Welcoming the Rev. Bob Kossler, Interim Canon for Operations and Finance

Welcoming the Rev. Bob Kossler, Interim Canon for Operations and Finance

Mar 5, 2026 | #PublicServiceAnnouncement, #Stories, #StrategicVision

The Episcopal Diocese of California welcomes the Rev. Robert J. Kossler as Interim Canon for Operations and Finance, beginning March 1, 2026. In this role, Bob will serve as Chief Operating Officer, providing strategic leadership for diocesan operations, financial stewardship, and organizational effectiveness.

Bob brings a unique mix of pastoral presence and executive skill to this role. Ordained in 2004 in the Diocese of California, he has served congregations across the Bay Area through times of transition, growth, and renewal—including Church of the Nativity (San Raphael), Holy Innocents (San Francisco), Church of the Epiphany (San Carlos), Transfiguration (San Mateo), and St. Francis (San Francisco). His ministry has been defined by steady leadership during complex changes, successful capital campaigns, improved governance systems, and a collaborative approach that empowers lay leadership.

Before ordination, Bob spent more than thirty years in technology and business leadership, most recently serving as Director of Global Solutions Engineering & Strategy at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he managed worldwide operations and strategic planning. He handled multimillion-dollar budgets, led global teams, and spearheaded enterprise transformation that increased revenue from $200 million to over $800 million. His work focused on financial discipline, operational excellence, and strategic innovation—experiences that directly shape his approach to diocesan stewardship and organizational health.

Bob holds a Master of Divinity from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, an M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College. He has served on the Diocese’s Commission on Ministry and demonstrates a strong commitment to collaborative governance, transparent financial stewardship, and mission-focused leadership.

As Canon for Operations and Finance, Bob will work closely with Bishop Austin, diocesan staff, and leadership bodies to strengthen operational systems, support the implementation of the Diocese’s strategic vision, and ensure that the Diocese’s resources are aligned with its mission of building the beloved community and embodying God’s reconciling love.

Bob and his spouse live in Oakland.

Please join us in welcoming Bob to his new role!

Announcing Our New Canon for Congregations: Welcome, Laura Eberly!

Announcing Our New Canon for Congregations: Welcome, Laura Eberly!

Mar 5, 2026 | #PublicServiceAnnouncement, #Stories, #StrategicVision

We are excited to share that Laura Eberly will join the diocesan staff as our new Canon for Congregations, starting May 1. To assume this new role, Laura will conclude her dedicated service as the Clergy in Charge at Santiago St. James in Oakland on April 19.

Why This Role Matters
This new position will help our local congregations thrive on a practical level. The Canon’s core purpose is to tend the nets of our common congregational life by centering the gifts and needs of our communities. This means working on the ground with our congregations to assess their health and vitality, while supporting clergy and lay leaders through regular visits, listening tours, and responsive support for their expressed needs. By consulting with vestries and bishop’s committees, Laura will provide concrete tools our communities need to be healthy, faithful, and effective.

A Focus on Our Deaneries
An important part of Laura’s work will happen through our existing deanery structure. Partnering with Canon Sierra Reyes and our Regional Deans, she will work directly with deanery officers to strengthen our capacity to govern and connect our diocese. By empowering our deaneries, we will help foster grassroots collaborations and shared ministries between neighboring churches, ensuring that no congregation has to do ministry in isolation.

Why Laura is the Right Fit
Laura brings an incredibly practical and dynamic skillset to this work. Holding a master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, Laura has an extensive background in community organizing, training, and change management. She is the founding co-director of Mountaintop Coaching & Consulting, where she guides organizations seeking to align their practices with anti-racist values of diversity, equity, and inclusion via consultation, training, facilitation, project management, and strategic planning. In addition, because she served on our recent Strategic Vision Committee, Laura already understands the needs and hopes of our diocese

Bringing Laura on board as our Canon for Congregations is how we are putting our vision into practice, by giving our local churches the dedicated, hands-on support they need to do the transformative work of the Gospel. Please join us in welcoming Canon Laura Eberly!

Announcing the Rev. Bob Kossler as Interim Canon for Operations and Finance

Announcing the Rev. Bob Kossler as Interim Canon for Operations and Finance

Feb 26, 2026 | #StrategicVision

We are pleased to announce the appointment of the Rev. Bob Kossler as our new Interim Canon for Operations and Finance, effective March 1.

An ordained priest and former business executive, Bob brings both pastoral sensibilities and a wealth of operational and financial expertise to our diocese as we begin to implement our Strategic Vision Plan. Bob’s interim role directly supports Focus Area IV of the Plan: Finances, which calls us to foster participation, transparency, and accountability in financial management.

A Word from Bishop Austin on the Interim Role

To understand why this position is structured as an interim role, Bishop Austin offers the following context:

“As we begin to live into our Strategic Vision Plan, we are called to evaluate, realign, and support our diocesan staffing to better serve the varied needs of our congregations. Bringing Bob on board as an interim canon gives us the necessary time to deeply evaluate our current diocesan systems. This interim period also allows us to continue to build trust, increase transparency in our financial management, and ensure our operational structures are truly ready to support the diverse, grassroots ministries of the Bay Area before we open a permanent search.”

