Aid Association for Lutherans, Lutheran Brotherhood Plan Merger

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), based in Appleton, Wis., and Lutheran Brotherhood (LB), based in Minneapolis, shared plans with their employees June 27 to merge the two faith- based, member-owned financial services by the end of the year. Both fraternal benefit societies serve the members and ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Both AAL and LB are listed among the Fortune 500 companies, offering asset management, insurance and financial planning products and services to their members. Through cash grants the societies support a variety of Lutheran ministries, from local to global in scope.
"We have appreciated the strong working relationships we have had with both organizations in the past, and look forward to our continued partnership with them as their new relationship emerges," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop. "We support every effort to strengthen their ability to flourish."
"The staff of both organizations are in our thoughts and prayers as they move through this time of transition," said Anderson.
AAL claims 1.8 million members; LB has 1.2 million members. The new organization will manage almost $60 billion in assets.
"Through this merger, we expect to have more members to serve, which means our financial services and products will broaden and grow, and in turn we will be providing more charitable outreach," said Bruce J. Nicholson, LB president.
"It will combine the strength and potential of two leaders in the financial products industry and extend the Christian framework of our organization," said Nicholson.
John O. Gilbert, AAL president, and Nicholson shared the decision of their respective boards of directors with employees in Minneapolis and Appleton and with their field staffs nationwide.
The new organization's corporate center will be in Minneapolis, and its operations center will be in Appleton. AAL and LB have a combined work force of 7,100 people across the United States.
Final approval of the merger must come from several government agencies, from the AAL board and from a delegate assembly of LB members. Members of AAL and LB will receive the formal merger agreement in advance of those votes.
Under the proposed merger, Gilbert will be chairman of the board, Nicholson will be president and chief executive officer, and their offices will be in Minneapolis. A new board of directors will be composed of nine AAL and nine LB board members.
A name for the new organization will be one subject for a transition team of AAL and LB representatives.
"The merger is an outstanding opportunity for us to build a fraternal benefit society unlike any yet seen," Gilbert said. "Because AAL and LB were founded for the same reasons and share remarkably similar missions, it is a very compelling business transaction."
As a fraternal benefit society, the financial aspects of the organization are only part of the picture, said Gilbert. "We intend to offer new and enhanced programs and services to our members through our charitable outreach," he said.
"We are providing our members with insurance and other financial services, self-help and volunteer opportunities on a scale our founders could not have imagined," Gilbert said. "Now we must anticipate and respond to the needs people will have in this new century."
"We look forward, with some anticipation, to see the final results of the merger between AAL and LB. We pray for the increased and coordinated fraternal work of the new entity with the ministry agencies of our church and with the churchwide expression -- the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America," said the Rev. Donald M. Hallberg, executive director, ELCA Foundation.
"Over the years both AAL and LB have been very generous in their support for ELCA ministries and communication ministries in particular," said the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the ELCA Department for Communication. "We look forward to working together with their new combined organization and are excited about the possibilities this unified Lutheran fraternal organization may provide for support of Lutheran ministry efforts."