Changing of the Guard at the SENS Foundation
Time flies - it really doesn't seem like it's been two and a half years since the SENS Foundation was launched to steer the SENS research program independently of the Methuselah Foundation umbrella. Come to think of it, it really doesn't seem like eight years since the Methuselah Foundation was just a tiny thing, a couple of advocates and the first few $5,000 checks in the bank. If you look back in the Fight Aging! archives, some of the first blog posts relate to the early days of the Methuselah Foundation.
People come and go across any organization's life span - and here is news of the departure of one of the SENS Foundation co-founders for a new venture:
On 19 September, 2011, Sarah Marr will be stepping down as our Executive Vice President at SENS Foundation. She has been a committed co-founder, and she will of course continue to be a trusted advisor and closely involved with the organization. But we couldn't have her term of full-time service with us pass without noting the significant contribution she has made to the professionalism of the organization and to the quality of our overall message. She helped make us, in a very real way.
I think it's important to understand that the Foundation is a lifetime commitment for me. I'm a co-founder, after all, and I can't imagine a world in which I'm not extolling the virtues of the organization, its mission, and the wider concept of rejuvenation biotechnology; whatever else I'm doing, or whatever environment surrounds me.Why am I stepping down? Because I have a personal project which I wish to pursue. And given the criticality of rejuvation biotechnology, you should get a feeling for just how important I consider this next project, but also how hard it has been to reach this decision. Why can I step down now? Because the team which we've built at the Foundation over the past two-and-a-half years is so very, very talented and capable.
Non profits set up for the long term must be able to thrive independently of the turnover of their staff and leaders - to have a continuation of capabilities and culture that are too robust to much miss the loss of any one individual's time and skills. Indeed, this is one of the implicit goals for the early stages of any venture, and a very good way of measuring success in advance of more obvious results in research, fundraising, licensing, and so forth.