elected a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and in 2008 she was named Woman of the Year by the Federation of Italian-American Organizations.

Linda Timmons began her career in high school working on the Bethphage campus at Axtell, NE. She held numerous positions in several states within the organization and when Mosaic was formed through the consolidation of Bethphage and Martin Luther Homes in 2003, Timmons was named Senior Vice President of Program Services. In 2006, she was named President and Chief Operating Officer. She became Mosaic's President and CEO on July 1, 2008. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and a Master of Arts from St. Edward's University in Austin, TX. Timmons serves on the boards of Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, NE, and Nebraska Lutheran Planned Giving Services.

One member was appointed by the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for a three-year term on the LSA Board:

Brian F. Hofland is Director of the AARP Foundation Center for Economic Justice. The center focuses on poverty and aging and as a resource for meeting the basic needs of low-income older persons, with particular emphasis on older women, and African-American and Hispanic populations. Previously, Hofland was Director of The Atlantic Philanthropies Global Ageing Program, with responsibility for grant making in aging in the United States, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. He also has served as Chair of the Social Research, Policy and Practice section of GSA and on the board of the American Society on Aging, and was a delegate to the 1995 and 2005 White House Conferences on Aging. Hofland received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University.

One member was elected by the LSA Board as an at-large member for a three-year term:

John Reese Seffrin has been CEO of the American Cancer Society, based in Atlanta, since 1995. He is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has held positions on multiple national and state-level commissions and task forces. He currently serves on the board of the National Health Council and has served as an officer of C-Change, as president of the International Union Against Cancer, as chair of the board of the Independent Sector and in leadership roles in many other associations. He is the author of numerous articles and contributor to many books on the subject of cancer and national health. The recipient of multiple awards, Seffrin holds a Ph.D. in Health Education from Purdue University.

Lutheran Services in America creates opportunities with people in thousands of communities throughout the United States and the Caribbean as an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and their more than 300 health and human service organizations. Working neighbor to neighbor through services in health care, aging and disability supports, community development, housing, and child and family strengthening, these organizations together touch the lives of more than six million people or one in 50 Americans each year.

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