Teresa Rasmussen Elected Vice Chair of the NFCA Board
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Senior V.P. to serve as Vice Chair of the Board.

09/06/08

OAK BROOK, IL – The National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) announced that Teresa J. Rasmussen, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, was elected Vice Chair of the NFCA Board of Directors. Rasmussen was installed in the NFCA office at the 122nd NFCA Annual Meeting, September 4-6, in Washington, D.C.

After serving as a director for three years, Rasmussen, as Vice Chair of the NFCA Board, will continue to provide strategic direction to the association that represents 73 fraternal benefit societies. Fraternal benefit societies are not-for-profit membership organizations offering volunteer, social and networking opportunities, along with insurance and other financial products.

Rasmussen oversees Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ law, compliance, business risk management and government relations functions. In addition, she manages all Thrivent Financial board meetings. Prior to joining Thrivent Financial in 2005, Rasmussen served as vice president and general counsel of IDS Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of American Express Financial Corp. In addition, she held the titles of vice president and managing counsel of asset management, insurance and annuities and the corporate secretary unit. Prior to that, she served in a variety of legal positions within American Express.

Formerly, Rasmussen was general counsel and executive vice president of Northeast Securities Corp, a family-owned bank holding company, and as an associate with Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donolly law firm, both based in Minneapolis. Rasmussen began her legal career in 1984 as part of the United States Attorney General’s honors program where she was a trial attorney in the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Rasmussen was appointed to a one-year term as a director of the NFCA in September 2005.

A native of Fergus Falls, Minn., Rasmussen received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Moorhead State University (now Minnesota State University Moorhead). After passing her CPA exam in 1981, she earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of North Dakota Law School in Grand Forks in 1984.

About Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is a Fortune 500 financial services membership organization helping nearly three million members achieve their financial goals and give back to their communities. Thrivent Financial and its affiliates offer a broad range of financial products and services including life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, disability income insurance, bank products and more. As a not-for-profit organization, Thrivent Financial sponsors national outreach programs and activities that support congregations, schools, charitable organizations and individuals in need. For more information, visit www.thrivent.com.

About the NFCA
The 123-year-old NFCA unites 73 not-for-profit fraternal benefit societies operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The association represents 10 million fraternalists in 37,000 local chapters, making it one of America’s largest member-volunteer networks. Fraternal benefit societies provide their members with leadership, social, educational, spiritual, patriotic, scholarship, financial and volunteer-service opportunities. Combined, the NFCA’s member-societies maintain more than $343 billion of life insurance-in-force and, in 2007 alone, contributed almost $418 million to charitable and fraternal programs, and volunteered over 95 million hours for community-service projects. These statistics demonstrate the commitment that fraternals make to those in need and exemplify the true meaning of the NFCA signature phrase: Joining Hands to Touch Lives.

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