So, I have at least one more post to make with regard to the news story released over the weekend that ARRL CEO Howard Michel, WB2ITX, was fired. As is often the case with these matters, if enough people are interested and persistent, the truth will out.
So, while all of the facts are yet to be made public, we now have at least some insight as to why the ARRL board did what it did. (In a comment on KE9V’s blog, K9ZW notes that Kermit Carlson, W9XA, the Central Division director has said, “There will be a more comprehensive report to the Central Division ARRL Membership once the minutes of the meeting are approved.”)
Perhaps the biggest issue was that apparently Michel never gave up his “day job.” That is he never quit working for UBTech, the Chinese robotics company for which he was Chief Technical Officer. On August 23, 2019, he posted a video of a UBTech robot with the text, “My Chinese company’s Walker robot.”
Now, I don’t know whether or not he had a contract that allowed him to continue working for UBTech, but the ARRL By-Laws say that, “His [the CEO’s] entire time shall be devoted to the duties as set forth above.”
Apparently, the board felt that continuing to work for UBTech, if not a direct violation of his contract, adversely affected his performance at the ARRL. One of the issues was the lack of a contract between the ARRL and Mintz + Hoke, the digital marketing company working on the online portions of the Lifelong Learning project. $400,000 was approved for this project in January 2019, and work has started on the project, but there is still no contract between the ARRL and the company. In October 2019, the board decided to play a more direct role, assigning two board members to work more closely with Michel on this, but a contract has yet to be signed.
There were other concerns as well, but I’ll wait until the report promised by Mr. Carlson is published.
Anecdotally, I’ll note that he seemed to be away a lot. One of my friends attempted to contact him by email, and when he didn’t get a reply, phoned the CEO’s office and spoke to his secretary. The secretary said that he hadn’t been in the office for three weeks.
Having said that, it’s still true that this matter could have been handled more judiciously by the ARRL. While it now seems as though this was the right move to make, announcing it with a somewhat cryptic news story on a Sunday, with no supporting information doesn’t seem like a good PR strategy. This is especially true given recent history.
Anyway, I’m about ready to move on. I’ll be interested to see the report when it’s published, but the important thing now is to focus on the search for a new CEO. Let’s learn from our mistakes and move forward.
Bob, W6BP says
Wow. Thanks, Dan.
Eric KC9YJP says
Interesting. Although, it doesn’t explain why the board was so inept with the announcement and the next steps.
As for not being in the office, I saw him last fall in Wisconsin. Getting out of the office and talking with “real” hams is important too. :)
I like the “Executive Director” job title idea mentioned with another blog post. A CEO that gets re-elected seems a bit unusual to me. At the non-profit that I work for the CEO is also President of the board. He can speak for the board and the organization.
As I think about that, it seems like the board president would be the logical interim CEO. It would have even been helpful, if he put his name on the announcement. That would have gone a long way to showing transparency for me.
Sterling N0SSC says
I searched my gmail and also found an unanswered email to Howard, sent shortly after he was appointed. To be fair, I offered some advice and suggestions relevant to youth advocacy and some general “ham radio 2.0” ideas and didn’t ask a question, but it went unacknowledged. We did see him at numerous hamfests and several podcast, even back when we all got super excited when ICQPodcast inspired him to get on the air in the “Work The CEO” event before the ARRL declared that a bad idea.
J KD4KZZ says
Just another reason I haven’t renewed in 26 years.
Simon says
Kn4pjs
New to ham radio well 2 years a member yes but when I lapse my membership in October I will not renew, it has been lacking in what I would like to see in a organization.
The hope I had with the new magazine it might more for me but no not a thing . So I will save my money.
Tom Scott, n5git says
Maybe QST should separate itself from the organization
That’s the only reason I’m a member.
Tristan N7TWM says
I got a response from him to an email. Took a while, but I put that down to being a busy person.
These days being out of the office is not necessarily a sign of not doing a job, but I guess the board is best placed to judge.
Fred Laun, K3ZO says
Here is a timeline which might shed some light on the matter:
8/27/2018 New ARRL Chief Executive Officer Elected by Board of Directors
http://www.arrl.org/news/new-arrl-chief-executive-officer-elected-by-board-of-directors
1/17/2019 ARRL Board of Directors’ Annual Meeting to Welcome New Members
http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-of-directors-annual-meeting-to-welcome-new-members
11/15/2019 2019 ARRL Board of Directors Election Results
http://www.arrl.org/news/2019-arrl-board-of-directors-election-results
So since WB2ITX was selected as ARRL CEO, five new ARRL Directors have been elected.
Ray W2RS says
Good point, Fred. You and I have hired lots of people in our working days, and to hire someone so senior as Howard without having worked out the UBTECH issue, seems inconceivable.
I still wonder: what else haven’t they told us?
Tristan N7TWM says
Now the minutes are published, we are getting a bit more info. The NW Division Director has just sent out a newsletter, in which he gives a summary of his reasons for voting not to renew – it largely comes down to a breakdown in trust between board and CEO, perhaps due to the change in board membership, and what they desire out of a CEO.
He also hints at there being more which he cannot comment on.
The good news is that he has reaffirmed the ARRL’s commitment to the direction we have been seeing emerging, so fingers crossed that that will continue.
My biggest issue though is still the announcement. How hard is it to say that because the majority of the board felt he was not performing to their expectations, they have voted not to renew his contract? That’s a neutral statement of fact, which as far as I know is true.