Integrity USA Announces New Leadership

The Board of Directors of Integrity USA is pleased to announce the election of two extraordinary leaders to new responsibilities as board members. Elisabeth A. Jacobs of New York City, an experienced Finance Director, has been elected Treasurer and the Reverend Susan McCann, who has served as Chair of Integrity's Stakeholder's Council and is the rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Liberty, Missouri, has been elected Vice President of Local Affairs.

Elisabeth "Lis" Jacobs has been an Episcopalian since 1984. She joined The Church of The Intercession in Harlem in 1989 where she has served as a vestry member, treasurer and warden. She played a key role in reducing Intercession's $538k debt to $35k. She is also a member of the first LGBT Committee appointed in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Her passion for LGBT issues stems from her passion for civil / human rights. She describes herself as "the product of French - Jewish father and a Choctaw Indian mother" and says that "civil / human rights and happiness were the constant conversation of my childhood. My parents raised my sisters and I to be whatever we wanted to be and have the ability to have whatever everyone else had. That stuck with me."

The Reverend Susan McCann, a valiant straight ally, brings substantial experience to the position of Vice President of Local Affairs, having worked locally to move both her own parish and diocese to take welcoming positions on LGBT inclusion. Her passion for inclusion has not gone unnoticed and today she consults with a neighboring diocese on how to move parishes forward. She is dedicated to Integrity's local work and looks forward to the challenge of turning our national victories into local realities.

The Integrity Board met in Pasadena, California last month and left that meeting both “energized and strategized” to move forward to General Convention 2012 in Indianapolis and beyond. “We are blessed to have an excellent leadership team now fully in place as we work to achieve the goal of a national rite for blessing same-gender relationships and to continue to work for marriage equality, transgender equity and the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments,” said the Rev. Caro Hall, President of the Board.