The AMG International board of trustees elected Anastasios (Tasos) Ioannidis as its next president and CEO, effective Feb. 4. He replaces Paul E. Jenks, who has faithfully served in this position since 1996. Mr. Jenks will continue to serve with AMG ministries as vice president of Asian Outreach. He and his wife, Lois Zodhiates Jenks, served as AMG missionaries to Thailand for 15 years before assuming the leadership role at AMG in 1996, and now desire to return to ministering to the people of Asia.
At AMG, where he began serving in 1989, Mr. Ioannidis (pronounced E-oh-ah-nee-this) has served as Information Technologies director, assistant to former President Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, executive vice president, and chief operating officer. When he was 14 years old, his parents came to Chattanooga from Thessaloniki, Greece, to head AMG’s outreach to Greek-speaking people in the United States. His father, Symeon Ioannidis, serves as editor of Greek Publications, and his mother, Anna Ioannidis, is the childcare coordinator for AMG's International Ministries Department. Mr. Ioannidis has traveled extensively to various countries where AMG has ministries. In his previous role as part of AMG’s leadership team, working closely with Paul Jenks and the organization’s board of directors, he has helped to shape AMG’s strategies and direction.
Mr. Ioannidis holds a bachelor's degree from Boston University, a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has been married for 23 years to Margarita; they have two children, Anna is a sophomore at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Alexander, a ninth grader at Silverdale Baptist Academy in Chattanooga. Ms. Ioannidis serves as high school dean of academic administration at Silverdale Baptist Academy, and the family attends Silverdale Baptist Church.
“AMG has been tremendously blessed by the Lord,” said Mr. Ioannidis. “Serving under such amazing servants of God like Dr. Spiros Zodhiates and Paul Jenks in our home office, and alongside faithful and gifted national leaders and missionaries has been a truly wonderful and humbling experience. AMG is blessed with extremely capable coworkers around the world who are passionate about spreading the Gospel and making disciples, and who truly desire to tangibly express the love of Christ to those who need it. All of us at AMG are excited about what the future holds. I’m thrilled and excited to serve alongside wonderful servants of God to advance the ministries of the Gospel.”
AMG International is an evangelical Christian missionary agency ministering in over 30 countries around the world. AMG has provided hope through the Good News of Jesus Christ since its founding in New York City in 1942. Many are brought to belief and trust in Jesus Christ through evangelism faithfully carried out by AMG missionaries, national workers, church planters, schools, bookstores, radio programs, and news media evangelism. Thousands of hungry children are fed and cared for in AMG childcare centers, and broken bodies are given medical help in hospitals, clinics, and leprosy centers. AMG relocated its headquarters to Chattanooga in 1978.
AMG exists to advance with compassion the command of Christ to evangelize and make disciples around the world through national workers and in partnership with like-minded Christians. They envision a day when everyone on Earth will have at least one opportunity to hear and respond to a clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to grow as a disciple of Christ.