— ANNOUNCEMENT —
Date: 28 January 2016
World Relief Restructures Leadership Team to Seize New Opportunities and Strengthen its Impact
For more than 70 years World Relief has empowered the local church to serve millions in some of the hardest place in the world. Over the past five years, World Relief has stepped out in significant ways. The organization developed a standardized philosophy, curriculum and set of tools to significantly increase and measure its global impact. It expanded its footprint to the Middle East and Europe, positioning the organization to take an important leadership in the current refugee crisis. It launched The Justice Conference, a global movement seeking to meaningfully combine faith and action. And it extended its refugee resettlement program, adding six offices (for a total of 27) throughout the United States. World Relief remains a preferred choice among churches, donors and partners.
Anticipating the next five years, World Relief desires to extend its impact and influence, preparing itself to both learn and unlearn, while envisioning a new wave of growth. But the world in which it operates is changing. “World Relief’s mission has never been more important nor more relevant. Yet our context has never been more challenging. The roles and priorities of the Church, governments, and individuals, as well as the nature of relief, development and philanthropy have significantly changed. But World Relief’s calling has not,” said Stephan Bauman, President and CEO.
World Relief desires to build on its position that both catalyzes Church engagement and empowers churches and church networks as never before to serve the most vulnerable. In order to realize this vision, the organization is splitting the role of President and CEO into two distinct roles. Our CEO will be responsible for the overall effectiveness of the organization in pursuit of its mission. Our President will be responsible for taking World Relief’s mission to the next level of relevance, impact and engagement with individual stakeholders, partners, and policymakers to advocate, educate and act on behalf of the most vulnerable.
Effective February 1, 2016, Stephan Bauman, World Relief’s current President and CEO, will continue as President while former Board member, Tim Breene, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer.
As President and CEO, Stephan led the organization towards greater clarity and execution of its mission, overhauled its strategy, increased private revenue and expanded its footprint in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Prior to becoming CEO in 2011, Stephan served as World Relief’s Senior Vice President of Programs where he directed International and U.S. programming. He joined World Relief in 2005 as the Country Director in Rwanda.
Tim Breene served on the Board of World Relief from 2010 to 2015 and has been acting as interim CMO since last September. He brings a wealth of relevant experience to his new role as CEO of World Relief. Tim’s business career spanned nearly 40 years with organizations like McKinsey, where he was a Partner, and Accenture where, in over a decade of different global leadership roles, he acted variously as Group Chief, Executive Business Consulting, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer and Founder and Chief Executive of Accenture Interactive.
Tim and his wife Michelle had their introduction to World Relief through their home church, Grace Chapel, in Boston, MA, a long time World Relief partner in Malawi, Haiti, India, and global refugee work. Through their involvement at Grace Chapel the Breene’s have traveled to World Relief’s work in various parts of the world.
Tim and Michele have a wealth of international experience including working with Christian leaders in the majority world.
Tim is also the co-author of Jumping the S-Curve published by Harvard Publishing as well as several Harvard Business Review articles. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Gordon College in Wenham Massachusetts.
Together, as President and CEO, Stephan Bauman and Tim Breene, will embrace an agenda to build on World Relief’s distinct commitment to the Church as the essential vehicle for individual and community transformation while creating a more robust and sustainable engine to power its mission, influence and impact. “I couldn’t be more honored to partner with Tim Breene, the Board, our partners, and my colleagues as we look to the future together,” said Stephan Bauman.
“By restructuring our leadership, we believe we are positioning the organization for significant impact in the future. While we are proud of the progress and impact we have made in the last few years, in order to experience a new horizon of growth, we must invest in our systems and overall economic model to extend our promise to the most vulnerable, our partners and staff. The partnership between Stephan and Tim is critical to our success,” said Steve Moore, Chairman of the Board.
“Making World Relief a magnet for all who wish to see renewal and restoration brought to ‘the least of these’ requires an organization that not only calls on people but also makes the most of their gifts and passion with a commitment to learning, excellence and teamwork,” said CEO, Tim Breene.
Contact: Jenny Yang // jyang@wr.org // 443.527.8363