Mennonite Disaster Service has appointed a new executive director.
MDS announced Monday that Reynold Friesen, the current director of alumni, church, and donor relations at Canadian Mennonite University, will enter this new role early next year.
Friesen will replace Ross Penner, who has held the position for over a decade and will retire in March 2026.
"I’m excited to be part of an organization which has a practical approach to living out faith," said Friesen.
During his almost five years at CMU, Friesen has helped strengthen the school in numerous ways. He developed the university’s donor engagement strategy, shared the CMU story among alumni and churches, administered the scholarship and bursary program, and organized various donor and community events.
Before CMU, Friesen worked as agency manager at Harvest Manitoba, directing a staff and volunteer team supporting over 200 food banks, soup kitchens, and other non-profit agencies across Manitoba. He was also pastor of community ministry and pastor of youth and young adults at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, and at one point, he served as director of Silver Lake Mennonite Camp in Ontario and as assistant pastor of the Vineland United Mennonite Church in Ontario.
Although this will be his first time on staff for MDS, Reynolds has volunteered in the past in Manitoba in 1997 and in Crisfield, Maryland, in 2015.
"In this, I had an excellent mentor in my father, who believed in letting his actions do the talking about his faith," said Reynolds.
Friesen says he is looking forward to being part of a team of staff and volunteers whose goal is to "help survivors of disasters put the puzzle pieces of their lives back together."
Friesen is also looking forward to how MDS brings together people from different denominations in the Mennonite world and beyond, as well as the shared work between the U.S. and Canadian MDS operations.
"There is a lot of unifying work being done by MDS," said Friesen. "The number and nature of disasters is changing, and MDS is responding to them in new ways."
Friesen, who is a resident of Winnipeg, will take on his new role in February 2026.