08214
March 18, 2008

Martha Clark named general counsel for PC(USA)

Veteran corporate attorney has served denomination for 12 years

by Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

Martha E. Clark

LOUISVILLE — Martha E. Clark has been named general counsel for Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation. She begins her new work immediately, having served as the denomination’s associate general counsel since 1996.

Clark succeeds Eric Graninger, who resigned earlier this year after serving as the PC(USA)’s general counsel for 18 years.

Clark will also serve as  director of Legal/Risk Management Services for the General Assembly Council (GAC), and as general counsel for the GAC, the Office of the General Assembly, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Investment and Loan Program, Inc. (PILP).

“We conducted a full national search,” said Linda Valentine, General Assembly Council (GAC) executive director, “and interviewed a number of excellent attorneys. We were pleased to find the most qualified candidate right here in our own office. Martha brings years of experience working within the GAC, and across the full breadth of the church corporation.”

Clark has practiced law as a corporate attorney for more than 22 years. Prior to joining the staff of PC(USA) Legal Services in 1996, Clark spent over a decade as a corporate attorney with Humana, a Louisville-based insurance company, where over time she was involved in a variety of legal subjects, including general corporate law, hospital regulatory matters, intellectual property, and complex transactions.

As PC(USA) associate general counsel, she specialized in the areas of corporate structure, acting as Chief Counsel to PILP, employment law, and litigation management.