We are incredibly grateful for Bob’s willingness to serve our diocese during this critical bridge period. We will be providing Bob’s contact information shortly. In the meantime, questions about financial matters may be sent to [email protected]. Please join us in welcoming him to the diocesan staff.

Memo to Strategic Visioning Committee, Regional Deans, Deanery Presidents

Jun 9, 2025 | #Resources, #StrategicVision

Read this letter in:

Mandarin

Spanish

Tongan

Listen to this letter in:

English

A big thank you to the amazing people in our diocese who made these translations and recordings possible, the Rev. Merry Chan Ong (Mandrin), the Rev. Pamela Stevens (Spanish), the Rev. Jureck Fernandez (Tagalog), “Ngalu” Ahongalu Fusimalohi (Tongan), the Rev. Kirsten Snow Spalding (English finance memo recording), the Rev. John Kirkley and Jocelyn A. Sideco (English midterm report recording). Their support is greatly appreciated!

The Strategic Vision Committee has communicated to Bishop Austin its awareness of the need for changes in both structural processes and communication practices, which will be detailed in the Strategic Vision Plan. For now, this memo from the Program and Budget Subcommittee of Executive Council details the plan for this transitional time of creating the 2026 budget.

Memo to Strategic Visioning Committee, Regional Deans, Deanery Presidents

From: The Very Rev. Kirsten Snow Spalding, Chair Program and Budget Committee, Member of Executive Council
cc: The Rev. Canon Michele Racusin, The Rev. Canon J. Sierra Reyes, Program and Budget Committee
Re: Progress and Process on DioCal Budget Development
Date: May 23, 2025

  1. Goals

The program and budget committee has met twice and is continuing our work with bi-weekly meetings over the next two months. We believe that we are charged with the following short term (and longer term) goals:

A. Develop a responsible budget that reflects the priorities of the Diocese as a whole.
B. Build trust in the budgeting process by reflecting on our diversity of needs and our common purpose.
C. Communicate effectively to our clergy, our lay leaders, the members and neighbors about the priorities reflected in the budget.

Reflecting on the priorities of the Diocese “as a whole” is an iterative process. For the 2026 budget, we are building on the priorities that we have heard from Conventions past, from the Executive Council discussions, and from the deanery representatives on the Program and Budget Committee. In a few cases, we have heard specific budget proposals from different parts of the Diocese and we are reflecting on these as part of our budget construction, but we recognize that we do not yet have the full benefit of the Strategic Visioning Committee process and we do not have a consistent process for gathering budget inputs from congregations and deaneries. It is our intention that our process for gathering and developing consensus about budget priorities will continue to improve next year so that a clearly defined new budget process will be implemented for the 2027 budget.

  1. Budget Priorities

We are not done developing the priorities that will emerge in the 2026 budget. But as a preliminary list our priorities include the following categories and specific budget items.

A. Serve the financial needs of congregations

    • Reduce assessment burden
    • Support missions and smaller congregations
    • Support clergy housing availability

B. Grow the Church

    • ½ time Latino Missioner
    • Funds for Area Ministry (regional collaborations)

C. Focus on Justice

    • Canon for Racial, Social and Environmental Justice (bring into Operating Budget)

D. Share resources to support the business of being church

    • Payroll support for congregations
    • Clergy search and transition for congregations
    • Communications
    • Convention
    • Bishop
    • TEC
    • Deacons 
  1. Communications

To build trust in the budgeting process and show how congregational priorities are reflected in the budget, the Program and Budget committee is undertaking a communications effort that begins with the memo. We intend to be transparent about our process, open to suggestions and iterative as we consider budget scenarios that balance the priorities we share.

As we look at the numbers, we are simultaneously working to develop a clear “narrative budget” that will articulate how the budget serves all of the people in the Diocese in our shared goal of proclaiming the Gospel in every corner and community of DioCal. This narrative budget will be shared with the deaneries throughout the process along with the budget.

  1. Reality Check

While we are carefully considering all of the priorities above, it is self-evident that a decrease in assessment revenue (meeting the priority of reducing the financial burden on congregations) will result in limitations on our ability to fund new priorities (like creating new funds for collaborative ministry or any of the other priorities above). The Program and Budget Committee (and the Executive Council as a whole) is looking at budget scenarios with reduced assessment on the income side and budget scenarios with increased expenses for new ministry priorities. We are not yet ready to make a recommendation on how to balance those priorities. We note that a 1% reduction in assessment across the Diocese results in approximately a $200K loss of revenue–a significant limitation to new ministry possibilities.

We are forecasting that there will not be dramatic shifts in the total 2026 budget numbers and note that we will have to consider COLAs for salary and increased costs of medical and dental insurance.

  1. Next Steps
  • May/June P&B continues to receive input on budget priorities and consider budget scenarios.
  • Third week of June, P&B presents a draft budget recommendation to Finance
  • Committee and an update to Executive Council with a draft narrative budget.
  • June/July, Finance Committee and P&B finalize a budget recommendation and narrative budget for Executive Council.
  • Third Week of July Executive Council amends and approves a budget recommendation to go to Convention.
  • July/August P&B continues to communicate and work on narrative budget.
  • September budget presentations across the Diocese to deaneries and clergy.
  • October Convention approval of budget.