This month, we are posting job openings for two important positions that have been held by Friends who have been involved with PYM for decades. We are posting the Chief Financial Officer position, held by Linell McCurry for a dozen years, and the Director of Program & Religious Life position, which Melinda Wenner Bradley stepped into two years ago after serving as the Children’s Religious Life Coordinator since 2017. Linell and Melinda have both been pivotal in their own ways and will have a lasting impact on the capacity of PYM to connect Friends and meetings.
Chief Financial Officer
Linell manages the business and finance of PYM in a manner that takes care of the routine and big-picture responsibilities, addresses a constant need for reform, simplification, and clarification of our complex finances, and manages a steady stream of projects that often require institutional knowledge. We know from experience that it can take a good bit of time to hire for financial positions. For these reasons, we want to plan well for turnover in the CFO position, giving plenty of time for a search as well as for onboarding and training. We also want to take advantage of Linell’s long and deep knowledge of PYM, so we have developed a succession plan as follows:
- We will post the CFO position imminently and will accept applications until the position is filled.
- When the position is filled, we will plan for a healthy overlap to allow for onboarding and training as needed.
- When it’s time for Linell to step away from the daily CFO responsibilities, we will contract with her to continue to work on specific projects that are needed but that she does not have enough time for.
This plan allows us to prepare well for the transition in the position in a way that supports the yearly meeting, suits Linell’s interests, and keeps her close by.
Director of Program & Religious Life
This position was developed a few years ago to create a narrower portfolio than the previous Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life. Melinda is the first incumbent in the role. Through the engagement and relationships nurtured between all the program and religious life staff and the body, the director is in a position to have a strong sense of how Spirit is moving through the yearly meeting community. The director combines that understanding with the discernment of the body, and collaboration with directors of communications, grantmaking & data, and development, to support meetings and ministries and nurture their interconnectedness.
While Melinda has been serving the yearly meeting in this role, she also attended seminary and graduated in May with a master’s degree in Ministry and Leadership. She is a co-founder of two volunteer-led Quaker organizations: Faith & Play Stories and the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative. Faith & Play has received a generous two-year grant from the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund. Starting in the early fall, Melinda will be the project director for “Finding Ourselves in the Story: Growing Faith for Friends.” Even though she will no longer be on PYM staff, her ministry will continue to deepen the roots of our religious society.
Following the Annual Sessions, Melinda will focus on supporting the planning for programs and events in the fall and leaving Program and Religious Life operations in good shape for the next director.