Mother Jones has a good perspective on this PR disaster: "But all attention that's been paid to the Handel/Fleischer deus ex machina, however, misses the greater culprit: a sucky board." (link...)

The issue of a non-profit Board of Directors being out of control and out of touch with what the organization actually does and how finances are handled is really the issue in this and KTSC. I worked for Child and Family Services/Tennessee after Charlie was fired and the Board really didn't know what was going on. (An expensive search committee came up with the personal recommendation for the UT Social Work's director's personal/professional friend.)

(Governor Bill's wife) Crissy Haslam was on the Board then and now that person is head of Children's Services for the entire state. I will not comment on her qualifications because I really don't know but it's just another example of the good-old-boy/girl system that reflects the piss poor management and leadership in this town, state, and country--oh yeah, world too. Cronies hanging with cronies doesn't make for good governance, especially on volunteer boards.

Too late.

1) She owns all the blame.

2) CEO denies she has any blame last week.

3) CEO lies?

4) Profit! Big salaries, little work against cancer!

I was on the C & F Board when Charlie was thrown to the wolves because of some inefficient staff and others that wanted his job. For a person to have spent a life bringing needed innovative social services to our community, it was really terrible how he was treated. I got outvoted several times, but was successful in insisting the Board follow through on their termination agreement with Charlie.

I was there when they hired Kate to take the reins to turn the organization around. She did a fantastic job and deserves to rise higher in leadership. I don’t agree with many of the actions of Governor Haslam, but hiring Kate, was an action he did right.