On January 1, 2008, John R. Watters, who has done linguistic fieldwork and consultation in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Chad and has taught linguistics at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Yaounde (Cameroon), completed his maximum term of service as executive director of

SIL International and Wycliffe International and the position was divided in two. Watters will continue to serve the SIL-Wycliffe Bible translation cause. Fredrick A. Boswell, SIL vice president for academic affairs, was named executive director of SIL International. Boswell worked as a field linguist and translation advisor to the Cheke Holo language group in the Solomon Islands on Central Santa Isabel Island. In addition to that field assignment in the Solomon Islands, he has lived and worked in Peru and Papua New Guinea. Kirk Franklin, a citizen of Australia and the United States who has spent most of his life in the Pacific region, was selected as the next executive director of Wycliffe International. He has served with Wycliffe since 1980, most recently as executive director of Wycliffe Australia. He previously served in various media, communications, and leadership roles. Franklin, fluent in the Tok Pisin language of Papua New Guinea, spent twenty-five years in that country.