ELCA NEWS SERVICE January 19, 2006 Robert Oliver Elected President of ELCA's Augustana College 06-007-BC*/JB CHICAGO (ELCA) - The board of trustees of Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., elected Robert C. Oliver Jan. 14 to serve as its 23rd president. Oliver, a retired bank president, is currently a faculty member and department chair at the college. "I want to commend the presidential search committee for coordinating a very efficient process and thank the Augustana Community for their feedback in selecting our new president," said Jane Zaloudek, Berkeley, Calif., chair of the college board of trustees. "We are extremely pleased with the selection of Rob Oliver. We are excited to have Rob as the leader of Augustana and have utmost confidence in his ability to enhance Augustana's future as a college of the church." Oliver, 52, associate professor and chair of the Augustana Department of Business, will begin his new duties Aug. 1. He succeeds Dr. Bruce Halverson, who announced last summer his decision to retire effective July 31. "We have to reach out and tell the Augustana story, and it's a wonderful story," said Oliver, a past chair of the college board of trustees and 12-year board member. Prior to his appointment to the Augustana faculty, Oliver was the Southern District president of Wells Fargo Bank of South Dakota. His banking career spanned 27 years, all with Wells Fargo. "My experience as a leader of a premier financial institution in the Sioux Falls market for a number of years has provided me with the skills of leadership and management that I believe can assist Augustana in its future opportunities," he said. Oliver majored in economics at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, and graduated in 1975. He received a master of business administration degree from the university in 1977 and attended the University of Delaware's Stonier Graduate School of Banking in 1988 and 1990-91. Oliver served as an adjunct instructor at the University of South Dakota School of Business and Graduate School of Business. He was an instructor with the Sioux Falls chapters of the American Institute of Banking and the American Institute of Financial Education. Oliver serves currently as a board member of Communication Services for the Deaf, a volunteer with Sioux Empire United Way and a member of the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Club. He is the past chair of the Sioux Empire United Way board of trustees, the Civic Fine Arts Center board of directors, the Avera McKennan Hospital board of trustees, and the Volunteers of America board of directors. Oliver and his wife, Angie, are the parents of two daughters, Andrea and Laura. --- Information about Augustana College is at http://www.augie.edu on the Web. *Bruce Conley is director of news information, Augustana College. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog