SSA Leadership after 12/31?

On Dec 5, 3:17 pm, Bullwinkle wrote:
Early in the course of the SSA crisis, involving embezzlement and fraud on
the part of the SSA's CFO

Out of curiosity, what's the back story on this? Sounds juicy!


Dan

Dan G wrote:
On Dec 5, 3:17 pm, Bullwinkle wrote:
Early in the course of the SSA crisis, involving embezzlement and fraud on
the part of the SSA's CFO

Out of curiosity, what's the back story on this? Sounds juicy!


Dan
Hi Dan,

No offense intended, but (assuming your return e-address is real), I
gather you're not an SSA member. Thus (to my way of thinking) sharing
the details would fall more into the category of vicarious gossip than
usable information.

That noted, fairly complete history of/answers to your question can be
found on the members-only portion of SSA's website (LOTS of reading).
If you fly sailplanes in the U.S. I'd encourage you to join SSA for any
of a number of reasons, regardless of how bad or juicy the SSA situation
has been/may be.

Feel free to contact me off-group if you'd like additional insight
regarding why I think the way I do about SSA, soaring in the U.S., how
U.S. soaring relates to NAA/FAI/FAA/etc. Stultifyingly dull stuff, but
of genuine importance for all U.S. soaring participants.

Regards,
Bob - occasionally stultified - W.

INTEGRITY...TRUST...HONOR...ACCOUNTABILITY

Some of you just don't get it. The issue with the retention of Ms
Black is about integrity. The entire board agreed to resign as of
the end of this year. They should be held accountable for this
decision. If they are not, then when is the next time they will not
honor their word? As such, can we now trust any decisions of the
board? Unfortunately, this is a continuation of the original problem.
This is all about keeping your word.

For those who will now flame me for my comments:

I have served the SSA at the national level

I have served the SSA at a local club level

I have made significant contributions and support to local not for
profit organizations

I know Ms Black personally and DO appreciate the true sacrifices she
has made for the SSA and the sport in general and In no way feel that
she has personally acted in other than the best interest of the SSA
(This is not a personal attack)


The original decision was made to provide a clean start for the SSA.
It is now time to execute that plan. No person or persons are that
important to this, or any other organization, that the organization
will cease to exist without them. If you do not believe this, then
you are sending a vote of no confidence to the Regional Directors that
YOU elected.

wrote in message
...
INTEGRITY...TRUST...HONOR...ACCOUNTABILITY

Some of you just don't get it. The issue with the retention of Ms
Black is about integrity. The entire board agreed to resign as of
the end of this year.

I don't know about everyone on the board, but it seems that Ms Black has
overwhelmingly been asked to please not resign. Why would we want to leave the
SSA without any leadership?

Vaughn

I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

On Dec 6, 7:06 am, Jack wrote:
I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

I could not agree more with Wayne and Jack.

I would especially like to voice my support for Dennis. It's too bad
it's already a done deal with him. We let a good man get away.

Paul Gravance

On Dec 7, 9:18 am, gliderman wrote:
On Dec 6, 7:06 am, Jack wrote:





I tried to teach my kids to think with common sense instead of
emotion. There seems to be a lot of emotion tied to this. In my
opinion, this should be transitioned. That seems to be the will of the
majority of SSA members who have expressed their opinions to me.
Unfortunately in any organization, about 5% of the people do about 99%
of the work. Sadder, yet, the ones that do the least gripe the
most.That's from long years experience running baseball organizations,
model clubs, board positions at soaring clubs, etc. What's disgraceful
to me is to impune these hard-working, honorable people, many of whom
I know. In fact, in my opinion, other than the 1 bad guy in all this,
it's the only disgraceful thing I've seen. Mistakes were made. I've
made plenty in my life. There's no disgrace in being duped by someone
that is disgraceful. The current board has my support. I hope they
continue.

Jack Womack

I could not agree more with Wayne and Jack.

I would especially like to voice my support for Dennis. It's too bad
it's already a done deal with him. We let a good man get away.

Paul Gravance- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would hope that at least some of the present board and executive
committee members will stay on to apply the lessons they have learned
during the unfortunate events of the recent (and not so recent)
past.

Regarding Dennis Wright, I find it hard to understand how the
resident, hands-on Executive Director of a small organization like SSA
could be clueless for so long as to what was happening. At the very
least, it speaks to his awareness and competence and provided
sufficient justification, IMHO, for discharging him.

Raphael H. Warshaw
1LK

Those who haven't repressed the memories of last year's SSA financial
scandal may recall I was somewhat outspoken at the time. I was pleased
that the SSA Board ultimately created entities to monitor their and
the ExComm's actions and to recommend changes for the future. I wasn't
happy that it took so much pushing and shoving to get these entities
chartered--some directors didn't seem to "get it" regarding what the
real issues were. But I was just as unhappy at the unseemly behavior
of some SSA members and other critics on this forum who either
couldn't or didn't want to understand. But in the end, the process
worked and I think we're on the right course.

