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BREAKING NEWS by DC Livers
Washington, DC (BlackPress.org) -Citing conflicts with the Board of Directors, NAACP President Bruce S. Gordon, 61, has resigned from the nation's largest civil rights organization. Gordon cited growing strain with board members over the group's management style and future operations. Gordon said that while the NAACP is an advocacy organization, it needs to be more focused on service and finding solutions.
Gordon joined the organization on August 1, 2005, about 19 months ago and will give up his duties before the end of March.
"What I've clearly learned in my tenure here is that all is not well in black America, that's for sure," said Gordon, who has spent about 35 years working in Corporate America. "I believe I have a lot to offer. I've got to find a way to be engaged that optimizes what it is I bring to the table. My intention is not to disengage, but to find a different way."
He told reporters that he informed the Board at a meeting last month that he cannot overcome the growing rift between his office and theirs. Gordon ran the organization like a corporation which gained support from President George W. Bush, who attended the NAACP's convention last year out of respect for Gordon.
Critics said he wouldn't be a good fit for the nearly 98-year-old organization.
However, he smoothed strained relations between the NAACP and the White House, meeting with President Bush three times in less than a year. He used his corporate ties to lend quick assistance to black New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina. And he hired a number of key national employees whose reputations inspired staff members.
"I believe that any organization that's going to be effective will only be effective if the board and the CEO are aligned and I don't think we are aligned," Gordon said. "This compromises the ability of the board to be as effective as it can be."
Dennis C. Hayes, general counsel of the Baltimore-based non-profit, will appointed to serve as interim president.
Many felt Gordon was an unexpected choice since he has no background in civil rights. Hayes filled the same role after Kweisi Mfume resigned the presidency in 2004 after nine years. Gordon spent 35 years in the telecommunications industry and retired in 2003 from his post as president of the Retail Markets Group for Verizon Corp.
But Gordon was surprisingly effective including leading a boycott of Target, Kohl's, Sears and Dillard's after the companies ignored the NAACP annual report card data collection process, which is part of the organization's Economic Reciprocity Initiative.
"African Americans pump roughly $650 billion into the American economy annually," Gordon said. "We should spend wisely and have readily available information to be assured that those we do business with are reinvesting in our community, employing a diverse work force, utilizing minority vendors and supporting our causes. Those not practicing such measures should not benefit from the economic power we provide. There continues to be opportunities for major corporations to improve their performance," he said.
The ERI is a survey of how large
companies treat consumers of color. In the latest report, the majority of the
companies scored Cs or below. Companies like Target, Kohl's, Dillard's, Sears,
and Excel were given Fs for failing to take the survey.
The departure comes at a bad time for the organization, which is criticizing from abandoning its long time headquarters in Baltimore, MD for new digs in Washington, DC.
Gordon said he will give up his duties before month's end. He spoke by phone from Los Angeles, where he had just attended the taping of the NAACP Image Awards.
NAACP leaders were surprised by his decision and engaged in hours of discussion, he said.
"They expressed disappointment," Gordon said. "We attempted to see whether there was a way to continue but that didn't happen. I don't view this as I'm right and they're wrong. I view this as I see things one way and they see things a different way," he said. "That misalignment between the CEO and the board is unhealthy."
Asked about his plans after leaving the NAACP, Gordon said: "I'm going to catch my breath."
Gordon "brought a level of competence that we hadn't had," Julian Bond, chairman of the board, said last year.
Bond also has acknowledged that, with 64 members, the NAACP's board of directors is large and sometimes unwieldy. But he has defended it, saying it allows a wide range of members voices to be heard.
Related:
President Bush Makes Historic Appearance at NAACP Convention
NAACP Wins Grant to Improve Information Technology
