Lois M. Dauway Named Interim Chief Executive of Women’s Division

Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dana E. Jones, 212-870-3755
djones@gbgm-umc.org

Photo by Paul Jeffrey/Response Magazine

Lois M. Dauway, top executive for United Methodist Women's social-action mission work, will become the interim chief executive of the Women's Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries Jan. 1, 2007.

Ms. Dauway will lead the division during an expanded search for a new deputy general secretary for the division, which is the policy-making, training and programming arm of United Methodist Women. She replaces Jan Love, chief executive of the division since August 2004. Ms. Love will become dean of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta Jan. 1, 2007.

Women's Division President Kyung Za Yim announced the division's selection of Ms. Dauway at the division's fall board meeting.

"Ms. Dauway is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in United Methodist and ecumenical circles," Ms. Yim said. "We are confident she will fulfill the position of interim deputy general secretary with the same considerable gifts, grace and commitment she has brought to all her work in the division."

Ms. Dauway joined the division in 1994 as assistant general secretary for Christian social responsibility, the position she currently holds. She will serve as the division's chief executive until that position is filled. She will not be a candidate for the position.

Saying she is honored to serve in the interim, Ms. Dauway pointed to maintaining momentum for strategic planning as a key goal.

"I'm challenged by the opportunity to continue moving us forward in our journey of envisioning the future," she said. "I'm excited about new ways of working that will help us bring together the sacred and the political. We continue to develop our understanding of our sacred calling as we meld that with our absolute Christian obligation to act through Christian mission."

Ms. Dauway will oversee changes in division staffing set in motion by recent strategic planning and budgeting decisions that more fully integrate United Methodist Women's national and international mission outreach.

"We have bountiful resources," she said. "We need to use them well. That includes tying national and international ministries closer together as we look at issues impacting women, children and youth globally. Domestic issues and world issues are not separate."

As head of the division's section on Christian social responsibility, Ms. Dauway oversees work on racial justice; women's concerns; ecumenical relationships; public policy; development education and action; children, youth and family advocacy; and the United Nations and international affairs.

Before coming to the Women's Division, Ms. Dauway was the associate for inclusiveness and justice for the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Her responsibilities included monitoring the programs and policies of the council for the presence of racism, sexism and classism; assisting the council's constituency in working toward inter-ethnic solidarity; and developing strategies for eliminating barriers to inclusiveness in church structures.

Ms. Dauway has traveled throughout North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America examining cultural differences, the varying nature of conflicts, and developing training resources for churches and non-profit institutions. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology and graduate studies in educational administration.

She is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Sung-ok Lee, executive staff of the Women's Division's Section of Christian Social Responsibility, will lead the section during the time Ms. Dauway serves as the division chief executive.