[huud-l] Heartland District announcement

[Connie Haas Zuber]

To Heartland District Unitarian-Universalists:

Mary Andrus Overly, Heartland’s District Executive for the last four 
years, announced her resignation at the district annual meeting and 
conference this past week. Her last day of work is Friday, April 22th.

 The board has accepted her resignation with grateful appreciation for 
the many gifts Mary has brought to this role and which have contributed 
to the health and growth of the district over the years.

 What are next steps?

 The board has met with the UUA’s Director for District Services the 
Rev. Harlan Limpert. Together they will seek an temporary DE who can 
serve the district even as a Search Committee is created to conduct a 
search for a “permanent” DE.

 The hope is that an temporary DE will be in place in the next 90 days 
and that a search committee for a permanent DE will be created in that 
same time frame. Current plans are for a permanent DE to be hired 
sometime between January and June of 2006. It takes this much time 
because significant effort will be made to solicit feedback from both 
lay and professional leaders in the district on the topic of what 
skills and abilities Heartland needs in a district executive.

 The Board of Trustees of the Heartland District has both a Vice 
President of Administration, Steve Thompson, and a Vice President of 
Finance/Treasurer, Susan Bookour. They especially will be engaged in 
the coming weeks and months to ensure no crucial tasks are 
ignored. And, of course, our capable staff of Nancy Combs-Morgan and 
Barbara Hamilton will rally to ensure we continue to function at a high 
level.

 In the interest of good communications, you may be getting duplicate 
copies of this email. If you do, please excuse us. And if you know of 
someone who may not have received this communication who would 
appreciate getting it, please forward it to him or her.

 The district is strong and moving forward. This change is an 
opportunity to get even more clarity on how the district board, the 
district staff, and our partners at UUA headquarters in Boston can grow 
Unitarian Universalism and serve the congregations in the district. If 
you have questions, please don’t hesitate to call any one of us.

 Signed,

Connie Haas Zuber, President: chzuber at comcast.net, 260-750-2951
Steve Thompson, VP-Administration: sthompson7 at woh.rr.com, 937-626-5325
Susan Bookout, VP-Finance/Treasurer: sbookout at juno.com,
Michael Ohlrogge, Secretary: michaeloishere at yahoo.com, 937-626-5325
Shirley Hoffstedt, Trustee at large: shoff at altelco.net, 616-847-1035
Markie Post, Trustee at large: moliver at bsu.edu, 765-282-1386
Jeff Wrisley, Trustee at large: jeffwrisley at jeffwrisley.com, 
231-869-7171