Susan Seymour has retired from her role as a trustee at JRCT after 18 years.
Many will know Susan from her most recent work on the Sustainable Future and Power and Accountability and Investment committees but over the years Susan has also served on most of our committees, including Peace and Racial Justice.
Susan was involved in setting up the Sustainable Future programme and in the social movements working group. The switch from simply screening out unethical investments toward using fund managers who invest in environmentally and socially progressive businesses was a key part of her contribution to JRCT investments.
Tributes were paid to Susan and to her exceptional contribution to the work of JRCT.
Speaking at the November board meeting, Susan told of the satisfaction that came with “working together with Quakers determined to transform the world”.
She said: “This might sound like denial, but I don’t feel that I am really leaving the Trust. I remember Marion McNaughton, former JRCT chair, using a plaited thread as an illustration. Strands of different colours get added, twisted in, become part of the thread, then further along a strand disappears, others appear, but it is the same thread.
“I know I remain woven into JRCT past, present and future… I loved learning from grantees and cooptees. I was always nagging you all about cross-cutting projects, and about spending more of our endowment. Now my white-haired strand runs out and we add two more strands with Hannah Darton and Rita Remi-Judah. I wholeheartedly wish them both well in their trusteeship. I hope they find it as enriching as I have done.”
We thank Susan for everything she has contributed to the Trust.