Frank Spencer leaves the Board of Pensions with an enduring legacy

When the Reverend Dr. Frank Clark Spencer retires as President of The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on July 1, 2026, he will leave the agency transformed by his optimism and hopeful vision for its future. Guided by his deep love for the Church, he skillfully navigated a challenging healthcare landscape and a changing denomination through 12 years of dynamic leadership.

Today, the agency builds its work on A Theology of Benefits, developed under Frank’s leadership in 2015. Based on Scripture, the document holds that the desire for wholeness lies at the heart of the Gospel call, and it has inspired many benefits and programs that nurture wholeness — spiritual, vocational, health, and financial well-being.

The benefits and programs reflect a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that has reshaped the agency’s workplace as well. Frank championed the creation of the staff-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Council and supported the development of a culture of belonging. As a result, the agency has advanced in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of diverse talent.

“Frank’s vision for the agency has laid the foundation for keeping our technology and operations current, the Benefits Plan healthy, and our staff prepared for and committed to serving the Church,” said Michael F. Fallon Jr., Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer and a Board of Pensions staff member since 1988. “Under his leadership, we reversed decades of membership decline in the Benefits Plan of the PC(USA) and significantly expanded the agency’s support for congregations and ministers.”

Benefits Plan redesign 

Frank initiated a comprehensive redesign of the Benefits Plan soon after arriving at the Board in 2014. At the time, the plan offered employers a single package of benefits at a single price, an approach no longer aligned with the realities of rising healthcare costs and a changing Church.

Effective Jan. 1, 2017, employers could choose to offer any combination of benefits to non-installed ministers, with coverage-level pricing in dollars and cost-sharing options. A second medical coverage option was added, launching an expansion of offerings that has made the plan commercially competitive.

The impact of the redesign was immediate. Congregations enrolled more employees, and non-Church organizations affiliated with the PC(USA) joined the plan. As of Jan. 1, 2026, the number of active plan members was 37% greater than on Jan. 1, 2017 — and affiliate membership alone climbed 377%.

Growing participation by PC(USA)-affiliated organizations — schools and universities, camps and conference centers, nursing homes, and retirement communities — has done more than reverse plan decline. It has rekindled the affiliates’ connection to the PC(USA), reinforcing shared values and knitting the denomination back together.

“Many organizations affiliated with the Church had once enrolled their employees in the plan,” said Andrew J. Browne, Executive Vice President, Engagement & Church Relations. “Frank recognized that if the Benefits Plan met their needs, the Presbyterian values reflected in the plan would bring them back.”

Frank’s leadership on growth extended well beyond the redesign. Plan enhancements became strategic and responsive to employer and member needs when he made data analytics a cornerstone of decision-making. To expand plan participation among PC(USA)-affiliated organizations, Frank established a National Sales team and enhanced the Church Consultant role to better support congregations and mid councils.

 “The emphasis on plan growth further evolved the impact of the Plan Operations team,” said Kelly Riley, Executive Vice President, Plan Operations. “With Frank’s support, the team strengthened its role as an integral partner in supporting growth, particularly through relationship building and employer retention.”

Faithful stewardship

Frank’s tenure also yielded growth in agency assets through committed stewardship. Strong, long-term performance of the Board of Pensions Balanced Investment Portfolio provides stability across the plan — in pension payments for retirees, income security for members receiving disability benefits, and need-based grants through the Assistance Program.

Portfolio assets grew from $8.6 billion at year-end 2014 to $12.9 billion at year-end 2025. Frank also oversaw a reduction in dues for the Defined Benefit Pension Plan, from 11% to 8.5% of effective salary, and the granting of 14 consecutive annual experience apportionments, resulting in a cumulative increase of 64.4%.

 

The Board promoted member participation in the Retirement Savings Plan of the PC(USA), and assets in the savings plan went from $507 million to $1.5 billion. Assistance Program assets grew as well, from $107.5 million to $171.5 million in 2014-2025.

