Jim Sanft, CEO & President, Concordia Plan Services of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod​, Church Alliance Chair

Jim Sanft has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Concordia Plan Services since 2008. Prior to joining CPS in 1999, Sanft worked in the group insurance industry as an actuary for Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. in Lincoln, Nebraska and with Minnesota Life (now Securian) in St. Paul, Minnesota. He began his professional career as a mathematics and computer science teacher at Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jim has a B.S. in Education from Concordia University, Nebraska and a M.S. in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Sanft is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and is a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. An active leader in the church benefits community, Jim serves as Chair of the Church Alliance (CA), a coalition of his peers from nearly 40 church benefit programs, including mainline and evangelical Protestant denominations, branches of Judaism, and Catholic dioceses, schools and institutions. This work frequently takes Sanft to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress, regulators and other officials to discuss issues and concerns of church benefit plans. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Church Benefits Association (CBA). Collectively, CBA and CA organizations provide retirement and health benefits to more than 1 million clergy, lay workers, and their family members. Sanft has also served on the Policy Board of Directors of the American Benefits Council as the CA representative. Jim and his wife Janell are blessed with three sons and daughters-in-law, along with one incredible grandson! They make their home in Columbia, Illinois and are members of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Jim enjoys traveling and hiking with Janell, golfing with his sons and sharing their love for Manchester United soccer and Nebraska Cornhusker football. Concordia Plan Services designs and administers the employee benefit programs of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and serves over 6,000 congregations, schools, universities, seminaries, and other church-related organizations in the United States and in mission fields worldwide. The employee benefit trusts cover over 31,000 active workers plus retirees and dependents and have assets in excess of $4.5 billion.