Carnegie Hall’s Board Chair Will Step Down

Today’s news cycle features developments in the dispute over the governance of Carnegie Hall.  According to the New York Times, Ronald Perelman, who just this year accepted his position as Chairman of Carnegie’s Board, told his fellow trustees at a meeting yesterday that he would leave the Chair role next month, rather than seek re-election. His announced departure is tied to his concerns that Carnegie Hall’s governance practices are legally suspect, and that these concerns have not been adequately addressed.  Says the Times:

The climax came on Thursday afternoon at a joint meeting of the board’s executive and audit committees, when Mr. Perelman told his fellow trustees that he believed some of the laws governing nonprofits were not being followed at Carnegie and expressed frustration that no investigation into his concerns had been initiated, according to someone familiar with the proceedings, who was granted anonymity to describe what happened at a confidential meeting.

 

Mr. Perelman criticized board members for placing “a premium on avoiding tension and disagreement,” the person said, and told them that while he would serve out his term, he would not run for re-election as chairman at the board meeting next month. The board then agreed to hire a lawyer to examine his concerns, which involved how Carnegie vetted what Mr. Perelman called “related-party transactions” in looking at deals that posed potential conflicts of interest.

The Times further reports that one member of Carnegie’s Board speculated that Mr. Perelman would not likely have been re-elected as Chair, and that “the trustees had felt blindsided this summer” when Mr. Perelman briefly suspended Carnegie’s executive and artistic director, Clive Gillinson.  The same board member reportedly voiced that the board did not share Perelman’s view that Carnegie had governance or transparency problems, but that the board would investigate the matters raised.

JRB