Rev Jeff Thiemann, CEO/President, Portico Benefit Services 

The Rev. Jeffrey Thiemann began his term of office as President and CEO of Portico Benefit Services on October 1, 2011. Pr. Thiemann serves on the Board of Directors of the Church Benefits Association, which promotes excellence for church benefit plans through nonpartisan education, collaboration and fellowship. He is the vice chair and member of the Steering Committee of the Church Alliance, a coalition of CEOs of 38 church benefit programs to ensure that benefit-related legislative and regulatory initiatives fully address the unique nature of church plans. He serves on the Board of Directors for Lutheran Services in America. Pr. Thiemann was executive pastor at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek, California. Prior to answering a call to ordained ministry, Thiemann worked in a variety of business settings that included technical, marketing and executive management and leadership roles. He consulted to startups in Silicon Valley, was President and CEO of a startup and spent nearly 20 years at Hewlett-Packard Co., in global assignments and management positions. Pr. Thiemann earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering in 1980 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. He is a 1997 graduate of Harvard Business School’s The General Manager Program, Executive Education, in Boston. He received his Master of Divinity in 2005 from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif. Jeff and his wife, Pam, have four children and three grandsons. He and his wife reside in Plymouth, MN and are members of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove, MN.