Gerard Ban, associate director of education in the Mid-America Union Conference, will retire on Dec. 31, 2023 after serving in this position for seven years.
“The Mid-America Union has been extremely blessed to have Gerry serving as associate director of education these past seven years,” Gary Thurber, MAUC president, shared. “Gerry has selflessly shared his wealth of knowledge and past experience as a teacher, principal and education superintendent. His positive attitude, keen sense of humor, and expertise will be greatly missed. We wish Gerry all the best as he explores new horizons in retirement.”
Gerry Ban is a native of Southern California, where he attended academy and graduated from La Sierra University (then a Loma Linda campus) in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education.
This led Ban into the plumbing industry in eastern Massachusetts, where he met and married his wife, Martha. After working in the industry for a few years, Ban decided he did not want to settle in that field. “I still couldn’t get out of my mind the thought of getting back into education,” he said.
In 1989, Gerry and Martha moved to southern Maine to serve as the athletic director and elementary teacher, respectively, at Pine Tree Academy, where they taught and coached students for five years.
During his time at Pine Tree, Ban realized that the elementary education system needed stronger support to prepare students for academy. With this in mind, he and his wife moved back to Massachusetts to teach in several elementary schools over the span of 16 years. During this time, Ban earned his Master of Education degree at Atlantic Union College.
“I taught PE, health and industrial arts at Pine Tree Academy,” said Ban. “Working with students in the classrooms, seeing the light bulbs go on, and helping kids that were struggling was extremely rewarding because we all want our students to succeed.”
Called to move into an administrative role, Ban relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, to fill the principal role at Adventist Christian Academy. Three years later, Dakota Conference recruited him to serve as their education superintendent and Dakota Adventist Academy principal. “It was challenging at times because you’re trying to meet the needs of the academy as well as meet the needs for the elementaries,” he said. “I was on the road a lot. It was a challenging job, but a rewarding job.”
In 2017, Gerry was recruited to fill the associate director of education position at the Mid-America Union Conference Office, where he has worked for the last seven years. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here; this is a great place to work,” he shared. “Good people; it’s a nice, family atmosphere. It’s an atmosphere where we work together. It’s not where everyone’s working apart from each other.”
While Gerry Ban’s retirement is a celebration, he will be missed by his coworkers. “It has been great fun to work with Gerry,” said LouAnn Howard, director of education for MAUC. “His sense of humor keeps things light so we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Education in Mid-America has been strengthened by his attention to detail. He is committed to quality Adventist education and continually sought to help our schools provide ‘Something Better’ for our students. We will miss him and wish him the best in retirement!”
