Albert Lincoln

Secretary-General

Albert Lincoln serves as the Secretary-General of the Bahá’í International Community, resident at the Bahá’í World Centre, in Haifa, Israel. He was appointed to this position by the international governing body, the Universal House of Justice, in October 1994. He has special responsibility for relations between the Bahá’í World Centre and the government of its host country and represents the Bahá’í International Community in high-level contacts with other governments and international organizations, as appropriate.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Lincoln practiced law in Paris, France (1970-1972), Bangui, Central African Republic (1972-1982), Douala, Cameroon (1983-1988) and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (1988-1993).  During his stay in Africa, he served for 17 years as chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer of the national governing bodies of the Bahá’í communities where he lived, provided legal advice and representation to many Bahá’í institutions on the continent, and represented the Bahá’í International Community at numerous international conferences and seminars in Africa and Europe.  Mr. Lincoln also lectured in law at the University of Bangui in the Central African Republic from 1973 to 1976.  He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1967 with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Science, and went on to attend the University of Chicago Law School, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1970. 

Anthony Vance

Deputy Secretary-General

Anthony Vance was appointed Deputy Secretary-General of the Bahá’í International Community in October 2006.  He is also resident at the Bahá’í World Centre, in Haifa, Israel and works within the same mandate as the Secretary-General.

Before being appointed to this position, Mr. Vance was a member of the Senior Foreign Service of the United States government, occupying a series of legal and management positions at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. (1985-1987), Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (1987-1990), Nairobi, Kenya (1990-1997), Gaborone, Botswana (1997-2000) and Cairo, Egypt (2000-2006), where he served as Associate Mission Director for the last five years.  Prior to entering government service, Mr. Vance practiced law with the firm of Ropes & Gray in Boston, Massachusetts (1982-1985).  He holds both a Juris Doctor and M.B.A. from Harvard University, graduating in 1982, and also received his undergraduate B.A. in Economics from Harvard in 1977.  

Kern Wisman

Jerusalem Representative

Kern Wisman heads the representative office of the Bahá’í International Community in Jerusalem, Israel and works closely with the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General on matters related to the government and diplomatic corps. 

Mr. Wisman, who has served as Jerusalem Representative since 1999, received his B.A. in Theatre and English Literature, with a minor in Art, from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1972.  He and his wife Barbara served as caretakers of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Panama from 1977 to 1979.  Mr. Wisman then worked as chief designer for a nationally recognized jewelry manufacturing company based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1979 -1995 during which time he and his wife also opened and operated their own retail jewelry business.  In addition to serving on Bahá'í local governing bodies Mr. Wisman was a member of the boards of the Missouri Jewelers and Watchmakers Association and the Union Missouri Chamber of Commerce, as well as President of the Union Missouri Merchants Association.