by Jeffrey McKinney
January 31, 2026
Crump-Caine will chair her first board assembly in February.
Seasoned company govt Lynn Crump-Caine has been elected board chair of Thrivent, making her the one Black girl presently serving in that position at a Fortune 500 firm.
Thrivent offers insurance coverage, banking, funding, and monetary recommendation companies to over two million purchasers. The agency knowledgeable BLACK ENTERPRISE that its newest outcomes embody revenues exceeding $12 billion and property beneath administration of over $200 billion. It was disclosed that the metric is the very best within the agency’s historical past, courting again over 120 years.
Crump-Caine will chair her first board assembly in February. Her publish is groundbreaking, given simply two different Black girls are CEOs on the 2025 Fortune 500 checklist. She’s going to succeed N. Cornell Boggs III, a Black man on Thrivent’s board since 2013 and its chair since 2023. He’ll stay on the board.
Thrivent disclosed that Crump-Caine’s duties will embody overseeing all elements of its enterprise and transformation. She most lately was chair of the human sources and governance committee and a member of the chief committee. She has been a board member since 2016.
Thrivent President and CEO Terry Rasmussen said, “Lynn’s in depth enterprise and management expertise, deep understanding of Thrivent’s transformation, and dedication to our function make her the best option to chair our Board of Administrators.”
She added, “Lynn has been a valued board member for practically a decade, bringing operational experience and strategic perception, and I stay up for working with Lynn on this expanded place as she guides Thrivent’s future transformation and progress.”
Crump-Caine’s profession contains spending 30 years at McDonald’s Corp. Whereas there, she was govt vp of worldwide operations and directed international operations departments for over 31,000 McDonald’s eating places. She is the founding father of OutsideIn Consulting, which advises corporations on enterprise administration and management improvement.
She is a board member of various public corporations and non-profits. They embody board chair at Wingstop Inc. and lead director of the board of administrators and govt mentor at The ExCo Group. That international agency presents steering and mentoring companies for C-suite executives and senior leaders.
Reflecting on the brand new position. Crump-Caine linked with BE through e-mail. She elaborated on her largest progress targets for the Minneapolis-based agency for 2006 and past and talked about a number of the agency’s working methods. Each she and Boggs supplied their tackle Black board illustration broadly and why corporations needs to be extra engaged in that exercise.
She declared beneath the CEO’s management, Thrivent has been constructing momentum and reworking for the longer term – all of which is able to proceed and speed up within the years forward.
Crump-Caine indicated Thrivent has 1000’s of U.S. monetary advisors serving to purchasers plan for his or her future, set up legacies for his or her family members and make their communities higher.
Regardless of a shrinking trade, she says Thrivent is rising. Extra particularly, she says 600 new advisors have been added in 2025, who’re already serving purchasers and driving enterprise for Thrivent. Crump-Caine stories that the agency will add tons of extra this 12 months.
Crump-Caine expressed that Thrivent’s different actions included investing $50 million in 2025 to inform its story and assist make the model a family title. “We additionally lately launched the Thrivent Financial institution, a digital-first and human-centered financial institution to draw youthful purchasers.”
Additional, Crump-Caine addressed how Thrivent has dealt with challenges in its historical past, together with financial headwinds, geopolitical shifts, and aggressive stress.
“Our benefit is straightforward: we keep centered on serving our purchasers, caring for communities, driving our enterprise ahead and telling Thrivent’s distinctive story. That focus has powered Thrivent’s success, and it’ll proceed to information me in my position as board chair.”
Furthermore, Crump-Caine feels there’s terribly various expertise able to form company boards. She is supportive of efforts to diversify the boardroom and construct company boards that greatest characterize the purchasers of these corporations.
“There are various nice Black board chairs who’ve come earlier than me and I’m proud to be on this position in the present day. I hope I generally is a optimistic instance and position mannequin for individuals who aspire to carry this seat sooner or later.”
Boggs supplied comparable ideas. He says he is aware of that the illustration of Black leaders on company boards remains to be pretty low. As such, he declares it’s the obligation of organizations to develop boards which might be consultant of America.
“They (U.S. corporations) want leaders who perceive their client, can drive their enterprise ahead, and may successfully information and govern for the longer term.”
RELATED CONTENT: 2026 Ladies Of Energy Legacy Honoree Shellye Archambeau Broke Limitations As A Former Tech CEO And Fortune 500 Board Member
