Hello All,
In keeping up with Equity & Justice Report by RKG (See pages 33- 35) and our goal of Transparency at all levels of the company, we are excited to share with you our first Board Community Newsletter as we begin the Transition of our Board.
We are on the precipice of an enormous shift. The ongoing work of becoming a more inclusive and anti-racist organization, coupled with the upcoming artistic and executive leadership change, have presented an exciting opportunity to grow and develop our Board.
Over the past few months, we engaged ALJP Consulting, who helped guide us through numerous conversations on the purpose of nonprofit boards, how to center anti-racism and how to establish a more inclusive culture at EST. Together, we developed a 6-month Action Plan and we will keep you informed of our progress with a monthly newsletter.
Below you will find details of some of our first steps:
A) Put together a Board Development Committee and Create a new interim Co-Chair(s).
As a first step in our 6-month Action Plan, we have created a Board Development Committee (BDC) to hone in on a sustainable and healthy Board structure, aligned with EST's goals in organizational transformation. This Committee will be led by Russell G. Jones and Ilena George, and includes Erin Cherry and Donna Ward.
As Bob Jaffe steps down as our current Board Chair at the end of this fiscal year (after 10 years), Donna Ward will become our Interim Board Chair, with Erin Cherry, Russell G Jones, Ilena George serving as Interim Associate Chairs. The BDC will be taking on these positions with the understanding they are interim roles until the Board together defines what we want our Board leadership model to be once we conclude our transition.
B) Electing New Board members:
Our next priority is to begin building up our Board. We are happy to announce that we have voted in company members, Erin Cherry & Eddie Boroevich and non-member attorney Denaka Perry, all of whom bring enormous enthusiasm and experience. With these welcome additions to our Board, we also ensure compliance with our By-Laws regarding EST Member representation on our Board as well as NYS Charities Bureau's best practices guidelines regarding the recommended minimum number of non-profit board independent directors.
As we continue to build our Board, we will be incorporating racial equity and diversity priorities into recruiting and selecting new Board members. As we move forward in this process, we will give every opportunity we can for you to meet and talk with our new Board (old and new) so you will know who everyone is by the time you are ready to vote at our annual meeting.
In addition to all the above, we are excited to share with you that we have voted in Kelli Lynn Harrison as our new Assistant Treasurer and have voted in Graeme Gillis as our Interim Artistic Director as we continue our programming and begin our search for new leadership.
We are excited to share this journey with you and we encourage you read the selected page numbers that we present to you from our report.
If you have any questions regarding this newsletter or any section of the reading materials listed above, please do not hesitate to email us at BoardDevelopment@estnyc.org and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
*Please note that your questions will be brought to the BDC & Board and together as a whole we will answer any questions you may have*
Sincerely,
--------------------
Board of Directors:
Eddie Boroevich*
Erin Cherry*
Ilena George
Robert Isaacson
Russell G. Jones
Kenneth Mandel*
Denaka Perry
Shawn Randall*
Donna R. Ward
Jerry Zaks*
Janet Zarish*
Officers:
Artistic Director Emeritus: William Carden*
Interim Executive Director: Susan J. Vitucci*
Board Chair: Bob Jaffe*
Treasurer, Chairman Emeritus: G.H. Deniston Jr*
Members Council Co-Chairs: Kelli Lynn Harrison* & Sharina Martin*