Erton Köhler
President
Köhler was born in southern Brazil and grew up with a desire to follow in the footsteps of his father, who served as an Adventist pastor. Köhler completed a bachelor’s degree in theology at the Adventist Teaching Institute (now Brazilian Adventist University) in 1989 and graduated from the same school in 2008 with a master’s degree in pastoral theology. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree from Andrews University.
From 1990-1994, Köhler served as a local church pastor in São Paulo. He was then elected Youth Ministries director of the Rio Grande do Sul Conference in 1995, and in 1998 he became the Youth Ministries director of the Northeast Brazilian Union. In July 2002, Köhler returned to the Rio Grande do Sul Conference, where he had previously served, to become the executive secretary. The following year he was elected as Youth Ministries director for the eight countries comprising the South American Division. After serving for four years as youth director, he became the South American Division president in 2007.
Köhler is married to Adriene Marques, a nurse, and the couple has two children.
Richard E. McEdward
Secretary
Paul H. Douglas
Treasurer
Paul H. Douglas serves as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters located in Silver Spring, Maryland, and provides global financial leadership to the Church and its family of institutions. Douglas brings to this role more than 30 years of responsibilities and results in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. As part of providing global financial leadership, Douglas engages with Church leaders regarding their organizational stewardship and its impact on the personal stewardship of church members; ensures there is a premium focus placed on managing resources for mission effectively and efficiently; and expects transparency and accountability from everyone involved in the receipt and use of resources placed under their care.
Previously, Douglas served as the Executive Director for General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS) and led a global team of certified professionals attending to a portfolio of assurance engagements for ecclesiastical, educational, healthcare, development, banking, media, manufacturing, retail, insurance, and publishing type entities that together report multi-billion-dollar totals for global assets and revenues.
Douglas holds an MBA from California State University – San Bernardino, a Certificate from the Leadership and Strategic Management Program at Cornell University, and is completing his dissertation towards a PhD in Accounting from the Cass Business School in London. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the states of California and Florida, Chartered Accountant in Jamaica, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.
Douglas was born in Jamaica to Cuban parents. He is married to Rochelle since 1991 and they have three children – Jhanae, Julian and Jholie.
General Vice Presidents
Thomas L. Lemon
General Vice President
Thomas L. Lemon began his career as a pastor in Maryland and later pastored in Texas. In 1996, he accepted a call to serve as assistant to the president of the Rocky Mountain Conference. He then was ministerial director in Oregon (2002-2006) and president of the Minnesota Conference (2006-2009) before accepting the position of president for the Mid-America Union Conference.
Lemon has served as a member of boards of directors for a number of higher education and health-care institutions, as well as media and outreach ministries.
During his tenure as president of Mid-America Union, Lemon’s stated areas of focus were evangelism, education, and health care.
Lemon earned his bachelor’s degree in theology at Southwestern Union College (now Southwestern Adventist University) in Keene, Texas, and a master of divinity degree from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
Lemon’s wife, Jan, is a career educator. The couple has two adult children and four grandchildren.
Audrey Andersson
General Vice President
Born in Ireland, Audrey Andersson grew up in a pastor’s family, moving approximately every three years and learning to serve the church from a very young age. She graduated from Newbold College, England, with BA in Theology.
Following graduation, she worked at the prestigious English real estate journal, Estates Gazette, eventually becoming Legal Editor. She helped develop an award-winning daily online news service from the High Court. Upon marrying her late husband, Lars Eric Andersson, she moved to Sweden and established a communication consultancy company. She worked for diverse clients such as Ericsson, Örebro University, and IT startups. During this time, Andersson was also involved in the development, writing, and editing of the Gracelink Sabbath School Curriculum.
In 2003, the Swedish Union of Churches Conference called her to serve as Executive Secretary, and has been serving as a commissioned pastor since 2007. She transitioned to serve as Executive Secretary of the Trans-European Division (TED) in 2010. It was also in 2010 that Andersson earned her master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry. During her tenure as Executive Secretary, Andersson strove for a distinctively Adventist identity and a balanced, culturally relevant perspective on mission. She developed and managed summer festivals and other missional outreaches.
In 2016, Andersson received the General Conference Woman of Excellence Award, followed in 2020 by the British Union Conference Women in Leadership Award. Throughout her various tenures, she was always keen to find new and better methods and to grow and develop new programs. Her interest in people and her knowledge of different cultures make her a caring and valuable member of the teams with which she works.
Audrey Andersson was elected as a General Vice President for the Seventh-day Adventist World Church at the 2022 General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the second woman to serve as a general vice president and the first European woman to do so.
Pierre E. Omeler
General Vice President
Artur Stele
General Vice President
Artur A. Stele was elected as a general vice president for the Seventh-day Adventist world church at the 2010 General Conference Session in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born on January 30, 1961 in Kaskelen, a city in southern Kazakhstan.
He graduated from Almaty Medical College in Kazakhstan in 1979 with a degree in pharmacy and served in the Soviet military from 1979 to 1981.
In 1986, Stele received a bachelor’s degree in theology from Fridensau University in Germany. That same year Stele married Galina, the first woman to graduate from Andrews University with a doctoral degree in ministry.
The couple has a son named Alexander, and a grandson Leonard. Stele earned his master’s degree and doctorate in theology from Andrews University in 1993 and 1996.
Stele’s denominational service includes time spent as pastor, academic dean and president for Zaokski Theological Seminary, as well as president of the Euro-Asia Division. Stele is fluent in Russian, German and English.
Saw Samuel
General Vice President
Leonard A. Johnson
General Vice President
Robert Osei-Bonsu
General Vice President
