A Corporation Board approves committee proposals, hears an update from the Rev. Jihyun Oh

LOUISVILLE — Meeting online Thursday, members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation Board welcomed new members and approved a handful of items from its Nominating, Governance and Personnel Committee.

The newest board members are the Rev. Hailey Malcolm, representing the Advocacy Committee for Women & Gender Justice,  and Ruling Elder Zayn Silva from the Advocacy Committee on LGBTQIA+ Equity, or ACQ+E. Also welcomed during Thursday’s meeting was Tamron R. Keith, Sr., the A Corporation’s new chief financial officer.

Among the items of business approved Thursday:

• A manse allowance list.
• A 3% compensation award to be paid effective Jan. 1, 2027, to every eligible A Corporation employee.
• Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, a minimum wage of $20 per hour for full- and part-time employees working 20 or more hours per week, term contract employees working 20 or more hours per week, and employees working less than 20 hours per week in an approved, budgeted position. In addition, a minimum hourly rater of $15 per hour will be paid for people in apprentice, Young Adult Volunteer, fellow or intern positions. The higher minimums, up from the $14 per hour rate set in 2013, affect seven employees in the Administrative Services Group and 16 Presbyterian Life & Witness employees. The estimated annual cost of the increased pay is $30,545.
• Board members voted to equalize paid vacation time for the A Corporation’s nonexempt and exempt employees. Employees in a regular position working 20 or more hours per week are now eligible for 22 vacation days per year if they’ve served up to 25 years and 27 vacation days annually if they’ve served 26 years or more.
• Revisions to the A Corporation Employee Handbook also received approval. The revisions, based on a review by Human Resources and Legal Services, include a change to Section 108, adding to the confidentiality policy to specify that the A Corporation will not use covenantal language, as contemplated by the Book of Order, to require non-disclosure of information. That follows approval during the 227^th General Assembly (2026) of CON-02, which directed PL&W and A Corporation staff to rewrite employee policies prohibiting the use of non-disclosure covenants with all PL&W and A Corporation employees.

Board members also heard a report from the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of PL&W.

Oh said PL&W has begun to sharpen its focus on measuring impact and building organizational culture. A tool is being constructed to help with culture building, she said, with a completed survey being used to compile baseline data. The hope is to do the survey down the road “to see how we’re making progress related to our values and what we have said we are trying to build in the organization,” Oh said.

She noted that during an all-staff gathering in January 2026, “folks desired to do more organizational grief work” related to the transition following unification.

“Folks have a lot of moving pieces in their lives,” she said, including employees in the sandwich generation caring simultaneously for children and aging parents. “We are doing a lot of work of support and capacity-building as an organization,” Oh said.

Senior leaders are also creating a timeline that looks ahead for eight quarters, which would take PL&W past the 228^th General Assembly (2028). Oh called that task “medium-range planning. It’s helpful to be able to work with foresight,” she said.

The PL&W Board will meet online Monday set up its committee structure, Oh said. The board’s co-chairs, Ruling Elder Aleathea Harris-Little and the Rev. Scott Lumsden, have determined who will serve on each committee and who the committee chairs will be. That board will hold its next in-person meeting in January.

The General Assembly Nominations Committee is still working to fill “a lot of seats” on special committees created during the most recent assembly. The Co-Moderators of the 227^th General Assembly, the Rev. Marta Pumroy-Cordero and the Rev. Dr. Kris Schondelmeyer, “are taking a phased approach” to fill those committees, she said. “Those with longer runways are happening first.” As additional applications come live, “we hope to share that information, and we hope you will reach out to your networks,” Oh said.

Last month, Oh traveled with a pair of Global Ecumenical Liaisons, Doug Dicks and Luciano Kovacs, along with the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, director of Humanitarian and Global Ecumenical Engagement, for a consultation with the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon. The four were shown entrepreneurial efforts including a cooperative that creates Lebanese foods by purchasing produce from local farmers. Another partner operates a program with a medical school in Beirut doing in-home care for lonely and isolated seniors.

“There is lots of good ministry happening,” Oh said.

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She next went to Pretoria, South Africa to participate in the Belhar at 40 conference hosted by the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Oh spoke as part of a panel on polity and reparative actions and answered the question, “What do U.S. churches owe the world?”

“It was a good opportunity to be with worldwide partners, and sing karaoke in the off times. It was fun,” she said.

Among the sign-on actions Oh has taken of late is “A Pledge for Moral Defiance,” in which faith leaders across traditions pledged to confront authoritarianism in the United States. Individuals can sign the pledge here.

On behalf of the General Assembly, last month Oh was one of more than 200 faith leaders to sign “An Urgent Call for Equality, Peace and Justice, and the Future of Christianity in the Middle East,” a global Christian declaration organized by Churches for Middle East Peace.

Two weeks ago, Oh signed an amicus brief regarding gun violence prevention and states’ ability to ban semi-automatic weapons. “Those are consistent with General Assembly policies,” Oh said.

The A Corporation Board spent time in closed session Thursday to discuss litigation, personnel, property and security matters. The Board rose from closed session and announced it had taken no action.

The Board reconvenes Friday afternoon.