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Trustees Name Lauri Perman New Executive Director of Pendle Hill

Mary Ellen Chijioke, clerk of Pendle Hill's Board of Trustees, announced February 21 that Lauri Perman has been named the new Executive Director of Pendle Hill.  She will assume her duties on May 14.  Ken and Katharine Jacobsen, Interim Co-Directors, plan to remain on campus through the end of May to facilitate a smooth transition.

Lauri Perman earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University. From 1988 to 2002 she was employed by Penn State University, State College, PA, in several faculty and administrative positions, including Assistant Dean of Schreyer Honors College and Associate Head of the Department of Sociology. From 2004 to the present, she has served as Presiding Clerk of Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) and has been a member of BYM’s Program Committee, Trustees Committee, and Supervisory Committee. She has also been a member (ex officio) of the Friends General Conference Central Committee and has attended in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She was a delegate to the FUM Triennial in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2002 and served as Clerk of the ad hoc Committee for Gender and Sexual Diversity Concerns of Baltimore Yearly Meeting in 2004. Her extensive involvement with State College Meeting, State College, PA, includes the clerkship of six committees since 1988. Her fundraising experience includes regular meetings with Penn State’s largest donors between 1997 and 2002. She has published professionally in sociological publications and has also written numerous articles for the BYM Interchange.

 Lauri Perman plans to arrive on Pendle Hill's campus April 16 and will attend the April General Board Meeting.  During the following four weeks, she plans to meet with staff, board members, Quaker leaders, and others in the Pendle Hill community.  She plans to live on campus with her husband, Thomas Ryan, and her son, Nathaniel Ryan, who is a college freshman.