The E.F. Schumacher Society was possible only because of the efforts of the many people who helped to build it during its thirty-year lifetime. Reflecting the values embodied in Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful, the Society was human scale and therefore thrived on the unique, immeasurable contributions of each individual who gave their time and energy. The following staff, interns and volunteers are greatly appreciated for the roles they played in making the Schumacher Society possible.

Former Staff

Susan Witt was the Executive Director of the E. F. Schumacher Society, seeing through its June 2010 transition to the New Economics Institute which she now serves as Interim Director. She helped found the Society in 1980 and led the development of its highly regarded publication, library, seminar, and other educational programs while at the same time remaining deeply committed to implementing Schumacher’s economic ideas in her home region of the Berkshires. She helped found the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires in 1980 and has been responsible for many of the innovative financing and contracting methods that the Land Trust uses to create more affordable access to land. In 2006 she co-founded the BerkShares local currency program that has won unprecedented international media attention as a model for other regions. She created and administered the SHARE micro-credit program, the precursor of BerkShares, and in 1985 helped Robyn VanEn form the first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in this country at Indian Line Farm. Susan Witt writes and speaks on the theory and practice of building sustainable local economies. Once an Executive Director is appointed for the New Economics Institute, Ms Witt will become the Institute's Education Director. Detailed biography of Susan Witt Archive of Susan Witt's articles and essays Article about Susan Witt from The Women's Times (PDF)

Kate Poole Education and Media Coordinator Kate is a recent graduate of Princeton University, where she studied contemporary Buddhist reform in both Thailand and China. Her senior thesis explored the intersection of religion and economic sociology, examining a radical communal Buddhist sect in Thailand.

James Ferris James was first brought to the Schumacher Society by two friends who graduated from the Master's Program at E.F. Schumacher College. He initially performed occasional gardening and carpentry tasks for the Society before taking a job in the office from the fall 2003 to fall 2004. He was drawn to all facets of the "Schumacher Society experience," the co-workers and volunteers, the Tuesday lunches, intellectually stimulating discussions over great meals and pots of Susan's black tea, the stream of amazing guest speakers and visitors to the library, the unique folks who would contact the organization for support or ideas in their grassroots endeavors the world-over, the resources of the library, and the Berkshire mountain setting' and library building as an enclave from which to nourish the ideas and ideals of E.F. Schumacher. He currently works for Green Berkshires, a small non-profit based in Great Barrington with a mission to protect ridgelines and mountaintops in the Berkshires, a job for which his work at Schumacher Society well-prepared him. He is glad to be staying in the area, and to still be able to take advantage of the Society's local public events.

Lori Heath The organizer of a local currency in her home town of St. Johns, Newfoundland, Lori joined us to help with the development of the BerkShares local currency program. She has a background in organizing press events for a number of international groups--such as a coordinated effort to find a solution to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. In addition she plays the guitar and sings.

Julie Hudson After receiving a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Economics and an M.A. in Environmental Policy from the George Washington University, Julie worked at The Wilderness Society and then at the Sierra Club in Washington, DC. She has done fundraising, event planning, and outreach/activist work. Julie spent her time at the E. F. Schumacher Society promoting the Society's unique model of farmland protection. Her passion for sustainable agriculture led her to try her hand at raising organic vegetables for a few years. She then decided to return to the non-profit world and put her experience and skills to use working on sustainable agriculture at the national and regional level.

Joshua Lichtman Joshua attended New York University School of Law, and has a background in real estate law & community economic development. He compiled for us a database of community land trust groups across the United States, which is posted on our website

Julie Macé Julie was with the Society for a year starting in September 2005. An avid traveler, she has spent time volunteering in Asia and South America, while maintaining Great Barrington as her homebase. She is a graduate of Boston University in International Relations and recently attended a course on international development at Schumacher College in Devon, England. Julie is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Public Policy & International Development at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Christopher Lindstrom, Special Projects Coordinator Chris has worked for the Schumacher Society since 2003. He organized the Society's June 2004 conference "Local Currencies in Twenty-First Century: Understanding Money, Building Local Economies, Renewing Community." The conference brought together 300 local currency theorists and activists from 17 countries in a seminal gathering. Chris is a founding board member of BerkShares, a local currency for the Southern Berkshire region. He organizes and presents at conferences on the subject of transforming money. A graduate of Simon's Rock College of Bard, he grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dane Springmeyer Dane came to the Schumacher Society after studying internationally for a year as a Watson Fellow. He worked with regional scientists and indigenous communities on projects in Latin America and Asia to protect the migratory flyways and habitats of rare species of raptors. The challenges of conserving the integrity of both people, place, and wildlife brought home for him the direct connection of local ecologies and local economies. His time at the Society greatly enriched his understanding of how communities can empower themselves to live sustainably through common sense, yet radical, economic tools. His contributions to the Schumacher Society ranged from creating the MANAS journal site and expanding the Schumacher Society site to helping plan key lectures and seminars. Dane now lives in Portland, Oregon where he works for Ecotrust and The Wild Salmon Center as a researcher and geographer studying the conservation of pacific salmon.

