Our 2020 annual meeting was later than usual after coronavirus-induced delays, but life and annual members gathered virtually on September 19 to hear about our activities in 2019. A small group of board and staff broadcast the meeting from the Swedenborg Foundation offices in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the minimum required to be able to hold the meeting per our bylaws.
There was plenty of good news to report: Executive Director Morgan Beard set the scene by describing the strategic initiatives that we began planning in 2019, from a series of regional events to the initial planning of new content and marketing strategies for offTheLeftEye and the establishment of a new editor and intern training program for the New Century Edition. Jonathan Rose, series editor of the New Century Edition, followed up by detailing progress on the translations in 2019 and into 2020, while Curtis Childs, director of offTheLeftEye, detailed the successes of those content changes in 2020, in particular the launch of offTheLeftEye’s new website.
In an important piece of organizational business, members elected a slate of directors that included two new board members, Ruth Clauser and Wendy Closterman, and two returning ones, Jonathan Rose and Kaye Lermitte. Our two outgoing board members were Dr. Jim Lawrence, who as served the Foundation as an advisor to our publishing program for the past twelve years, and Chris Lynch, who brought his business and investment expertise to the organization. Dr. Lawrence will be continuing to advise the Foundation as an associate board member.
At the board meeting the next day, in accordance with our bylaws, the board convened to elect new officers. As a result, several positions changed hands: Dr. Soni Werner is taking over the presidency from Larry Conant; the vice-president’s seat is being filled by Bergen Junge; and Cory Bradford-Watts is the new treasurer, filling the seat left by Karen Feil, whose term of board services expires in 2021. Pete Toot continues his years of excellent service as the association’s secretary.
Over the coming months the board will continue to consider questions of long-term strategy and how to best structure the board and the organization to face the future.
If you missed the annual meeting and want to get caught up on what’s new with the Foundation, you can watch it on the Swedenborg Foundation YouTube channel.
