Good morning, Board: I hope everyone has had a chance to review the issues and concerns raised in yesterday’s email and attachments pertaining to the qualifications and advisability of our approving an employment contract with Howard Michel (the “Candidate”) since the “Special Meeting” of our Board called to authorize such a contract is in a mere five days. While President Roderick’s e-mail begs the question as to why we are even convening a Special Meeting, it is clear that our Board must decide whether it is in the best interests of the League, including its members, to hire the Candidate. This has not yet been done regardless of suggestions to the contrary, and it is entirely appropriate and proper for the Board to consider and deliberate on the Candidate’s fitness for the position. The information disseminated yesterday is critical to this decision and should not be taken lightly or ignored even though It was not previously made available to most of you. The information was gathered as quickly as practicable, after the Candidate was announced, from third party sources who have no interest in the outcome of our vote or the future fortunes of the ARRL. Indeed, I am far more concerned about hiring the wrong person for this most important role than I am about the consequences of this Board exercising its prerogatives in selecting a CEO. Certainly, Mr. Michel would expect nothing less, and therefore, it is unlikely that someone of his purported business acumen would have compromised his employment opportunities before a final decision of this Board has been made. It is certainly unfortunate that sufficient time has not been realistically allotted to consider and make this weighty decision even though the Candidate is not available until November or so. The CEOSC most likely did not have this information available to it when it made its recommendation just a couple of days before the July meeting. However, none of this means that we should abdicate our responsibilities or fiduciary duties in making this decision. I trust that we can and will manage to use our limited time and this forum, as well as other available means of communication, to discuss this situation and arrive at a satisfactory solution. 73, Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT Pacific Division Director
On August 16, 2018 at 12:25 PM "Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv" <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Folks, the Board has already voted and approved a motion that stated Dr. Michel was a suitable candidate and to tender an offer of employment, which has been done. I can’t imagine what damage it would do to the reputation of our organization if we backed off a job offer, and furthermore, I don’t know to what extent Dr. Michel has possibly acted to his detriment in reliance of our job offer.
The Directors, who signed the confidentiality statement, had access to all candidate resumes of everyone considered weeks before the final selection, ample time to do whatever due diligence anyone saw fit, including dialogue with your colleagues on the CEO Search Committee. This debate should have happened weeks ago, in the Board room and before, not weeks later because you didn’t agree with the outcome in the Board room.
Over the years, when I was a Director, there were numerous significant motions passed by a majority of the Board that I did not agree with, and some of those I was very upset about, but I never tried to torpedo the decision. Once the Board made the decision, I respected it. We all should do the same. There was a process used that was approved by the Board. The group carried out their assignment as the Board directed. A recommendation was made and a majority of the Board voted to extend a job offer. We need to respect the process, and proceed with the Board meeting to elect Dr. Michel CEO and Secretary.
73 Rick – K5UR
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