Nestlehutt Chosen As Seamen’s Church Institute’s Next Executive Director
The Rev. Mark S. Nestlehutt will be the new president and executive director of the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey.
The organization’s board announced its selection Wednesday after a nine-month search for a replacement for the Rev. David Rider, who previously announced plans to retire after 12 years of service.
Nestlehutt will begin his work February 18.
“We are very excited to have Mark taking on the role of the executive director,” Board Chairman Bruce Paulsen said. “In addition to exceptional credentials and wide-ranging experience, I am particularly impressed by Mark’s genuine and heart-felt affection for the sea and the mariner. Since its founding in 1834, SCI has witnessed great transformation in the shipping industry and the needs of the mariners it serves. The last 20 years has seen SCI’s expansion of its mission on the inland rivers of the United States as well as its continued commitment to blue-water mariners.
“SCI thanks David Rider for his 12 years of service in furtherance of these missions and looks forward to Mark leading the organization into the future.”
Nestlehutt has more than two decades of church experience in Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Australia and South Africa, according to SCI. He is currently rector of Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, Pa. His previous employment includes service as a U.S. Navy officer, director of planned giving at Opera Philadelphia and various positions for five years in the field of commercial banking and asset planning. Nestlehutt also served on the board of trustees of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and on the Standing, Finance and Compensation and Benefits committees of he Diocese of Easton, and chaired a companion diocese relationship with the Diocese of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba in the province of the West Indies.
He is a native of Atlanta, Ga., and studied economics and history at the University of Georgia and international relations and foreign policy at Georgia State University. He attended seminary at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., with a concentration in Anglican, global and ecumenical studies, and holds a certificate from the Boston Theological Institute.
“I feel truly honored to be selected by the board to serve as the next president and executive director of SCI,” Nestlehutt said. “The three-fold mission of SCI—to be chaplains and first-responders; to provide legal assistance and advocacy; and to facilitate advanced educational training for domestic and international mariners—is a deeply grounded and intentional ministry with and for the men and women who serve in this strategically vital vocation. I look forward to building upon the work of the Rev. David Rider and working with the board and staff to address the emerging needs of mariners.”