Will this debacle and subsequent turnaround mark the beginning of a
dynamic resurgence in U.S. soaring and the SSA's fortunes? Probably
not. We're a tiny, expensive, difficult-to-learn, time-intensive,
weather-dependent, fundamentally individual sport in a highly
regulated environment at a time when most Americans have less
available time and myriad other ways to spend it, preferably with
their families. But thanks to the efforts of a few volunteers and SSA
staff, our interests are fairly well served. Having spent almost a
decade on the SSA Board (part of that time on the ExComm) before the
recent scandals, I'm well aware of (a) the difficulty of getting
anyone to serve at all, and (b) ensuring that at least some of those
who do serve possess the right skill sets for critical Board-level and
staff positions.

In a perfect world, I'd make a few changes to the current structure
and staffing. But in the real world, if (as is my impression also) the
majority of SSA members wish the majority of our leadership to at
least effect a smooth transition if not continue in place, then I'm
all for it. If skilled, dedicated candidates with time, patience, and
funding (the latter either from their own resources or their regions')
wish to run for election to the Board, I doubt seriously if they will
have any difficulty winning. Prior to that, they can approach the
Board for consideration as a director at large (a position I once
opposed but learned was absolutely necessary to bring needed talent
into the Board). I'm sure there are directors who, for all of their
"I'd love to give up this job and let someone else do it" will fight
tenaciously to retain the privilidge of spending their own time and
money to attend boring meetings and listen to themselves pontificate.
I suspect more would, as is the case with Dianne Black-Nixon, like
nothing better than to retire but feel a true obligation to finish the
work they started.

It's very easy to be absolute: "they promised to resign so they must."
It's much more difficult to assess the situation rationally a year
later and determine what is the right decision considering all that
has transpired since then. A year ago I wanted a clean break, too. But
at this point, I can wait for the evolution to continue.

Chip Bearden

On Dec 8, 8:36 am, Chip Bearden wrote:
Those who haven't repressed the memories of last year's SSA financial
scandal may recall I was somewhat outspoken at the time. I was pleased
that the SSA Board ultimately created entities to monitor their and
the ExComm's actions and to recommend changes for the future. I wasn't
happy that it took so much pushing and shoving to get these entities
chartered--some directors didn't seem to "get it" regarding what the
real issues were. But I was just as unhappy at the unseemly behavior
of some SSA members and other critics on this forum who either
couldn't or didn't want to understand. But in the end, the process
worked and I think we're on the right course.

Will this debacle and subsequent turnaround mark the beginning of a
dynamic resurgence in U.S. soaring and the SSA's fortunes? Probably
not. We're a tiny, expensive, difficult-to-learn, time-intensive,
weather-dependent, fundamentally individual sport in a highly
regulated environment at a time when most Americans have less
available time and myriad other ways to spend it, preferably with
their families. But thanks to the efforts of a few volunteers and SSA
staff, our interests are fairly well served. Having spent almost a
decade on the SSA Board (part of that time on the ExComm) before the
recent scandals, I'm well aware of (a) the difficulty of getting
anyone to serve at all, and (b) ensuring that at least some of those
who do serve possess the right skill sets for critical Board-level and
staff positions.

In a perfect world, I'd make a few changes to the current structure
and staffing. But in the real world, if (as is my impression also) the
majority of SSA members wish the majority of our leadership to at
least effect a smooth transition if not continue in place, then I'm
all for it. If skilled, dedicated candidates with time, patience, and
funding (the latter either from their own resources or their regions')
wish to run for election to the Board, I doubt seriously if they will
have any difficulty winning. Prior to that, they can approach the
Board for consideration as a director at large (a position I once
opposed but learned was absolutely necessary to bring needed talent
into the Board). I'm sure there are directors who, for all of their
"I'd love to give up this job and let someone else do it" will fight
tenaciously to retain the privilidge of spending their own time and
money to attend boring meetings and listen to themselves pontificate.
I suspect more would, as is the case with Dianne Black-Nixon, like
nothing better than to retire but feel a true obligation to finish the
work they started.

It's very easy to be absolute: "they promised to resign so they must."
It's much more difficult to assess the situation rationally a year
later and determine what is the right decision considering all that
has transpired since then. A year ago I wanted a clean break, too. But
at this point, I can wait for the evolution to continue.

