Council of Bishops elects Gregory Palmer president

Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer of Iowa is congratulated by Bishop Janice Riggle Huie on his election to succeed her as president of The United Methodist Council of Bishops. His two-year term begins in May 2008. A UMNS photo byLinda Green.

LAKE JUNALUSKA , N.C. (UMNS) - Iowa Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer was elected Nov. 8 to lead the worldwide Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church. He will begin his two-year term as the council's president in May 2008.

Palmer will succeed Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston, whose term expires during the 2008 General Conference meeting next spring in Fort Worth, Texas.

A native of Philadelphia, Palmer has presided over the United Methodist Iowa Annual (regional) Conference since 2000, when he was elected to the episcopacy. In Iowa, he oversees nearly 194,000 United Methodists in 840 congregations. His office is in Des Moines.

Ordained in 1981, Palmer was pastor of six churches and served as a district superintendent in Ohio prior to being elected bishop.

Palmer, 53, received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and earned his Master of Divinity from Duke University Divinity School, Durham, N.C. He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children. His father, the Rev. Herbert E. Palmer, is a retired United Methodist pastor in Philadelphia.

The council also elected Bishop Donald Ott to succeed Bishop Roy Sano as its executive secretary and Bishop Sharon Rader as ecumenical officer, effective September 2008. The council elected Bishop Robert Hayes of Oklahoma as secretary of the council, succeeding Bishop Ernest Lyght.

The Council of Bishops represents 11.5 million United Methodists in the United States, Africa, Europe and the Phililppines. It includes 69 active and 98 retired bishops