Business Reports

Minutes of the Atla Business Meeting

Thursday, June 19 at 12:15 – 2:30 pm in the William Penn Ballroom

Beth Kumar, Graduate Theological Union, Atla Board Secretary

Atla Annual included the annual business meeting, led by 2024-2025 Board President Susan Ebertz, and the association update, provided by Executive Director John Kutsko. All conference attendees were invited to participate.

Secretary’s Report:

• Atla staff received the certified election results via email from ElectionBuddy and verified 271 (or 40.5%) of the 667 eligible members cast valid ballots and quorum for each voting class was met. The membership elected Cindy Aalders, Evan Kuehn, Romulus Stefanut, and Kate Wimer to the Board class of 2025-2028.
• President Ebertz welcomed the new Board members.

Board Transitions:

• Ebertz thanked outgoing Board members and presented plaques to Carisse Berryhill, Dan Flores, and Jérémie LeBlanc.
• Ebertz announced Karl Stutzman’s resignation from the Board and thanked him for his service and presented a plaque. Ebertz announced Yasmine Abou-El-Kheir will serve the remainder of Stutzman’s term. 
• Ebertz thanked the 2024-2025 Board officers:
  • Susan Ebertz, President
  • Karl Stutzman, Vice-President
  • Beth Kumar, Secretary
  • Kris Veldheer, Treasurer
• Ebertz announced the Board officers for 2025-2026:
  • Leslie Engelson, President
  • Beth Kumar, Vice President
  • Vance Thomas, Secretary
  • Bo Adams, Treasurer
• Ebertz offered a word of thanks and reflected on her time as president. She passed the gavel to Leslie Engelson. Engelson thanked Ebertz for her service as president and for her time on the board, presented her with a plaque, and closed the business meeting.

President Engelson closed the meeting at 1:56 pm US Eastern Standard Time.