Religion News Foundation welcomes interim leader

NEW YORK — Religion News Foundation announced today that Jerry Pattengale has been named interim CEO and President of Religion News Foundation (RNF), and CEO and Publisher of its subsidiary Religion News Service (RNS). He replaces Thomas L. Gallagher. “We thank Tom for his contributions to RNF and RNS,” said Muhammed A. Chaudhry, chairman of […]

NEW YORK — Religion News Foundation announced today that Jerry Pattengale has been named interim CEO and President of Religion News Foundation (RNF), and CEO and Publisher of its subsidiary Religion News Service (RNS). He replaces Thomas L. Gallagher.

“We thank Tom for his contributions to RNF and RNS,” said Muhammed A. Chaudhry, chairman of the RNF Board of Directors. “Building on our momentum, we look forward to an exciting year ahead of supporting religion journalism and improving the understanding of religion, beliefs and values in public life.”

Pattengale said: “During this season of rapid change in the media industry and nonprofit sector, RNF and RNS are well-positioned for continued growth. Our future looks bright, thanks to the remarkable expertise of our board, staff and journalists.”


RNF is in the midst of its third annual NewsMatch fundraising campaign and will continue its lead sponsorship of Religion News Association’s October 2020 conference.

RNF also continues its partnership with the Associated Press and The Conversation in a joint global religion news desk that provides balanced, nuanced coverage of major world religions. The initiative began in 2019 with funding from a $4.9 million grant from the Lilly Foundation.

About Jerry Pattengale
Jerry Pattengale is a prolific and award-winning author and academic. A long-time executive and inaugural University Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, he was one of two founding scholars for the Museum of the Bible and in executive leadership until retiring last year. He is associate publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and on the boards for Yale’s Jonathan Edwards Center and Africa New Life (Rwanda), and the membership committee for the National Press Club. He holds distinguished appointments at Tyndale House Cambridge, the Sagamore Institute, Excelsia College (Australia), the Moody Center, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His most recent books are The State of the Evangelical Mind (IVP), Is the Bible at Fault? How the Bible Has Been Used to Justify Evil, Suffering, and Bizarre Behavior (Hachette), and Inexplicable and corresponding TV series (Jan 2020).

About Muhammed Chaudhry
Muhammed A. Chaudhry (MAC) board member since 2018, has spent most of his career uniting leaders of the business, technology and academic communities.  MAC is General Partner at DJM Capital Partners, a leading private equity real estate firm.  Prior to this, MAC served as Founder, President & CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF). Under his stewardship, SVEF raised over $100 million and became the leading education resource preparing students for college and careers. MAC is a Board Member of the Wall Family Enterprises, Horizon Education, American Leadership forum Silicon Valley and several startup boards.  He resides in San Jose with his wife, Rabia and their boy/girl twins.

About Religion News Foundation
Religion News Foundation is dedicated to strengthening and improving the understanding of religion in America and the world, improving public discourse about religion, advancing religious literacy, and supporting professional religion journalism. Learn more at religionnewsfoundation.org.

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Media Contact:
Katie Garcia
[email protected]
914.525.1368 

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