The increase in Assistance Program assets supported continual program expansion. Eligibility for grants broadened to include more active members, retirees, and surviving spouses, and both the number and size of the grants increased. In 2014-2025, the program distributed $79 million in grants, including $7.7 million in Emergency Assistance. During the COVID-19 crisis, the Board provided employers with nearly $7 million in dues relief and $1 million in dues deferrals.

As the plan became commercially competitive and employers and members grew in number, agility was essential to successfully stewarding the agency’s assets, as well as its resources, and to protecting the personal information of its members.

“Our technology was not capable of supporting our increasingly complex business model,” Fallon said. “Frank sought support from our Board of Directors for modernizing our infrastructure.”

In 2021, Directors approved a multiyear, $15 million project to modernize the core technological systems that support administration of the Benefits Plan and the Assistance Program. The Board also strengthened its data risk management and cybersecurity, and today, ongoing monitoring and reinforcement are routine.

Coverage for ministers

Frank was determined to expand access to everything the Board offers. He was especially committed to ministers of the Word and Sacrament being enrolled in the denomination’s plan and sought ways to address affordability.

In 2021, the Board introduced Minister’s Choice, a benefits package for non-installed ministers. The package offered financial protection, along with access to the Employee Assistance Program and assistance and education programs. Four years later, Minister’s Choice became the Covenant Package, and eligibility was extended to non-ordained members.

The agency also addressed Pastor’s Participation, the benefits package required for installed pastors. It had been designed 40 years earlier around a type of pastoral leadership and family structure that were no longer the norm. The package included full family medical coverage, and even though fewer than half of those enrolled were electing family medical benefits, congregations still had to pay for it.

“Shifting demographics, declining church membership, and rising healthcare costs meant that fewer and fewer congregations could afford Pastor’s Participation,” Browne said. “In 2023, for the first time, fewer than half of all PC(USA) congregations had an installed pastor.”

In 2025, the Board introduced the Congregational Pastors Package as the package required for installed pastors. It includes member-only medical coverage, with congregations having the option to pay some or all of the costs of covering family members. The agency has begun collaborating with the Association of Mid Council Leaders (AMCL) on ways to help small congregations and pastors who need family coverage, in response to a call by the 226th General Assembly (2024).

The partnership with AMCL informed the inclusion of a subsidy within the Congregational Pastors Package, effective Jan. 1, 2027, to cover 50% of the national, community-rated medical coverage cost for dependent children, lowering the flat rates for both the Child(ren) and Family coverage levels. The agency also introduced a child care support assistance grant in April 2026.

Pastoral leadership

Frank’s tenure reflects a deep conviction that faith is nurtured within congregations and under pastoral leadership. In 2019, the Board began providing benefits grants and subsidies to help congregations establish new pastoral positions and foster church planting.

The latest effort, introduced in 2025, is the Shared Ministry Program, which subsidizes dues for two or more congregations that covenant to call pastoral leadership. These programs have helped create more than 150 new full-time calls with benefits and access to assistance and education programs.

Support for pastoral leadership also led Frank to push for programs and assistance grants that helped eliminate $13.4 million in ministers’ educational and consumer debt. He believed that burdensome debt was preventing too many ministers from living fully into their pastoral calls.

The Board secured three grants from Lilly Endowment Inc., totaling $2 million to support Healthy Pastors, Healthy Congregations, which ran from 2016 through 2022. More than 900 ministers and 4,000 ruling elders were educated on compensation and benefits, and more than 800 grants, totaling over $8 million, were provided for debt reduction and retirement savings. A fourth Lilly grant of $500,000 helped the agency continue financial education for ministers after Healthy Pastors sunset.

Additional support came from the agency’s expanding education program, which includes offerings on financial well-being. Under the umbrella of Lifelong Learning, a dedicated team of professional educators develops and presents holistic programming that supports all members at specific stages of life, career, and ministry.

An enduring legacy

Three years into his presidency, Frank marked the Board of Pensions’ 300th anniversary, a milestone that invited both reflection and renewed purpose. As the agency closes the chapter on his leadership, his commitment to the Church, combined with careful stewardship, leaves a strong foundation for the next 300 years and generations of plan members.