ON THE RESIGNATION OF ROZ BERMAN AS PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD
or
What really happened?
At the conclusion of the regular meeting of the board on 27 August, Roz Berman resigned her position as president of the board. Her somewhat elusive statement read to the board and audience failed to address a number of issues. Jack Troia was then elected to fill the vacancy created by Berman's departure. And Roz was then elected to fill the vice president's vacancy created by Mr. Troia's assumption of the presidency. Was this demonstration of musical chairs just for show or was there something else going on?
You are no doubt wondering, what in the world would make a respected, charming, even angelic-like leader like Roz Berman relinquish so easily the reins of power. There seemed nothing obvious to account for her resignation. On the occasion of Roz’ announcement, Bob Sansing lamented to me that her resignation made no sense. Her sudden departure from the presidency was inexplicable and was without precedent, unless you are reminded of the sudden departure of husband David Berman a while back who had it with Favil West and left his seat on the board very abruptly in the tiff. To many of us on the outside and viewing the board and Roz in action, everything seemed just fine. The community apparently prospered under Roz’ outwardly genteel leadership style. So, what went wrong?
Contrary to how the running of the board looked to the rest of us from afar, things were not quite so tranquil on the inside. Roz’ often secretive management style increasingly grated on one member, then another and then another. Roz was not looking to the board for direction or counsel, or, when she did, she did not like what she heard. Roz looked elsewhere and in so doing created an atmosphere of increasing resentment by those who were being left out of the loop. There was a profound absence of mutual trust and respect.
As the tension on the board began to build, it became more and more clear that the naysayers were becoming increasingly dissatisfied. Roz, they reasoned, was for all purposes president on a short leash, temporary, if you will, serving only provisionally for a few months on the condition of her continued good and cooperative behavior. There was even an informal agreement between the board and Roz to that effect when the newly appointed board agreed to Roz’ reelection to the presidency. Ordinarily, such agreements mean little to nothing and can be readily ignored in most cases. However as more and more board members lost confidence in Roz’ leadership style, the terms of that agreement came into greater focus. The only question was whether there was sufficient dissatisfaction among the members to reexamine Roz’ short tenure as president in light of that agreement and whether there were enough votes to bring about a change in leadership.
The plan to displace Roz coalesced until there were 4 solid votes in favor of this particular course of action. With that in hand, the gang of four made their move, or so they thought. Their intentions were seemingly honorable, to provide a more tranquil period of leadership until new elections in the spring of 2010 would elect a new board. A quiet and trusted leader with ample board experience was identified and he agreed to serve in that capacity. With the votes in hand, Roz was approached and she apparently had agreed to step down. The deed was done, or so everyone thought. But not long thereafter, a serious problem arose. The gang of four was all of sudden short one member, let’s call him JW. Without four votes to unseat Berman, there was no dethroning plan to implement. The strange departure of JW from the scene was unexpected and most curious since he was alleged to have been one of Berman’s more outspoken critics.
As we have since learned, outside pressure was brought to bear on JW to ease him away from the actions being planned. In the absence of a majority of board votes to unseat Berman from her post as president, there was no longer any reason for her to proceed with her agreement to resign. After all, she could continue to serve as she had been doing all along, even if that meant some board members would have to eat it and deal with her secretive management style. That’s when things became even more murky. So then, Roz would rescind her agreement to resign and remain in charge, right? On the contrary, her agreement to resign was still in place. But why?
Whether to soothe growing tensions on the board or for other reasons, Roz Berman decided not to withdraw her resignation. However, the apparent price of that decision was not especially welcome news, especially to those on the board who were seeking a real change in how decisions were being made. Roz would agree to resign if she and Jack Troia would merely change positions as board officers. In that way, according to some observers, there would be no real change in management leadership style. Things would be as they had been all along or worse. We shall see.
Ron Johnson, 13 September 2009