On Saturday, February 15, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in a new joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
The Joint Council approved the revision of the job description of the General Secretary. The document was recommended by the Search Committee, which sought input from the Personnel Committee and senior staff. The changes are slight and bring it up to date.
General Secretary Job Description
The Search Committee members are:
- Carlton Crispin (Woodbury Meeting)
- Melanie Horton (Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia at Arch Street)
- Jada Jackson (Trenton Meeting)
- Sameer Manchanda (Newtown Meeting)
- Nikki Mosgrove (Trenton Meeting)
- Melissa Rycroft (Upper Susquehanna Meeting)
- Tom Zemaitis (Moorestown Meeting)
The committee includes three Friends under 35 and one Friend over 60. There are three current or past yearly meeting presiding clerks and three members of Joint Council. About 60% of its members are Friends of color.
The Search Committee has also identified a consultant to support them. Caroline Boyce works with nonprofit organizations as a change management expert. She served as the interim executive director of Arch Street Meeting House in 2019–20, so she already knows our community.
Now that it has an approved job description, the committee is ready to start publicizing the position.
