About Kurt Senske

Dr. Kurt Senske is the Founder and Principal of CEO-Board Services, a consulting firm that specializes in working with mission-oriented organizational leaders and boards around issues of governance, strategy, organizational structure, succession planning, coaching, and mergers and acquisitions.

For the past 23 years Dr. Kurt Senske served as Chief Executive Officer of Upbring (formerly Lutheran Social Services of the South), a multi-faceted, multi-state, social service agency with an annual operating budget of over $100 million and 1000 employees. At Upbring, Dr. Senske has been responsible for more than quadrupling the size of the agency and steering the once-troubled agency back to financial strength. During his tenure the organization eliminated an indebtedness of $60 million and currently enjoys an endowment of over $40 million.

Dr. Senske’s extensive board service includes having served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Thrivent Financial, a Fortune 500 financial services organization. He currently serves as Chairman of Thrivent Charitable and Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Dr. Senske is the author of five books, The CEO and the Board: The Art of Nonprofit Governance as a Competitive Advantage; Wine and the Word: Savor and Serve; The Calling: Live a Life of Significance; Executive Values: A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership, and Personal Values.

A gifted public speaker, Dr. Senske has been a guest columnist on a variety of issues for newspapers and magazines as well as a regular commentator on television and radio. He has also been the featured speaker at numerous conferences and webinars.

Dr. Senske and his wife Laurie live in Austin, Texas and are the proud parents of their daughter Sydney, son-in-law Cody, and grandson Nolan.