Japanese translation here
The board offers their deep thanks and appreciation to Nelle Moffett whose term as board member and president has ended. We are sad to see her go! We will miss Nelle’s gentle, professional, and clear leadership; her attention to detail; her integrity; and her ability to handle challenging situations with both warmth and commitment. Nelle brought to the board professional expertise in boards, nonprofits and communication. As the incoming president, I have benefited from her mentoring on board governance and the role of the president, particularly the emphasis on the distinction between board governance and organizational management and the importance of the board’s relationship with the executive director. We are also delighted that Nelle has agreed to join the TIFI nominating committee, which selects people as potential candidates for the board and for the International Leadership Council, so we will be able to continue to benefit from her wisdom. Watch for next week's InFocus News Feed to read an interview with Nelle, where she reflects on her experience on the board.
Detlef Girke, from Germany, was elected to the board on May 9, 2025. He is a Focusing trainer and coach, an electrical engineer, and a consultant for accessible IT. He also owns a small publishing house for books, media, and tools related to Focusing, as well as books on the psychosocial field and clinical social work. Almost all the tools are based on Thinking at the Edge (TAE), and are designed not only to facilitate an easier introduction to Focusing but also to help it gain traction beyond therapeutic contexts—such as in corporate leadership. Detlef is visually impaired with Retinitis Pigmentosa. He says this has helped him pay closer attention to details in everyday life, and to people, teaching him to listen carefully.
Each year, the board votes on its officers. On July 11, 2025, we elected myself (Bill Gayner) as president, Eveline Moor Züllig as vice president, Tom Larkin as secretary, and Darryl Commings as treasurer. I understand my role as tapping into and coordinating the wealth of experience, expertise and wisdom on the board, each of whom lives Focusing in various ways.
Eveline brings a depth of experience and wisdom as a Coordinator who, along with her husband, owns and runs a successful meditation and Focusing school in Switzerland. She is also our liaison with the ILC.
Tom is a warm, former special education teacher and very experienced Focusing-Oriented therapist, trainer, Coordinator, and forest therapy guide from Ireland, who enjoys working with children and youth. He also liaises for us with TIFI’s Membership Committee. In the early stages of the Covid lockdown he helped establish weekly online gatherings for Focusers in Ireland and participated in the formation of the Irish Focusing Network.
Darryl Commings is a skilled, very experienced CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of a mid-sized nonprofit in St. Louis, Missouri, and a pastor of a congregation there, while working on his Ph.D. in Divinity, and volunteering in a medical center that treats wounds. He has a passion for the human spirit, combining Focusing with social justice activism and embodied spirituality. He has been part of the leadership team for the last couple of Felt Sense Conferences.
In our July meeting, Detlef stepped into the Goodwill portfolio which involves reaching out to members through events and individual conversations to thank them for their donations to TIFI, engagement with TIFI and Gendlin’s legacy, and to learn more from them. I learned so much from the members I met in this Goodwill role over the last year! Detlef also agreed to take on a new portfolio, Intellectual Properties, to tap into his expertise as a publisher.
Our other portfolios will continue with Florentina Sassoli liaising with the Nominating Committee, Tom with the Membership Committee, and myself with the Gendlin Center.
Florentina is an inspirational and accomplished Focusing leader from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a Focusing-Oriented Counselor, Focusing Certifying Coordinator, Focusing trainer, co-founder of Focusing Para Todos (“Focusing for All”) Focusing Training School, and former president of the Asociación Civil Argentina de Focusing. She will of course be helping us in our upcoming Weeklong for Advanced Focusers, happening in Buenos Aires in October.
You can read more about the board here.
I have such a sense of wonder and gratitude about Focusing, TAE, and FOT, and Gendlin’s philosophy of the implicit! As a board, we are deeply committed to fostering this legacy by overseeing TIFI’s governance in carrying out its mission:
The International Focusing Institute is committed to the promotion of Focusing and encourages a wide variety of Focusing-based applications and educational methodologies. It also serves as a catalyst for Focusing research, an information hub and custodian of Focusing-related literature, and provides physical and virtual meeting spaces for education, dialogue and interaction. In these and other ways, the International Focusing Institute is committed to sharing and advancing the work of its founder, Eugene Gendlin, and those who have built on his legacy.
Read our full mission statement and goals here.
The board is very excited about and looking forward to attending the Vienna Sensing Forward Conference, June 3–7, 2026, (Meeting for Coordinators on June 2) Vienna time, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Eugene Gendlin’s birth. Registration and the call for proposals will happen very soon!
Finally, I'd like to thank the board for entrusting me to take on the role of president, and to thank you for your continued membership, donations, volunteering and support for Focusing and for TIFI.
Bill Gayner, Canada
President
In his first term, serving until mid-2027.