Susan Witt

Susan Witt is executive director of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics in Great Barrington, which she cofounded in 1980 with Robert Swann. She has led development of the center’s highly regarded publications, library, seminars, and other programs. “We think of ourselves as a think and do tank,” said Witt in a recent Berkshire Eagle article. “We research and come up with approaches for citizens to better support their local economies.” Cases in point include the community-supported agriculture (CSA) movement, which began in Great Barrington in 1986, and the BerkShares local currency that was initiated in 2006. Deeply engaged with the history and theory of a new economics and its implications for the transformation of our relationship to land, labor, and capital, Witt has worked to turn theory into practice in her home region.