After nearly five years the reins of the St. George's Foundation have been taken over by a new executive director.

Sharon Jacobs, who served on the board of directors for the past year and a half, has replaced Louise Anfossi the executive director since the Foundation's inception in 1997.

Ms Anfossi will formally leave her post on Monday.

Mrs. Jacobs said she is excited about her new position, adding: "A lot of what we are beginning to do is along the lines of projects underway and I am coming in to help continue them and hopefully facilitate the continued progress."

The St. George's Foundation has made great strides since it was formed in preserving the history of the town by raising funds through private and public partnerships to assist in their projects. The four major areas the Foundation is currently focussing on are the World Heritage Centre, waterfront development, restoration of the town streets and the Restoration and Endowment Fund. The foundation is also in the midst of a $20 million capital campaign to fund their projects for which $5 million has been raised so far.

While much of Mrs. Jacobs' work will involve carrying on what has already been established, the former vice-president for the Chamber of Commerce said she had some goals of her own.

"I'll be looking at ways that I hopefully can interface and make things run smoothly. One of the things that helps us all move so quickly on projects is our ability to garner these partnerships and we've had a great many of them over the years and I hope to continue that."

With a clear understanding of what is needed to continue the success of the Foundation, Mrs. Jacobs described current efforts to increase membership. The Foundation currently has around 500 members.

"We may be looking at some incentives as a function of being a member. In addition to the fact that you are supporting the long term history of St. George's we might look at some other incentives whether they be retail incentives, merchant donated incentives."

She added: "We're a small staff and that's why we work with our partners and existing corporate members to help us increase our corporate membership and we'll take a look at doing some membership drives.

"To take a look at increasing funding we need to increase membership."

She said that it would be wonderful if during the four hundredth anniversary of St. George's, the Foundation had 2009 members.

Plans are also underway for a big push to get more members and donations in the next year.

"We are accomplishing this through the help of several of our corporate members who will host lunches for membership and in that regard we will invite eight to 15 prospective companies to be a part of that lunch and we will give them a presentation on St. George's, the Foundation's activity with a view of encouraging their membership and also taking it one step further and encouraging the membership and support of their employees.

Having worked with Government for nine years and serving as the vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Jacobs has a wide experience to draw from.

"I bring to the table the ability to know a fair amount about Government departments and hopefully can facilitate and find the right people to work with in getting projects done and vice versa a lot of the partners who we work with have worked with me."

She added: "I think that hopefully my strategic and project planning will be of use, my ability to work well with partners would be an asset.

"And I always pride myself on my organisational skills and taking a look at what needs to be done and setting forward our plan of action and accomplishing it in due course."

When discussing the restoration of the town streets and what it means for the old town, Mrs. Jacobs said: "It's wonderful to be able to look at some of these streets and then look at older pictures and you can still see all the similarities."

Mrs. Jacobs added: "If we think ahead several hundred years and the possibility of that same atmosphere being preserved it's really exciting for the benefit of future generations of Bermudians.

"St. George's is a treasure for those who live in St. George's, for those who work there, but it's a full treasure for all Bermudians."