Deborah M. Ackerman
Board Member
Deborah (Debbie) Ackerman joined the Thrivent Board of Directors in 2020. She serves on the Investment committee.
With her leadership experience in the financial services industry, Ackerman helps ensure that Thrivent remains strong and stable and is well-positioned to help people achieve financial clarity, enabling lives of meaning and gratitude.
Ackerman is a co-founder of Amateras AEA, a private equity firm focused on addressing gender gaps in the industry, and sits on the Investment Committee and Board of Amateras. She founded Project Sunflower, a network of high-caliber women focused on bringing the female voice to private equity through investing, advising and providing governance. Previously, she co-founded Twin Bridge Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Chicago. Ackerman has spent her career managing and leading organizations, including the private equity funds program at PPM America. She has held numerous board and advisory board seats across the organizations as well.
Ackerman has deep roots at Thrivent. In addition to serving as executive chair of the Thrivent Member Network–Chicagoland Region from 2017 to 2019, her great-grandfather was one of the founders of Aid Association for Lutherans, which was one of Thrivent’s predecessor organizations.
Ackerman has served as chair of the Illini Leadership Council and is an advisory board member of Girls on the Run–Chicago, a program for 8- to 13-year-old girls that promotes empowerment by teaching life skills through lessons and running.
She is an active leader at First Presbyterian Church in Wilmette, Illinois, where she serves as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and liturgist, and is sponsoring a mission to build schools in Malawi, Africa.
Ackerman earned her Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and a master’s in business administration in finance from the Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University.
About Thrivent
Thrivent is a financial services company that puts generosity at the heart of saving and investing. We are member-owned, founded more than a century ago when neighbors came together to insure each other. We help build, grow and protect financial well-being through purpose-driven advice, investments, insurance, banking and generosity programs.
Today we serve over two million clients, manage more than $170 billion in assets and hold superior financial health ratings from Moody’s and S&P. For more than a decade, Ethisphere has recognized Thrivent as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies