ELKHART, Ind. (November 2, 2026) — The Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA has appointed Rev. Iris de León-Hartshorn as interim executive director, effective Jan. 1, 2027, making her the first woman to hold this role. Since 2018, de León-Hartshorn has served as associate executive director for Operations and director of Human Resources.
She succeeds Glen Guyton, who will conclude his role as executive director on Dec. 31, 2026, to begin the new year as the next president and chief operating officer of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Executive Board announced Guyton’s departure on Oct. 20, 2026.
At a special meeting on Oct. 29, 2026, the Executive Board voted unanimously to appoint de León-Hartshorn as interim executive director for up to 18 months.
“Iris has spent her adult life working for the church in various roles. She is a gifted administrator and visionary leader,” said Marty Lehman, MC USA moderator. “Since she is already on staff, Iris will bring continuity to our current reimaging process. The Executive Board is grateful for her availability and willingness to serve in this role at this time.”
The Executive Board will appoint a search committee in early 2027 to begin a nationwide search for a permanent executive director.
As interim executive director, de León-Hartshorn will conduct the administrative affairs of the Executive Board, serve as an officer and supervise its employees.
“I am excited to serve the church in this capacity,” said de León-Hartshorn. “The groundwork has been laid by Glen Guyton to move us forward in embracing who we are as Mennonite Church USA. I look forward to strengthening our mission and identity as Anabaptist for a world that needs to hear God’s word of shalom.”
Throughout her career, de León-Hartshorn has dedicated herself to anti-racism, intercultural competency and restorative justice within the Anabaptist movement, spending decades in top executive roles advancing racial and gender justice.
Within the denomination, she served as director of intercultural ministries for MC USA from 2007-2009, conference minister for the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference from 2009-2011, and director of Transformative Peacemaking on the Executive Board staff from 2011-2018.
Beyond MC USA, her leadership in the broader Anabaptist community has included serving as director of Peace and Justice Ministries for Mennonite Central Committee and on the executive committee of Mennonite World Conference for nine years.
De León-Hartshorn has even carried her passion for justice and reconciliation onto the world stage. She participated in the World Christian Indigenous Gathering in Australia in 1999 and has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa, Australia, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Kenya, New Zealand, Latin America, Paraguay, Taiwan and Switzerland, engaging churches on issues of social justice and intercultural understanding. In 2001, she was a panelist for the World Council of Churches delegation at the UN World Conference Against Racism held in in Durban, South Africa, where she contributed to the WCC’s active engagement and dialogue surrounding global discrimination, institutional racism and human rights.
A prolific writer, de León-Hartshorn has contributed to numerous publications. She co-authored “Set Free: A Journey Toward Solidarity Against Racism,” (2001) and has written for The Conrad Grebel Review (Winter 2005), Finding Balance and Harmony in Our Wandering, and Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology. Her writing also appears in “Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conversations on Creation, Land Justice, and Life Together.” Most recently, she published “Listening through our Bodies” in the “German Mennonite Yearbook 2027,” (to be published November 2026), a testament to her continuing voice in the global Anabaptist conversation.
At its 2023 Hope for the Future conference, MC USA honored de León-Hartshorn for her lifetime of dedication to promoting anti-racism, intercultural competency, and racial justice within the denomination. Luther Seminary had earlier recognized that work with its Race, Church and Change award in 2015.
A graduate of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, she holds a master’s degree in Conflict Transformation from the university’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. In March 2023, she became a Certified Reinvention Practitioner through the Reinvention Academy, a global learning and development organization, further equipping her to guide individuals and communities through meaningful change.
De León-Hartshorn was ordained in 1994 by both Western District Conference and (former) South Central Mennonite Conference of MC USA.
She is a member of Portland Mennonite Church, Portland, Oregon, and also often worships at Zion Mennonite Church in Hubbard, Oregon, where her faith continues to ground and guide her life and work.
De León-Hartshorn and her husband, Leo Hartshorn, have been married for 53 years, and they have three grown children and two grandsons.
Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, founded in 2002 by the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Members of this historic peace church seek to follow Jesus by rejecting violence and resisting injustice. MC USA’s Renewed Commitments state the following shared commitments among its diverse body of believers: to follow Jesus, witness to God’s peace and experience the transformation of the Holy Spirit. Mennoniteusa.org
Written by Camille Dager