Mennonite Disaster Service U.S. executive director Kevin King will retire by the end of the year.

During more than two decades of leading MDS U.S., King ushered the organization through Hurricane Katrina in 2005, after which MDS U.S. nearly doubled in size; through Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which drew the response of more than 5,000 MDS volunteers; through wildfires in Paradise, Calif., Maui, Hawaii, and many other communities; and through responses ranging from Saipan to Puerto Rico.

Over those years, MDS volunteers built 79 new homes and repaired 460 more, built nine private-access bridges and cleaned up 378 properties.

“We are profoundly grateful to Kevin King for his 20-plus years of service to MDS,” said Wayne Yoder, MDS U.S. Board of Directors chair. “Kevin and his family will be invited to the 2027 MDS Annual Celebration to receive formal recognition, and to accept the thanks and prayers from the wider MDS family.”

The MDS U.S. Board has appointed a search committee and hopes to select a preferred candidate in August to be confirmed by the MDS Board.

Ross Penner, the first person to serve as Mennonite Disaster Service Canada executive director, is retiring in March.

After serving as a pastor in Mennonite Brethren and Mennonite Church Canada congregations, Penner came to MDS in 2012 as director of Canadian operations. At that point, MDS Canada was seen more like a subsidiary of MDS in the U.S., primarily recruiting volunteers to serve in the U.S.

“As people came to know more about us, that yielded more volunteers and grew the reputation of MDS in Canada,” he said. “People began to see MDS as a way to help neighbors in Canada.”

Growth necessitated some changes in its relationship with MDS U.S., such as making protocols and policies better suited to the Canadian context. Penner has served as executive director for a decade.

Reynold Friesen began as MDS Canada executive director in March. He comes from Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Man., where he was director of alumni, church and donor relations. Prior to CMU, Friesen was agency manager until 2021 at Harvest Manitoba, where he directed staff supporting more than 200 food banks, soup kitchens and other agencies.