INTERNATIONAL TEAMS USA ELECTS SCOTT R. OLSON AS PRESIDENT AND CEO
Elgin, Illinois: On April 7, 2008, in a meeting characterized by a profound sense of God’s leading, the Board of Directors of International Teams (ITeams) USA unanimously elected Rev. Scott R. Olson to be the organization’s fifth President and CEO.
Rev. Olson, until recently, served as the Director of Operations (COO) of Indianapolis-based Global Partners, an international mission agency committed to calling and mobilizing people to global ministries of evangelism, church planting, leadership development, and compassion. As the Director of Operations, Olson reported to the General Director (CEO) of Global Partners and provided coaching, encouragement, and accountability to each member of the Leadership Council. The Leadership Council was made up of executive leaders in the home office and Area/Regional Directors from around the world. The Leadership Council’s primary responsibility was to develop and implement vision, strategy, and policy.
In 1984, Rev. Olson began his ministry as a concert musician and later followed a call to youth and young adult ministry. The Olson family left their hometown of Jamestown, New York in 1987 for New Brunswick, Canada, where Olson served as the Youth Pastor at Kings Valley Wesleyan Church for six years. It was at Kings Valley where Olson first began to sense God’s leading in the area of missions. He left Kings Valley in 1993 in order to expand his leadership capacity and search for more significant ways to be involved in missions.
This move took Rev. Olson and his family to Warsaw, Indiana where he served for three years as an Assistant Pastor. His responsibilities included executive pastoral duties, management of the local church missions program, and supervision of a large paid/volunteer staff. Olson left this position in 1995 to pursue his passion and calling to full-time missions with Global Partners and served there for nearly 13 years. Rev. Olson and his wife Jill currently live in Fishers, Indiana. Their two sons, David and Daniel, are each married and also reside in the Indianapolis area.
Rev. Olson earned a BS in Ministry at Trinity College and Seminary and an MS in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University, where he also serves as adjunct faculty in both the Adult and Professional Studies program and the Master of Arts in Ministerial Leadership program.
In his tenure at Global Partners Rev. Olson was able to travel to over 40 countries where he worked alongside missionaries and international leaders. Olson also served for several years as a member and chair of the IFMA/EFMA Personnel Committee. In addition Olson is an Ordained Minister, an affiliate member of The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA), a member of the Christian Management Association and the International Coach Federation, and an advisory board member for Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2 USA). Currently, Olson is President of the Focused Group, a consulting company he founded which specializes in helping individuals, teams, and organizations maximize their effectiveness through the development of clear and focused leadership practices.
In commenting on his recent election Rev. Olson said he is excited about the common “values, focus, and philosophy” that he shares with ITeams. Olson has an all-consuming passion for the Great Commission and is “motivated daily by the image in Revelation 7:9 of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered around the throne worshipping the lamb. This gets me out of bed every day and calls me to live my life strategically with vision and focus.”
Rev. Olson noted that he has been “studying, analyzing, and consulting with mission agencies for a long time.” He told the Board of Directors of ITeams USA that this is “the first time that I’ve looked deep inside a mission agency and found myself saying ‘this is me, this is everything I believe in, this is a foundation that I could build on.’” Olson went on to say “It is a tremendous honor and privilege to be asked to serve as the President and CEO of ITeams USA.”
Chairman of the search and Vice Chairman of the ITeams USA Board, Dr. Donald Byker, stated, “Our team carried out our search guided by two transcendent affirmations. First, as articulated by Stephen Fraser (Board Chairman of ITeams USA and member of our Search Team), ‘God has already prepared the one He has chosen for this job’. Second, our team must be committed to listening prayer so we can discern together the leading of the Holy Spirit. As we did our diligence and interviews it became clear with each round of meetings, as unanimity was easily achieved, that our process was being led by the Lord. Now we look ahead with joy to the ways the Holy Spirit will infuse and empower Scott, as he succeeds with the rest of us in ITeams USA, along with all the other ITeams national organizations, in the marvel-filled achievement of Christ’s Great Commission.”
ITeams USA is an interdenominational, evangelical Christian ministry that works closely with ITeams partner organizations in Australia, Canada, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. Several other missionary-sending countries are in the process of joining the global ITeams partnership. Globally, ITeams sends over 1000 missionaries from 40 nations to minister in 62 different countries on 170 multi-cultural teams. Visit www.iteams.org for more information.