Jake Sterling Jake first worked at the Schumacher Society in the late 80's, responding to a request Bob and Susan put out for volunteers with carpentry experience. He worked for several weeks with Bob to insulate the library. and recalls his time spent at Bob and Susan's breakfast table eating oatmeal, drinking (strong!) tea and trying to understand how on earth a local currency could work. In 1993 he returned to work for a year in the office, living on the land trust. Aside from the usual work of running a small non-profit organization, he did some writing, including a proposal for a local currency. Working at the Schumacher Society motivated him to gain a formal education in economics. In school, his experiences at Schumacher, as well as earlier work at The New Alchemy Institute, allowed him to better understand the implications of classical economic theory. He came away reassured that the ideas with which he had started -- the importance of cities and multi-centeredness, localization before globalization, internalizing environmental costs, and valuing human communities--were basically sound, and was glad to have also achieved an understanding of large scale and global trade structures and monetary systems. Jake is now making his living creating websites, producing database solutions, and doing some writing and text editing.

Billie Best Billie's involvement in sustainable localized economics and in Berkshire County stretches far beyond the Schumacher Society. She has a twenty-year track record as a marketing and development consultant advocating the triple bottom line, and is the executive director of the Regional Farm and Food project focusing on small scale food production and sustainable agriculture. She's actively working for sustainable agriculture and is a member of numerous boards and commissions at local, regional, and national levels.

Peter Tiso Peter is a graduate of Simon's Rock College of Bard, where he concentrated in environmental studies and geography. His natural gift for systems thinking aided him in streamlining office procedures and creating finer finished products. In addition to his work with the Schumacher Society, Peter has been engaged with projects to restore native vegetation to the Housatonic River in Great Barrington. He is especially interested in the role that GIS/GPS mapping can play in building sustainable local economies and currently volunteers with the local ambulance company each week as an EMT.

Amalia undertook the task of organizing and cataloguing E. F. Schumacher's personal archives. Her interests include sustainable food economies and agricultural communities.

Kristen Fix

Former Interns

Conor Casey Conor is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where he majored in International and Community Development. In addition to other responsibilities, Conor developed and managed our Community Land Trust Directory.

Chad Nicholson

 

Former Volunteers

Jan Rejeski joined the Schumacher Society for part of Summer 2008. Jan, who is fluent in German, has done exemplary work for the Society researching and writing grant proposals. He will attend University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Katie Orenstein is 11 years old and goes to school in New York City. Her family has a summer home in Great Barrington, Mass.  She got involved with the Schumacher Society at the Berkshares Auction in June 2008, when Susan Witt invited her older brother to do some volunteer work at the Society, and Katie just started to join in. Katie also works at Barrington Stage,  where she is in this summer’s run of Carousel. Katie loves to read  and write plays.

Patrick Orenstein is 13 years old and attends school in New York City . He loves to read, fence and play the drums.  He started doing volunteer work at the Schumacher Society in the summer of 2008. Patrick attends the precollege program at Manhattan School of Music and is an active member of Hevreh.  Patrick’s interests include sailing, history and agricultural policy.

Jean Dillard's experience as a nurse made her conscious of the need for affordable health care for all. She has been a tireless campaigner for single payer health insurance, writing letters, meeting with state and federal representatives, and doing the hard work of community organizing. She is likewise an advocate for election financing reform and an advocate for those treated unfairly in all walks of life. Her favorite book is The Way, by Edward Goldsmith, founder of Britain's The Ecologist magazine. She admires the international peace efforts of Kofi Anon. It was because of Jean's enthusiasm to help the E. F. Schumacher Society that we initiated the Tuesday volunteer day.

Tuesdays are famous for the great lunches. Wanda Weigert has taken responsibility for these lunches for the past five years. Born in Poland, she left as a small girl during the War, attending school in France, Portugal, and England. Following the War she moved to Venezuela where she met her husband, Tony. They moved to the states, then retired in the Berkshires. Young at heart, a succession of interns have come to love Wanda. Their time in the kitchen helping her cook are among their favorite memories of their work with the E. F. Schumacher Society. The conversation can occur in Spanish or French or English without a hitch.

Sarah Hudson has been a dedicated friend and volunteer at the Schumacher Society for over a year. She is a devoted supporter of local farmers, taking a keen and active interest in their issues. In a broader sense, she is interested in the intersection between agriculture and human rights, and has also been involved with Central American issues stemming from this dichotomy. She serves on a local planning board.

Elinor Hamill is a Vermonter by birth. Those of us familiar with the Green State know that means independent, short on talking, long on working, and tough both spiritually and physically. Add to that a love of music and you have Elinor. No library task is too demanding. If a cataloguing job is incomplete on Tuesday, she will be back Wednesday and Thursday to make sure it is done. A resident of the Forest Row neighborhood on Community Land Trust land, it is a pleasure to have Elinor join the team.

Ann Braxton traveled the world working as a librarian in Korea, Germany, and other countries before settling in the Berkshires. A lover of opera, proficient with advances in computer technology, a wide ranging reader, informed on contemporary political issues, Ann brings her professional experience and knowledge to her work with the E. F. Schumacher Library.

Al Acciani ran a popular dental practice in Hudson, New York for over 40 years, but he still found time to ski, fly planes, attend concerts, travel, eat well, and enjoy the company of family and friends. His innate warmth, charm, and humor enliven the luncheon table on Tuesdays. He quips that he never did his own bookkeeping while in practice, but he cheerfully pays the bills and deposits the checks for the E. F. Schumacher Society on his Tuesday visits.

Terry Daniels

T	Tony Weigert

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We look forward to hearing from former staff, interns, and volunteers! If you've worked at the E. F. Schumacher Society in the past, please feel free to submit your bio and to update your information often.

Springtime farewell party for intern, Chad Nicholson. Pictured from left: Ann Braxton, Susan Witt, Jean Dillard, Michael Gordon, Wanda Weigert, Chad Nicholson, Marion Gaenzle, Al Acciani, and Elinor Hamill. Photograph by Sarah Hearn.

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