Maisha I. Handy
President, McCormick Theological Seminary
The McCormick Theological Seminary Board of Trustees named Rev. Maisha I. Handy, Ph.D., as its twelfth President. She assumed office Sept. 3.
A theologian, administrator, and educator, Dr. Handy previously was Interim President and Professor of Religion and Education at Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia, where she served for 24 years.
She is McCormick’s second female president and first African American president. A native of Chicago, she succeeds David R. Crawford, who retired June 30 after serving since 2017.
Handy is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She earned a B.S. in Criminal Justice in 1989, a Master of Divinity with honors from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 1994, and a Ph.D. from Emory in 2002 – the first African American woman to receive the degree from the department. In 1999, Handy spent a year as a teaching assistant to Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
Handy also has served as pastor for Rize Community Church, an inclusive Africentric Christian ministry located in Atlanta since 2013.
Kevin Kompelien
President and Chief Executive Officer Trinity Evangelical University
Rev. Kevin Kompelien was appointed the 17th president of Trinity Evangelical University after the institution’s Board of Regents formally requested that the board of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) release him from his duties as EFCA president.
Kompelien assumed office on April 1. He succeeds Nicholas Perrin, who served for nearly five years as president of Trinity, which comprises Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), located in Bannockburn, Illinois, and founded by leaders of the EFCA in 1897.
A native of Minnesota, Kompelien earned a Bachelor of Science degree summa cum laude in 1979 from the University of North Dakota, and an M.Div. cum laude from Trinity Evangelical School in 1983. For over 25 years he served as a pastor in the EFCA before joining EFCA ReachGlobal in 2006 as an international leader for the Africa Division.
He became president of the EFCA in 2015.
Sharon Tan
President, Pacific Theological Seminary
Sharon Tan, Ph.D., assumed the office of president of Pacific Theological Seminary on June 1, following the retirement of Kent Eaton, who had served in the role for two years.
Tan previously served as Vice President and Dean at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary and Acting Dean of the Seminary and professor of Theological Studies at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Her earlier roles included service as vice president for Academic Strategy and as the McVay Professor of Christian Ethics at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in St. Paul, Minnesota.
She holds a B.S. from Oral Roberts University and a Master of Theological Studies and her Juris Doctorate from Emory University. After clerking for a federal appellate judge, she practiced law in Atlanta, before returning to Emory for her Ph.D.
Jacqueline Lapsley
President, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Jacqueline Lapsley, Ph.D., began her new duties as the eighth president of Union Presbyterian Seminary on July 1, the first woman to lead the 211-year-old seminary. She succeeds Brian Blount, who served as president of the seminary for 16 years.
Lapsley also was the first woman to serve as Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at her previous institution, Princeton Theological Seminary, a position she had held since 2018. She joined the Princeton faculty in 1998.
An Old Testament scholar in the Reformed tradition, Lapsley has authored or co-edited a number of works, including A Women’s Bible Commentary. Lapsley earned her Ph.D. from Emory University, an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, an M.A. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her A.B. from Smith College.
Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie
Interim President, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
Academic Dean Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, Ph.D. was appointed Interim President and Chief Executive Officer by the Board of Trustees of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, effective July 1.
A recognized scholar and widely published author and editor, Tudorie earned a Bachelor of Arts, two Master of Arts, and two Ph.D. degrees from the University of Bucharest and post-doctoral fellowships in Europe and the United States.
Tudorie has served as a faculty member for several European universities; he joined St. Vladimir’s as Academic Dean and Professor for Church History in 2018, and will continue in that role while serving as Interim President.
He succeeds the Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, who retired in summer 2024 after serving as president for 17 years. The Board of Trustees is leading the search for a new president.
Jo-Ann Badley
Interim President, Newman Theological College
Noted scholar and retired professor Jo-Ann Badley, Ph.D., was appointed in July to be interim president of Newman Theological College in Edmonton, Alberta, while a search continues for a full-time president.
A longstanding scholar and teacher of biblical studies and hermeneutics, Badley earned her doctorate in New Testament from the University of St. Michael’s College at the Toronto School of Theology. She taught for more than 40 years (including a decade at Newman) before retiring as Dean of Theology from Ambrose University in Calgary, and served for six years on the Roman Catholic-Evangelical dialogue team. She also was a member of the consulting team for Newman’s successful accreditation study for the Association of Theological Schools (ATS).
Badley succeeds Jason West, who will return to the faculty after a year’s sabbatical. Appointed by the Board of Governors in 2012, West is the college’s 13th and longest-serving president, appointed in 2012.
Lydia Kelsey Bucklin
Episcopal Divinity School
An alumna of The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) with a longstanding commitment to community and social justice advocacy has been appointed the school’s president and dean by the Board of Trustees.
The Very Rev. Lydia Kelsey Bucklin, a 2015 M.Div. graduate of EDS, is scheduled to be formally installed on Oct. 23; the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Presiding Bishop-elect Sean Rowe are scheduled to preside in a service at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery.
She succeeds the Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, who completed six years as President and Dean in June 2023 and served as Interim President until June of this year.
Bucklin most recently served as the Canon to the Ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, where her work focused on collaborative ecclesiology and a commitment to indigenous reconciliation and social justice.
She holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and began her career as a lay leader on the staff of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, where she worked in children and youth ministry before transitioning to young adult ministry, communications, congregational development, church planting, and lifelong formation.
Dan Stiver
Fletcher Seminary
Dan Stiver, Ph.D., has been named president of Fletcher Seminary in San Antonio, Tex., succeeding the school’s founding dean, Donald Williford, who has retired and been named president emeritus.
Stiver began his career in Baptist theological education in 1984 as a professor of Christian philosophy at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. In 1998, he began service as professor of theology at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Tex.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from William Jewell College, a Master of Divinity degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Southern Seminary.
Stiver has been a member of the faculty at Fletcher Seminary (created in 2021 after the closure of Logsdon Seminary in Abilene) since its inception. He lives in Fort Worth, Tex., and is a member of Broadway Baptist Church, where he also serves as a deacon.