There have been five appointments and four reappointments to the Hope College Board of Trustees.
Newly chosen to serve on the board are the Rev. Dr. Timothy L. Brown '73 of Holland, Mich.; Sandra Sissing '64 Church of Traverse City, Mich.; Brian Koop '71 of Holland, Mich.; the Rev. Stephen M. Norden '74 of Dublin, Ohio; and Richard L. Postma of Holland.
Those re-elected to the board are: Thomas H. Claus '75 of East Grand Rapids, Mich.; Gary DeWitt of Holland; Ralph E. Jackson Jr. '64 of Houston, Texas; and Donald E. Miller '53 of Bellevue, Wash.
The senior leadership of the board has also changed. Joel Bouwens '74 of Zeeland, Mich., previously vice chairperson of the board, has become chairperson, succeeding J. Kermit Campbell of Traverse City, who is retiring from the board. The Rev. Peter Semeyn '73 of Traverse City has succeeded Bouwens as vice chair. Lynne Walchenbach '73 Hendricks of Holland is continuing to serve as secretary.
In addition to Campbell, those retiring from the board are Beverly J. Kelly of Midland, Mich.; the Rev. Frederick R. Kruithof '61 of Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Tom W. Thomas of Kalamazoo.
Dr. Timothy L. Brown is the Henry Bast Professor of Preaching at Western Theological Seminary, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1995. He is also a General Synod Professor of Theology of the Reformed Church in America.
He holds both an M.Div. and a D.Min. from Western Theological Seminary. His pastoral appointments included serving as pastor of Christ Memorial Church, a congregation of the Reformed Church in America, from 1983 to 1995.
Dr. Brown was the Hinga-Boersma Dean of the Chapel at Hope during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 school years, and had served as interim dean during the spring of 2001. He is a past member of the college's Board of Trustees, having served from 1998 until his appointment to the deanship. He delivered the college's Baccalaureate sermon in 1992.
He and his wife, Nancy Johnson '71 Brown, have three children: Sarah E.B. Lefebre, Jon '99 and Rebekah Brown '00 Hutt.
Sandra Sissing Church completed her BSN at Northwestern University after attending Hope.
She and her husband, Dr. William Church '64, are leaders in many programs at Faith Reformed Church, where she was the first female Elder and has organized numerous mission conferences. She has gone on many medical mission trips to Third World countries and has recently completed a degree in radiography at Ferris State University and will use that skill on future mission trips.
She and Bill served as Northern Michigan co-chairs for the college's Hope in the Future fund-raising campaign. They are members of the college's Second Century Club, and attend Hope events both on campus and in Traverse City.
The Churches have three sons, Elliott '91, Javed and Jeremy.
Brian Koop is active as a community volunteer.
He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan. He was formerly with Johnson Controls Interiors, where he was a vice president and general manager; he was also vice president and senior executive for Johnson Controls Leadership Institute.
Koop's activities include serving as a member of the Leadership Team for Kids Hope USA; as pastoral care elder for Christ Memorial Church; and as an advisory board member for Fifth/Third Bank.
He and his wife, Cathy Walchenbach '74 Koop, are co-presidents of the college's Second Century Club. They have three children, Carrie Koop '99 Traver, Sarah '01 and Jonathan.
Rev. Stephen M. Norden is founding pastor of New Hope Reformed Church in Powell, Ohio, where he has been since 1984. He holds his master of divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary, and was previously minister of youth and education at Second Reformed Church in Kalamazoo.
He served on the college's Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1985 to 1990, and was president of the board from 1986 to 1988. He received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Hope in 1989.
Rev. Norden and his wife, Jean Boven '75 Norden, have three sons: William, who is a Hope senior, Charles and Pieter.
Richard L. Postma is chairman and CEO of U.S. Signal Company LLC, the Midwest's largest fiber optic carrier network.
In addition, Postma serves as the chairman of US Xchange Directories LLC, R.T. London Inc., P&V Capital Holdings LLC and RVP Development Corporation. He also serves on the boards of numerous publicly-traded companies.
Postma has long been active with local non-profit organizations, including as board representative on regional hospital, school and church boards. He has served on the finance, investment and facilities committees of numerous West Michigan organizations.
He is a 1973 graduate of Calvin College and completed his juris doctorate at The University of Michigan Law School in 1975.
He has four daughters, Rebecca Postma '98 Schrotenboer, Lisa, Catherine and Susan.