Chip Bearden

There is really no point in addressing the issue of the resignation of
the board until after we learn the decision of the IRS in regards to
the penalties and interest (which is in excess of $200K). I was amazed
that the Board thought that the IRS would waive this since it was the
result of internal fraud. The IRS, from my experiences, will NEVER
waive the interest, as it is required by law. They have some
discretion to the penalties, however. Generally, they are pretty hard
nosed about that, too, and waive it only if THEY made a proveable
mistake. This amount will bankrupt the SSA, so resignation of the
Board will be moot. I think that a bankruptcy plan should have ALREADY
been prepared, but I know of no such actions.

Professionalism on both the part of the board and the management of
the SSA has been sadly lacking. I tried to get financials in the past
from my regional director and was rebuffed. He ask WHY I WANTED
THIS!!! My reply: concern that the SSA was going bankrupt. He did send
me some financials that wouldn't pass muster with a Girl Scott troup -
I never did get anything more detailed. I have served on the board of
a multimillion dollar non-profit for over 10 years and we would NEVER
had accepted this state of affairs from the management.

I think that the SSA is in high probability of going bankrupt and we
are in urgent need of a post-bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Tom Seim

On Dec 8, 2:31 pm, wrote:
On Dec 8, 8:36 am, Chip Bearden wrote:



Those who haven't repressed the memories of last year's SSA financial
scandal may recall I was somewhat outspoken at the time. I was pleased
that the SSA Board ultimately created entities to monitor their and
the ExComm's actions and to recommend changes for the future. I wasn't
happy that it took so much pushing and shoving to get these entities
chartered--some directors didn't seem to "get it" regarding what the
real issues were. But I was just as unhappy at the unseemly behavior
of some SSA members and other critics on this forum who either
couldn't or didn't want to understand. But in the end, the process
worked and I think we're on the right course.

Will this debacle and subsequent turnaround mark the beginning of a
dynamic resurgence in U.S. soaring and the SSA's fortunes? Probably
not. We're a tiny, expensive, difficult-to-learn, time-intensive,
weather-dependent, fundamentally individual sport in a highly
regulated environment at a time when most Americans have less
available time and myriad other ways to spend it, preferably with
their families. But thanks to the efforts of a few volunteers and SSA
staff, our interests are fairly well served. Having spent almost a
decade on the SSA Board (part of that time on the ExComm) before the
recent scandals, I'm well aware of (a) the difficulty of getting
anyone to serve at all, and (b) ensuring that at least some of those
who do serve possess the right skill sets for critical Board-level and
staff positions.

In a perfect world, I'd make a few changes to the current structure
and staffing. But in the real world, if (as is my impression also) the
majority of SSA members wish the majority of our leadership to at
least effect a smooth transition if not continue in place, then I'm
all for it. If skilled, dedicated candidates with time, patience, and
funding (the latter either from their own resources or their regions')
wish to run for election to the Board, I doubt seriously if they will
have any difficulty winning. Prior to that, they can approach the
Board for consideration as a director at large (a position I once
opposed but learned was absolutely necessary to bring needed talent
into the Board). I'm sure there are directors who, for all of their
"I'd love to give up this job and let someone else do it" will fight
tenaciously to retain the privilidge of spending their own time and
money to attend boring meetings and listen to themselves pontificate.
I suspect more would, as is the case with Dianne Black-Nixon, like
nothing better than to retire but feel a true obligation to finish the
work they started.

It's very easy to be absolute: "they promised to resign so they must."
It's much more difficult to assess the situation rationally a year
later and determine what is the right decision considering all that
has transpired since then. A year ago I wanted a clean break, too. But
at this point, I can wait for the evolution to continue.

Chip Bearden

There is really no point in addressing the issue of the resignation of
the board until after we learn the decision of the IRS in regards to
the penalties and interest (which is in excess of $200K). I was amazed
that the Board thought that the IRS would waive this since it was the
result of internal fraud. The IRS, from my experiences, will NEVER
waive the interest, as it is required by law. They have some
discretion to the penalties, however. Generally, they are pretty hard
nosed about that, too, and waive it only if THEY made a proveable
mistake. This amount will bankrupt the SSA, so resignation of the
Board will be moot. I think that a bankruptcy plan should have ALREADY
been prepared, but I know of no such actions.

Professionalism on both the part of the board and the management of
the SSA has been sadly lacking. I tried to get financials in the past
from my regional director and was rebuffed. He ask WHY I WANTED
THIS!!! My reply: concern that the SSA was going bankrupt. He did send
me some financials that wouldn't pass muster with a Girl Scott troup -
I never did get anything more detailed. I have served on the board of
a multimillion dollar non-profit for over 10 years and we would NEVER
had accepted this state of affairs from the management.

I think that the SSA is in high probability of going bankrupt and we
are in urgent need of a post-bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Tom Seim

Please refer to the 11/6 ExComm minutes for part of the answer.

Frank Whiteley