CRCNA Hires Director of Partnership Administration, Replacing Retiring CAO

Roberta Vriesema is the new director of partnership administration for the Christian Reformed Church in North America, announced Oct. 10, after a successful interview with the Council of Delegates, the board that carries out the work of synod between meetings of synod. The Council met Oct 8-10 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Vriesema has been an at-large Canadian member of the Council since 2022.

Phil Apoll, Classis Ontario Southwest, and Jill Feikema, Classis Illiana, interviewed Vriesema on behalf of the 56-member Council. Vriesema was present for the meetings but not seated as a delegate. Sharing about her background as a child of missionaries in Bangladesh who moved to Canada at age 14, Vriesema said she had an early dream of being called as a missionary, too, but learned that “it doesn’t matter what we do, we do it to the glory of God.” She said in all the positions she’s held in governance and administration, the longest with the Christian Labour Association of Canada, she valued and appreciated the development of relationships. “I enjoy writing policy and getting into details, working with teams and holding the sanctity that we are all beloved children of God.”

The Council of Delegates approved the director of partnership administration job description in May and an eight-member hiring committee, including Apoll and Feikema, conducted its search process over the summer.

Current chief administrative officer Shirley De Vries described the revamped position as having a new and more descriptive title, “rather than being a new job.” De Vries intends to retire in mid-January, and Vriesema will start Nov. 10, allowing for an intended transitional overlap.

The director of partnership administration job description is hefty, including responsibility for coordinating “synodical decisions to the six agencies and institutions of the CRCNA”; serving as the connection between the Council of Delegates and “the pension boards, loan fund board, and other entities that serve the interest of the churches and ministers”; partnering “in the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the CRCNA Ministry Plan as well as the Ministry Shares program,” ensuring that it is aligned with the decisions of synod; overseeing the budget of the Office of the General Secretary; ensuring that “the joint ministry planning system advances the priorities in the CRCNA Ministry Plan through the relevant ministry agencies and partners in Canada and the United States”; working with “the leaders of various ethnic groups to ensure a close connection to the denomination’s governance and agencies’ work”; the publishing aspects of The Banner; and functioning “as the denominational representative regarding legal matters as needed.”

That’s not the full list but a picture of the breadth of the job. Fiekema asked Vriesema about how her previous role on the Council of Delegates might translate or differ from now working in the Office of General Secretary. Vriesema compared the Council to engineers and architects in a major building project and the denomination’s general secretary office as the job site supervisor and the site team, responsible for “bringing the structure to life.” She said she’s excited “to be able to sit in partnerships and build relationships so that we can do the work before us that God has called us to do.”

Micheael TenHaken, Council of Delegates president, welcomed Vriesema, saying she was “overwhelmingly approved by this body” to the role. Her position on the Council of Delegates is now relinquished.

De Vries was hired as CAO in November 2022, after synod approved implementing a new denominational governance structure that included that position for the first time. The directory of partnership administration is not an executive position. Julie Cruickshank, director of human resources-Canada, said it’s common to reevaluate the needs of a role any time a vacancy is expected in a position. “That process resulted in the decision to change the job title to more accurately reflect the needs for the denomination going forward … (and) the position being scored at Level H on the compensation grid.” The CAO role had been E2, the second highest in the grid. H is the highest before the executive levels.