Mark Regier Honored with SRI Service Award

GOSHEN, IND.///November 14, 2006///MMA staff member, Mark Regier, was recently honored with one of the highest awards in the socially responsible investing field. As MMA's stewardship investing services manager, he was presented the SRI Service Award at the recent SRI in the Rockies conference in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Dedicated to holistic Christian stewardship, MMA has significantly broadened its stewardship investing activities as a result of Regier's efforts, including shareholder advocacy and community development investing. Regier has also led MMA to actively engage and promote efforts in the broader faith-based and secular socially responsible investing communities.

"I've worked with Mark Regier for the better part of the last ten years, and I am always grateful to have him on my team when engaging in dialogue with corporations," commented Shelley Alpern, Trillium Asset Management, who presented the award. "I am constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of his questions."

The award is given annually to recognize "outstanding contributions to the socially responsibly investing industry," taking into account the person's leadership, innovation, standards of conduct, communication and cooperation with others, and success in spreading the awareness of socially responsible investing.

Regier is only the second staffer of a faith-based organization to receive the award in the past 17 years. "On MMA's behalf, Mark has bridged the social progressive and mainstream faith community by articulating an approach of biblically based, socially engaged investing," said John Liechty, MMA senior vice president of financial services.

"It is a profoundly humbling experience to be honored in this way," Regier said. "I feel this award really recognizes MMA's commitment to leading a national discussion on the foundation and practices of faith-based investing. How we invest matters - to God and to our world."

This past summer, Regier was also named board chair of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of 275 religious institutions that work with corporations on improving the social impact of their business practices. Collectively investing over $110 billion, ICCR members leverage their role as shareholders to improve businesses from the inside.

Regier also is just ending a six-year term as founding chair of the International Socially Responsible Investing Working Group, which today is a primary gathering of SRI thought leaders and practitioners in North America.

As MMA's stewardship investing services manager, Regier founded the organization's community development investment program in 1999. Today, this program has invested $12 million in areas and projects that benefit disadvantaged communities. For example, most recently, MMA has invested $500,000 in post-Katrina reconstruction efforts.

Ever since joining the organization in 1997, Regier has overseen the stewardship investing efforts at MMA. These efforts aim to improve the social impact of the $1.6 billion that MMA manages, primarily on behalf of people and institutions of faith.

Related links
" SRI in the Rockies & its SRI Service Award (http://www.sriintherockies.com/faqs/faqs.jsp#17
" Stewardship investing at MMA (http://www.mma-online.org/stewardship_investing/index.html)
" Post-Katrina community development investments (http://www.mma-online.org/news/corporate/0610_katrina_relief_partnership.html)
" Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (www.iccr.org)
" Social Investment Forum (www.socialinvest.org)

About MMA
MMA helps people manage resources in ways that honor God through its professional expertise in insurance and financial services. Rooted in the Anabaptist faith tradition, MMA offers practical stewardship education and tools to individuals, congregations, and organizations. To learn more, visit www.MMA-online.org or call (800) 348-7468.

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