Let me start with what I do NOT know:
I don’t know if Howard has signed or will sign any kind of
non-disclosure agreement as part of the terms of his dismissal.
I don’t know of legal action he may or may not take against
Pam, the AMC, or Mensa in general – and I’m not sure he would as he really does
love Mensa. On the other hand, I don’t know if there would be legal action from
the AMC.
Here’s what I DO know, based on years of working closely
with Howard and other staff, and several years of being Pam’s new best friend –
right up until I lost the election, after which I was thrown under the bus and
kept out of the loop politically:
The AMC, via the ExComm, hires an Executive Director charged
with running a National Office to get stuff done the AMC wants done. They hire
and fire ONLY the Exec Dir. The Exec Dir, in turn, has total control over what
happens in the office. Pam had her reasons for firing Howard. While I can
guess, I cannot fully know what those reasons were. But I firmly believe them
to have been trumped up reasons. (Cookie has posited a plausible theory on
Facebook which two separate people have told me was the cause given for his
dismissal.)
The working environment in the National Office has been
increasingly toxic for the last three or four years. We have lost Catherine,
Mary, Julies Boone and Clark, Roger, Heather, Bryan, and now Howard. Other
staff, such as Paige, have been marginalized (whether it was Paige’s decision
or not). New, young, and less experienced people have been hired. Testing is
down. Membership remained flat for a third year. Dues are going up. Tasks
deemed important enough to be touted in the Bulletin by even the
Chairman—namely the Online Compendium and Guides—are not getting done due to
staff time not being allocated.
Two other former employees besides Howard have shared stories
with me about her management of the office, despite being given specific
directives by Pam to “not get too friendly with Robin.” Howard has been held in
high regard by many of his fellow co-workers just as he is by the membership at
large. They have shared with him their concerns about Pam’s erratic and abusive
management style. Simply put, he knows too much.
Pam has actively worked to keep members and AMC members in
the dark. Money is being spent to hire outside consultants to take over tasks
formerly done by volunteers, which further limits the exposure members have to
the goings on in the National Office. During the week prior to Howard’s
dismissal, the Board of Directors were kept in the dark about which staff
person was on the firing line. Additionally, even Marc Lederman, Howard’s Board
counterpart, was told he may not speak with Howard and threatened with possible
legal ramifications if he did.
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE knows that Howard has long
been the clear choice to replace Pam as Exec Director of Mensa. He was a threat
to Pam’s job security, and became more and more so as her overall performance continued
to spiral downward.
Howard is a member of Intertel, thus, he clearly qualifies
to join Mensa. Already, a number of members have asked him to. He has always
expressed a firm intention to join when he is no longer a staff member. He
continues to express publicly that he loves Mensa in general.
Pam did consult with the ExComm, and a majority (of the five
people ruling Mensa—the rest of the AMC was kept in the dark) backed her
decision to dismiss Howard. All but one of the current ExComm members are
running for re-election. If you don’t like that they supported Pam’s decision,
then don’t vote for them, and spread the word to encourage other members to
vote accordingly. Heck, start the process for recalling them.
As I said before, like it or not, Pam did have the authority to let Howard go.
The only solution to reversing this action is for the ExComm to fire Pam and to
replace her with a new Executive Director who will act more in line with the
wishes of the membership, which in my opinion would include rehiring Howard. Of
course, an even better solution would be for the ExComm to hire Howard back as
Executive Director.
On one hand, I was weary and disinclined to do any more
testing. On the other hand, I harbor no displeasure with our Local Group, and
certainly had nothing against the people who had driven far to take the test.
To say “no” would have been just... well… shitty. So I changed my shirt,
grabbed my testing supplies, and headed over. The session went smoothly. The
Local Group was relieved and thankful.
