Ouster of Terri Blair immoral, unexplained

I write regarding the removal of Terri S. Blair as the executive director of the Long Branch Concordance.

The abrupt removal of Ms. Blair as executive director of the concordance on Nov. 5 by the board of directors was and is unjustified, unjust, immoral and, so far, unexplained.

It leaves the board members and the acting executive director, a former board member, under a cloud of suspicion regarding the motives for their action, their trustworthiness in the eyes of constituents, and their ability to guide the concordance into the future.

I know Ms. Blair personally; she is a friend and a fellow member of the Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). At her request, I served as a volunteer in computer technology to the concordance for more than a year and, briefly, as a paid consultant, until I resigned to protest her ouster.

During my time at the concordance, I had many opportunities to observe firsthand how Ms. Blair functioned as executive director. I can say without a doubt, with no slight meant to anyone else involved in the concordance, that Ms. Blair’s leadership is the primary reason why the concordance became the model statewide for grassroots collaborative organizations.

She saw the need for such an organization in Long Branch three years ago and helped launch the concordance, founded as a collaborative effort with transparency, consideration and integrity in its activities. She guided it during the last two-and-a-half years of rapid but steady and well-managed growth, growing the organization with staff, volunteers and interns, obtaining many grants and winning many awards and accolades for herself and the concordance.

Under her leadership, the concordance achieved many goals and successes, including providing resource and referral services to those in need inside and outside Long Branch, helping existing agencies and organizations collaborate to better provide services to their clients, and involving community members in initiatives for better services to those in need.

I am full of questions regarding the board’s action:

1. What possible explanation could they offer for their rash yet premeditated action? So far they and the acting executive director have refused to fully explain the coup.

2. Why did the board hold a special meeting one day after the concordance held its first fundraising event, which was very successful? Why did the board wait until the concordance received a substantial grant from the state before fomenting its coup?

Could this action have anything to do with “a conflict of interest” that Golam Mathbor, president of the board, mentioned? He refused to identify this conflict, but said it did not involve Ms. Blair. What could Mr. Mathbor have meant?

3. While Ms. Blair served in an at-will capacity, meaning the board legally could terminate her services at any time, the board, in all fairness, should have carried out a formal review of her performance as executive director, giving her constructive feedback and an opportunity to correct any problems. Wasn’t she due the courtesy of an explanation, at least?

I also question whether the members of this board, based on their foolish behavior in this matter, have the experience, expertise or wisdom to guide a collaborative like the concordance toward further success and growth. I doubt any of them can understand, let alone nurture, the spirit of collaboration that embodies the concordance, since they did nothing to include concordance members in their misguided decision and have stonewalled any attempt to extract an explanation.

How can they expect anyone aware of their action to trust them enough to wish to work in the future?

The only way they can erase the stain of dishonor they have left on themselves and the concordance would be to immediately return Ms. Blair to a position of leadership in the organization and give her the respect she deserves.

Those board members who are incapable of implementing this simple solution should resign for the good of the organization with which they originally were entrusted.

Lee Maxwell

Asbury Park