By Leah Clark, The Monitor
As thousands of attendees flock to NABJ’s 50th anniversary convention in Cleveland, they are arriving to a fresh announcement of a new NABJ executive director, drawing both celebration and concern.
NABJ President Ken Lemon announced the selection of longtime NABJ member Elise Durham as the new executive director in a Tuesday evening news conference. Durham, as NABJ’s top administrative officer, will be in charge of the daily operations of the organization.
She assumes the role following the announcement of current Executive Director Drew Berry’s retirement in May. Berry assumed the role in 2018 after serving as an interim twice then as a consultant for two years. Berry is the longest-serving executive director in the organization’s history, serving under five presidents.
“When our past executive director decided to step down from this post, we began to very seriously ask the questions about what it means to replace somebody who has left very big shoes to fill,” Lemon said of Berry.
He praised Durham’s qualifications for the job.
“This is an individual, upon having the opportunity to speak with this individual, we had great certainty that they knew NABJ, NABJ culture,” he said. “That they understood what it might take to be able to fundraise out of a situation that we’re in right now, and that they’d be ready to step in and lead the organization forward.”
Durham comes to the organization with 30 years of experience in television news management and strategic communication. She is currently the assistant general manager of marketing, communications and public affairs for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Durham previously served as a program chair and a past convention chair for NABJ.
“When it comes to knowing the culture and understanding how to operate in it, I feel comfortable,” Durham said. “I am so humbled that the trust has been put in me to help lead this organization forward for the next 50 years.”
Berry said he plans to help Durham during a transition period. Durham is slated to begin her position this fall. Barry declined to tell The NABJ Monitor the date his contract officially ends. NABJ board member Amir Vera told the Monitor Berry’s contract ends Oct. 31.
“It’s important for me to have a smooth transition,” Berry said. “I will be here during a transition because [she] needs to know… But I will share information about culture and financial things that are critical.”
CONVERSATIONS BREW
Berry’s tenure slowed a revolving door of NABJ executive directors. Many of the selections were steeped in controversy over transparency, similar to the current situation, despite Durham’s qualifications and continuous presence in the organization.
The hiring of Durham comes as many NABJ members, including former founders and presidents, voiced concerns regarding the lack of transparency throughout the selection process. A group of longtime NABJ members who have previously held board positions and one who applied for the executive director role held an emergency meeting to discuss the matter and make sure Lemon heard them.
Concerns about the selection process for Berry’s replacement began when a job listing for the executive director position was posted on LinkedIn a week after Berry made his retirement announcement in May.
Two weeks before the convention, social media chatter grew when NABJ announced via an email to members that Lemon had assembled an Executive Director Search Advisory Committee on July 23.
The next day, former NABJ President Vanessa Williams posted on Facebook her surprise at the timing, coming more than a month after Berry’s retirement announcement, and the lack of explanation on how the candidates would be assembled. “This feels like a Mitch McConnell move. What’s the rush?” she wrote. “And where is the transparency?”
Williams said while she applauds the achievements and service to NABJ of the search committee members, she was concerned about its make-up, finding it “doesn’t reflect the professional diversity of our membership.”
NABJ Founder and former President DeWayne Wickham said he believes a search firm should have been hired for the process. In past hirings of executive directors, firms were occasionally used.
“We’ve got some fine people on our board,” he said. “We need people to make good judgments about how our leadership moves forward with these kinds of decisions.”
Hiring a search firm would not guarantee selecting a person qualified for the position, Lemon said.
“I talked to other individuals who have gone through the process before with this organization, and they said oftentimes you go through that and you end up with individuals who don’t work,” he said. “One person who told me that said we’ve spent $120,000 in search firms for individuals who didn’t last a collective four years on the job.”
CANDIDATES SPEAK OUT
On July 26, eight candidates for the NABJ Board of Directors, including Lemon’s two challengers for president in Friday’s upcoming election, Errin Haines and Dion Rabouin, posted a joint letter to the current board asking to halt the executive director search until after the election.
The hiring of Durham leaves less than a week between newly elected leadership, but is still in line with the organization’s Constitution.
“The Executive Director must work closely with the President and Executive Board. Incoming leaders should have a say in choosing the person they’ll collaborate with,” the letter stated. “Finalizing this hire before they take office is inappropriate and unprecedented.”
The letter also called Berry’s involvement in the hiring process “a clear conflict of interest.”
When asked if he was involved in the selection process, Berry said he had no vote in the decision to hire the new executive director but gave feedback and added that releasing a list of final candidates could jeopardize their positions at their current places of employment.
“It would be stupid not to get feedback. [I’m] the most successful ED financially in all of that, programming, all of that…so of course, there’s been some dialogue,” he said. “I mean, I love this organization, too, and I’m not just going to close my mouth up.”
The week before the convention, on July 27, a group of NABJ founders, former presidents, former board members and lifetime members held a Zoom meeting and discussed bringing their concerns to Lemon. Wickham and Williams attended the meeting, as well as former president and executive director applicant Gregory Lee, and founders Allison L. Davis, Sandra Dawson Long Weaver and Joe Davidson.
NABJ’s Strategic Planning Committee, Finance Committee and finance director made proposals to Lemon and the board to hire a search firm that were not met, one board member confirmed to The NABJ Monitor.
Lemon said the possibility of using a search firm was considered, but ultimately leaders felt an advisory committee was the best process. He said the committee did not work together, but separately scored candidates based on a rubric and whittled them down to a smaller pool.
“I can tell you this effort began not long after the executive director stepped down,” Lemon said during Tuesday’s news conference. “This is something that wasn’t done in just a few days, but it was done over months before.”
Despite Lemon’s satisfaction with the selection process, Wickham said the reason for a lack of transparency was power.
“It’s about power. It’s about holding on to power. It’s about clinging to power, and it’s about their definition of power,” Wickham said. “For this board, apparently, they divide power in terms of its ability to control the selection process down to the basics.”
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