Church Pension Group | General Convention Update

CPG's General Convention Update Webinar

A Conversation with CPG Leadership and the CPF Board

The 80th General Convention will consider legislation related to the Church Pension Group (CPG) and elect new members of The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees (CPF Board). In lieu of meeting each other face-to-face in Baltimore, we hosted a virtual conversation with CPG's leadership, including members of the CPF Board.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas James Brown, Chair of the CPF Board, Canon Kathryn McCormick, Vice Chair and Chair-elect of the CPF Board, Mary Kate Wold, CEO and President of CPG, and other leaders will share updates and information on CPG's finances, benefits, and governance.

Replay the June 16, 2022 webinar:

 

Welcoming Remarks

The Rev. Clayton D. Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group

Opening Prayer

The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior
Vice Chair
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Assisting Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama
Assisting Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia

Panel Discussion

Frank Armstrong
Chief Operating Officer
Church Pension Group

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Brown
Chair, The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Maine

The Reverend Clayton D. Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group

Kevin Lindahl, Esq.
Vice Chair, Investment Committee
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Executive Director
Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado

Canon Kathryn McCormick
Vice Chair and Chair-elect
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Canon for Administration & Finance,
Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi (retired)

Sandra F. McPhee, Esq.
Vice Chair, Benefits Policy Committee
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Attorney, Law Offices of Sandra Ferguson McPhee

Roger Sayler
Chief Investment Officer
Church Pension Group

Mary Kate Wold
Chief Executive Officer and President
Church Pension Group

Panelists

Frank Armstrong
Chief Operating Officer
Church Pension Group

Mr. Armstrong is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for providing strategic leadership and direction for the Church Pension Group's (CPG) three lines of business. Prior to this, he served as Senior Vice President, Benefits Policy, and Chief Actuary of CPG since 2011.

Before joining CPG, he served as a Managing Principal and Practice Leader for the Eastern Region for Hewitt Associates’ Health Management  Practice, where he served as lead consultant to CPG. Prior to this, he was an actuarial consultant for Buck Consultants and an actuarial associate for US Life Insurance Company.

He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He holds a BA from Rutgers University.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas James Brown
Chair
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Maine

The Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Brown is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and serves as Chair of The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees.

He previously served as Rector of The Church of the Epiphany in Winchester, Massachusetts, and has served as a Deputy to five General Conventions. He has been a Member of Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church, the Pension Fund Committee, the Dispatch Business Committee, and was the Secretary of the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop (2003–2006). In the Diocese of Massachusetts, he was the Co-Chair of the Capital Campaign Advisory Committee. He is the Treasurer of Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington Heights, Massachusetts, and a Member of the Winchester Multicultural Network in Winchester, Massachusetts, as well as Save the River in Clayton, New York, an environmental and educational non-profit dedicated to protecting the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

He received an MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a BS from Western Michigan University, and holds a certificate in Family Studies Education from The Ohio State University.

The Rev. Clayton Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group

The Reverend Clayton Crawley is Executive Vice President and Chief Church Relations Officer of CPG. He is responsible for strengthening CPG’s ties with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, the General Convention, and other groups and stakeholders around The Episcopal Church. He joined CPG in 1999.

Previously, Fr. Crawley led CPG’s technology program and served as Chief Information Officer. Prior to this, he was the Associate Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, California. He has more than 25 years of ordained ministry experience and currently serves as a non-stipendiary priest at St. Bartholomew’s Parish and Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City. 

He holds an MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Kevin Lindahl, Esq.
Vice Chair, Investment Committee
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Executive Director
Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado

Kevin Lindahl, Esq. serves as Executive Director of the Fire and Police Pension Association, an organization with a $5.5 billion investment portfolio that administers pension and disability programs for public safety officers throughout Colorado. He is responsible for investment decision-making, legislative relations, compliance with federal tax and state laws, and the administration of benefits. He has negotiated social responsibility issues and has studied, advised, and lectured regarding fiduciary responsibilities. Prior to this position he was a Partner at Lindahl Associates, and was County Attorney and Deputy County Attorney in Eagle, Colorado. He has served as a Board Member and President of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys.

Kevin is active in his diocese and parish. He has served as a Trustee of Colorado Episcopal Foundation and as a volunteer Director of Youth Programs at his local parish where he previously served as Finance Chair. He served as a Co-Moderator of the Richard Hooker Forum in the Diocese of Colorado. He is serving his second term on The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees.

He received a JD from the University of Denver, an MBA in Accounting and Finance from Regis University, and a BA in Economics from the University of Denver.

Canon Kathryn McCormick
Chair, The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi (retired)

Canon Kathryn McCormick serves as the Chair of The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees. She is the former Canon for Administration and Finance for the Diocese of Mississippi. She has worked with clergy and lay employees regarding pension, medical insurance, retirement, property and liability insurance, endowments, trusts, and other matters.

As a cradle Episcopalian, she has been active in the Church, both as a volunteer and diocesan staff with a good working knowledge of the Church. She has served as an officer on several interim bodies, as well as The Church Pension Fund legislative committee for five General Conventions, a former CREDO finance faculty member, and as President of Province IV.

She was re-elected to her second term on The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees in 2018.

Sandra F. McPhee, Esq.
Vice Chair, Benefits Policy Committee
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Attorney, Law Offices of Sandra Ferguson McPhee

Sandra F. McPhee has practiced law for more than 40 years in the Chicago area and has her own practice specializing in estate planning and residential real estate transactions.

She is a former Member and President of the standing committee of the Diocese of Chicago, former Secretary of the Board of St. Leonard’s Ministries, and has served on the Diocese of Chicago’s Bishop and Trustees Committee. She has been a deputy or an alternate deputy to six General Conventions and has served on the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church from 2003 to 2009. She has chaired The Episcopal Church’s Standing Committee on World Mission and has twice served as the Convener of the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission. She is a Member of the Board of Bexley Seabury Seminary Federation and chairs the nominating committee. Within her parish, she has served multiple terms on the Vestry and multiple terms as Treasurer, Secretary, and Warden. She is serving her first term on The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees.

For more than 35 years, she has been involved with the American Committee for KEEP, which supports a mission project in Japan. She is the chair of the board of Friends of Cuttington, which supports an Episcopal University in Liberia.

She received a JD from Boston University School of Law and a BA from Smith College.

The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior
Vice Chair
The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees
Assisting Bishop, The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama
Assisting Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Olympia

The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior is the Assisting Bishop in The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and the Diocese of Olympia. He is serving his first term on The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees where he serves as Vice Chair.

He was formerly the ninth Bishop of The Episcopal Church in Minnesota. Before becoming Bishop, he served as the founding Rector of The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Spokane, Washington, Executive Director of Camp Cross, the Director of Education and Development for the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, the Chaplain and Vice President for The Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies, and on the Executive Council for The Episcopal Church.

He currently serves as Vice President of Province VI, as a member of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice, as Chair of the Planning Committee for the House of Bishops, and as Chair of the Visionary Council for the Episcopal Camp and Conference Centers.

He received a DDiv and an MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and a BA from Whitworth College.

Roger Sayler
Chief Investment Officer
Church Pension Group

Mr. Sayler is Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. He is responsible for overseeing the investment programs for The Church Pension Fund, The Church Insurance Companies, Church Life Insurance Corporation, and related entities. He joined CPG in 2014.

Prior to joining CPG, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Columbia Management Group. Before that, he spent 20 years at J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc., where, as Managing Director, he headed such areas as Structured Equity Portfolio Management and Mutual Funds, and served as global head of derivatives.

He holds an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Mary Kate Wold
Chief Executive Officer and President
Church Pension Group

Mary Kate Wold serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Church Pension Group (CPG), a $17 billion financial services enterprise that provides retirement, health, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, and other products and services to The Episcopal Church. She also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Church Pension Fund, CPG’s governing body.

She has served in a variety of leadership positions in the corporate, legal, and government sectors. Prior to joining CPG, she was a senior finance executive and principal corporate officer of Wyeth, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Before embarking on her corporate career, she was a partner and chaired the tax practice group of Shearman & Sterling, a leading global law firm. Earlier in her career, she served in the Office of Tax Policy of the United States Department of the Treasury.

Her board participation has included both not-for-profit and for-profit organizations. She sits on the board of the Church Benefits Association, a national association of faith-based benefits organizations, and on the steering committee of the Church Alliance, a benefits policy and advocacy group. From 2016 until 2023 she served on the vestry of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City and on its investment committee, which oversees the institution’s multi-billion-dollar real estate and securities portfolio. She also sits on the boards of Nucleus RadioPharma, The Jackson Laboratory, and Burke Neurological Institute. Her professional affiliations include membership in the Women’s Forum of New York and Women Corporate Directors.

Mary Kate spent her childhood in Bottineau, North Dakota, a small rural community on the Canadian border. She graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, summa cum laude with a BA in English and Theater and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She later graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. She holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University.