Columbia Union Delegates Re-Elect President, Executive Secretary, Treasurer at 29th Constituency Meeting

Story by Amanda Blake / Photo by Ruth Annan

Additional reporting by V. Michelle Bernard, Ricardo Bacchus and Becky St. Clair

On May 16, delegates to the Columbia Union Conference 29th Quinquennial Constituency Meeting re-elected President Marcellus T. Robinson, Executive Secretary Celeste Ryan Blyden and Treasurer Emmanuel Asiedu for the 2026–2031 term. 

Robinson Re-Elected as President

Robinson, former president of the Allegheny East Conference (AEC), assumed the Columbia Union presidency in March 2024 after delegates voted him into office at a special Columbia Union Executive Committee session. He filled the vacancy left by Dave Weigley, who had announced his retirement a month prior.

As leader of the Columbia Union, Robinson provides spiritual guidance and strategy to accomplish the mission of the church in the union’s eight-conference territory. He chairs the Washington Adventist University Board of Trustees and is on several other union boards and committees, including the Columbia Union and North American Division (NAD) executive committees and the Adventist HealthCare Board of Trustees.

From being one of the first students to attend an all-white school in the small town of Cumberland, Va., to preaching his first sermon as a 15-year-old new Seventh-day Adventist to rejecting a full-ride baseball scholarship to Virginia State University, Robinson was equipped to lead a passionate career in church ministry and leadership.

With more than 38 years of pastoring experience, Robinson worked as AEC’s Stewardship, Philanthropy and Planned Giving director, Ministerial director, vice president for Administration, and president. He also served on multiple church and community boards, including the NAD Executive Committee. 

Robinson obtained a bachelor’s degree in Theology and a Master of Divinityin Theology at Andrews University (Mich.). He completed a Doctor of Ministry at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on the same campus.

Blyden Re-Elected as Executive Secretary

Following a vote by the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee, Blyden began serving as executive secretary in January 2022. She replaced Rick Remmers, who transitioned to the NAD where he works as assistant to the president. 

Blyden, the first woman to ever serve as the Columbia Union executive secretary, helps govern the union’s conferences, schools, health care networks and ministries. She keeps the union’s minutes and archives, ensures all union entities follow constitutions and bylaws, chairs the union’s Board of Education, and serves on several other union boards and committees.

In 2014, Blyden became the union’s first female vice president when she began overseeing Strategic Communication and Public Relations. She was re-elected at constituency sessions in 2016 and 2021. Blyden managed the Columbia Union’s magazine as editor and publisher, and has served the church as a social media strategist and TV producer.

Blyden is a crisis communication expert and published author with bachelor’s degrees in Counseling Psychology and Journalism/Public Relations from Washington Adventist University (WAU) in Takoma Park, Md., a master’s degree in Organizational Communication from Bowie State University (Md.) and a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. 

Asiedu Re-Elected as Treasurer

Elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2021, Asiedu chairs several financial and audit committees, counsels WAU and Columbia Union’s two health care networks—Adventist HealthCare and Kettering Health—and assists the union’s conferences with finances, policies and procedures. His team manages tithes, offerings, budgets and payroll.

Throughout his tenure, Asiedu has prioritized the Treasury’s role as a resource center for conferences. His team oversees a mentoring program for conference and academy Treasury staff members. Seven of these mentees have become treasurers in conferences within the Columbia Union and other unions in the NAD. He remains mission-focused, often preaching throughout the union territory. In 2021, his home church recognized him for his ministry through ordination.

Prior to becoming union treasurer, Asiedu served the church in multiple financial roles, including audit manager at the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS), associate treasurer for the Chesapeake Conference, secretary/treasurer of the Columbia Union Revolving Fund (CURF) and associate treasurer for the Columbia Union. He previously worked as a staff accountant at Ahern Adcock Devlin, LLP (Calif.). 

He is a certified public accountant, management accountant, internal auditor and fraud examiner with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Accounting, from Valley View University (Ghana) and a master’s degree in Business Administration from La Sierra University (Calif.).