Doug Lockhart and Scott Bolinder appointed to executive positions of not-for-profit organization

International Bible Society-Send the Light (IBS-STL) Global has appointed Christian publishing industry veterans Doug Lockhart and Scott Bolinder as president and CEO of its North American operations and president of global publishing, respectively.

Effective Jan. 1, Lockhart replaced David Passman, who was to retire in early 2009.  Lockhart served in the last year as vice president of communications and external affairs for the Hope Network, a Grand Rapids, Mich., based Christian human services organization. Lockhart previously served for five years at Zondervan, including two as president and CEO.

Lockhart will oversee IBS-STL’s Distribution North America, publishing, outreach, development and administrative divisions—based in Johnson City, Tenn., and Colorado Springs, Colo.

IBS-STL Global President and CEO Keith Danby said Lockhart was “God’s person to take us to the next stage of our development.”
Passman added that he had admired Lockhart’s “humility and determination as a leader for quite some time.”

Bolinder joined IBS-STL following more than 20 years as executive vice president of publishing for Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Zondervan.

Danby said Bolinder was “one of the most respected Christian publishers in the industry.” Bolinder’s work with leading authors Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Philip Yancey, John Ortberg, Karen Kingsbury and Lee Strobel “makes him uniquely qualified to lead our global publishing efforts,” he added.

“In addition, Scott is one of the main catalysts for the commercial success of the New International Version (NIV) and getting it in the hands of more than 400 million people worldwide,” Danby said.

In the November announcement for the appointment of Lockhart and Bolinder, IBS-STL also appointed Steve Johnson to the new position of vice president of Communication and New Media. Johnson is a veteran of IBS, holding numerous leadership positions within the organization and most recently serving as global publisher.

IBS-STL officially merged in March 2007 to form one of the largest not-for-profit literature organizations in the world—a move that company officials said would maximize Bible distribution around the world.

IBS is one of the world’s largest translators and distributors of Scripture, and is the copyright holder of the NIV—the world’s most widely read contemporary English translation of the Bible. Zondervan holds exclusive North American rights to the NIV.