This is a response to Mr. Minster's message claiming someone associated with the Board contacted Steve Berry in response to an earlier message from Mr. Minster to the Board. While I don’t know whether anyone from the Board did anything with Mr. Minster's original message (I did not), the following should be noted.

On Sunday, September 24, I was made aware of the fact that Steve Berry had left the League's employ several weeks earlier. The information did not come from ODV. I was astounded that the departure of Mr. Minster's very valuable hire had left, and that weeks had passed without the Board being notified. Mr. Berry had one of the most important roles in the organization and, per the organization chart, was a direct report to Mr. Minster. 

I forwarded this news to a few other Directors. Quite curiously, on the following day, Mr. Minster finally informed the Board about Mr. Berry’s departure.

I attempted to contact Mr. Berry based on outside information, not on Mr. Minster's message. Mr. Berry never answered any of my phone calls, nor did he reply to my phone messages. On Thursday, September 28, we all received Mr. Berry's message. The contents of his message adequately addressed the issues I wanted to cover, so I have made no further attempts to contact him.

In my opinion, Mr. Minster's assertion that there was "a confidentiality issue that the board needs to address" is merely an attempt to deflect attention from the important issues. The real discussion should be about 

1) his failure to keep the Board informed on key personnel issues, And
 
2) the uncharacteristically high employee turnover of ARRL staff since Mr. Minster’s arrival.

At least 44 employees (update - now, at least 45) have left the League since Mr. Minster became CEO three years ago. Many are people he himself hired, and many were direct reports with management positions. Around four of his secretary/administrative assistants have left (Update - number five has left.)  Every single one has departed. Something like eight other direct reports are gone. 

Responsible Board oversight demands that we understand the root cause of such unusual turnover.  Is it our hiring practices, our management practices, the work environment or some combination of these?

Although I probably had nothing to do with you all receiving the Berry message, (maybe multiple phone-answering-machine messages from me did give him the idea that some Board members were interested in his departure) I consider it fortuitous that a former employee with the respect Mr. Berry had earned outside the League made the effort to speak up. Mr. Berry's comments give the Board solid evidence of what needs to be addressed.

Dick, N6AA