Thrivent recently announced Bonnie Raquet has been elected by her peers on the board to serve as the chairwoman of Thrivent’s board of directors, making her the first female in the organization’s history to hold the appointment. She will lead the board along with 13 other directors. Raquet’s term became effective Feb. 1, when she replaced former chairman Frank H. “Dick” Moeller.

The Thrivent board of directors is responsible for overseeing all matters pertaining to the not-for-profit, Fortune 500 membership organization. Thrivent’s mission is to help Christians on their wise with money journey. The organization serves more than 2 million members and has $116 billion in assets under management and advisement as of Dec. 31, 2016.

“Bonnie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role of the chair of our board of directors, and we look forward to her continued leadership,” said Thrivent CEO Brad Hewitt. “We are also proud that Bonnie has been named the first female chair of the board in our organization’s history. This is a monumental moment that we celebrate.”

Raquet has been a Thrivent board member since 2010, serving as chairwoman of the Thrivent Church Solutions Committee and as a member of the Executive, as well as Human Resource and Governance committees.

Raquet was previously a corporate vice president at Cargill from 2000 to 2011, where she led the company’s global corporate affairs activities spanning government relations, media, communications, brand management, marketing services and corporate responsibility. She first joined Cargill as an attorney in 1982.

Raquet was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative to the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade in 2008. She is a member of the Global Advisory Council of TechnoServe Inc. and after serving as interim chair of the board of directors for the World Food Program USA, she is now vice chairwoman and chairwoman of the governance committee. In addition, Raquet is vice chairwoman of the board of directors of Valparaiso University.

Three incumbents reelected

Alice Richter, F. Mark Kuhlmann and Mark Jeske were all reelected to the board of directors in 2017. Richter has been a member of the board since May 2007 and serves on the Executive and Thrivent Church Solutions committees. With the board since 2006, Kuhlmann is chairman of the Human Resource and Governance Committee and a member of the Executive and Thrivent Holdings Committees. Finally, Jeske was appointed to the board in May 2011 and currently serves on the Human Resource and Governance as well as Thrivent Church Solutions committees.

Two directors retire

Allan R. Spies and Moeller are retiring from the board of directors due to term limits. Moeller served on Thrivent’s board since 2005 and is the departing chairman of the board. Spies, who has also served since 2005, was a member of the Audit and Thrivent Church Solutions committees.

“We are deeply grateful for the many and varied contributions of our directors over the years,” Hewitt said. “As we move into 2018, we look forward to working with our board as we continue to help Christians on their wise with money journey and supporting them in leading meaningful, generous lives.”