(The following was announced 19 October 2003)
Dear friends of Urantia Foundation,
It is with sadness that we have accepted the resignation of Tonia Baney, Urantia Foundation's Executive Director.
Tonia has served the Foundation with distinction for over seven years. She started volunteering in 1990 as the chair of the Advisory Committee to the Trustees (ACT) and later as the head of the Coordinating Committee. Both of these volunteer organizations worked to establish the International Urantia Association.
In the spring of 1996, Tonia and her husband Steve accepted our offer to work at “533.”
Steve quietly and efficiently took over the organization and management of worldwide book fairs, distribution, mailing, and shipping.
Tonia began by analyzing the publishing business and nonprofit organizations. She led the Foundation in the creation and implementation of a comprehensive business, operation, and marketing plan that was instrumental in growing book sales, in more than doubling the size of the mailing list, in tripling annual giving, in increasing volunteers by 125 percent, and in moving the Foundation from a “mom-and-pop” organization to more of a multi-national establishment.
Tonia developed new fund-accounting systems, resulting in more efficient reporting of time and resources.
She created multiple newsletters, annual reports, and other journals. She managed a staff of ten, including the Coordinator for the International Urantia Association. As an accomplished speaker and presenter, Tonia also organized a comprehensive fund-raising group, the Matthew Project Team.
Tonia oversaw the publishing of eight new translations (those into Dutch, Korean, and Russian already published, and those into German, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Swedish soon to be published) plus 10 more in progress (Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Estonian, Farsi, Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Norwegian, and Polish).
It has been an active seven years, and we thank the Baneys for their extraordinary contributions. They deserve a well-earned rest. Steve and Tonia are returning to their family home on Maui, Hawaii.
Godspeed, Tonia and Steve Baney, good and faithful servants.
The Trustees of Urantia Foundation
Gard Jameson, Seppo Kanerva, Richard Keeler, Georges Michelson-Dupont, and Mo Siegel