Feeding America Food Banks Criticized Diana Aviv’s Leadership in Letter to Board

Three months before Diana Aviv’s abrupt departure as CEO of Feeding America, leaders of 30 affiliated regional food banks addressed a letter to the Board of Directors criticizing what they described as her ineffective leadership and “unprofessional” behavior.

The private letter, sent by email to the board of Feeding America in October, was obtained Tuesday by The Chronicle. The charity, one of the nation’s largest, announced January 5 that Ms. Aviv was leaving that day.

It is not clear exactly what part, if any, the letter or the concerns put forth played in Ms. Aviv’s departure from Feeding America, an organization that represents 200 food banks across the country. The authors did not explicitly ask the Board of Directors to replace Ms. Aviv. And they provided few specific examples of leadership decisions or behavior by Ms. Aviv that they deemed problematic.

The authors did ask that the board look into complaints raised in the letter and encouraged the board to interview food-bank chiefs and employees at the national office about their working experiences with Ms. Aviv.

Neither Feeding America nor Ms. Aviv responded to repeated requests for comment. The Chronicle reached out to all 30 food-bank leaders who signed the letter, multiples of whom directed questions to a spokeswoman at the national office. The Chronicle verified the authenticity of the letter with one individual who signed it and another who declined to sign it.

While some of the food banks led by individuals who signed the letter are large ones, like those in Los Angeles and Houston, others were smaller, such as the Idaho Foodbank and Worcester County Food Bank. All regions of the country were represented by food banks signing the letter.

Speaking with The Chronicle on the day the announcement of her departure was released, Ms. Aviv said she left voluntarily, citing the extraordinary demands of the CEO job, including extensive travel. Ms. Aviv kept her apartment in Washington and worked often from the charity’s office there. She did not move to Chicago where the charity has its national office.

In a statement at the time, Feeing America said Ms. Aviv resigned for personal reasons. A spokeswoman at Feeding America said in an email that the Board of Directors would conduct a search for a replacement and that Keith Monda, chairman of the charity’s board, would take on additional responsibilities, working in concert with “an outstanding executive team.”

Long Leadership History

When Ms. Aviv took the helm of Feeding America in October 2015, it was a marriage of one of the country’s largest charities with one of its highest-profile nonprofit executives.

According to its most recently available annual figures, the organization raised $2.3 billion from companies, foundations, and individuals, earning it the fifth spot on The Chronicle’s 2017 rankings of charities that raise the most from private sources. Much of its support comes in the form of donated food from major corporations that is then distributed by 200 Feeding America network food banks.

Ms. Aviv had previously spent 12 years leading Independent Sector, a membership association for nonprofits and foundations based in Washington that lobbies on issues related to nonprofits on Capitol Hill.

With her experience working the halls of Congress, many expected that in the CEO job at Feeding America, Ms. Aviv would play a lead advocacy role on hunger issues this year as lawmakers debate the extension of federal food aid for the needy in the farm bill.

Instead, just a few days into 2018, Ms. Aviv was out.

Harsh Assessment

In the letter, food-bank leaders cited a number of concerns about the working relationship between the national office and its network members. Food banks within the network look to the national office to work with them to develop strategies and programs that carry out the group’s mission, the letter stated.

“Diana’s approach has not enabled engagement,” the letter said. “Rather, she has drawn a bright line of authority and decision-making capacity between the national office and the network.”

In their letter, food-bank chiefs also said that staff members in the national office were sharing with them “serious concerns about the senior leadership and management style.” They asked the board to review the results of the organization’s employee survey and interview staff members “who are willing to share candid feedback.”

A former Feeding America employee who has not seen the letter said in an interview with The Chronicle that Ms. Aviv clashed badly with some staff members at the national office, and staff members were worried about her representing the organization poorly in interactions with donors. They began to reach out to food-bank leaders asking they make their concerns known to the board, the former employee said.

In a separate interview, another former Feeding America employee told The Chronicle that some staff members felt that Ms. Aviv was causing damage to the organization.

“There was really good talent that walked out of that organization under her leadership, directly related to her leadership,” the former employee said.

Both individuals asked that they not be identified because they do not want to jeopardize professional relationships.

Declined to Sign

Not everyone invited to sign the letter did so. Glenn Bergman, executive director of the Philadelphia food bank Philabundance, a Feeding America member, said he declined when given the chance. Mr. Bergman said he did not have insight into what was taking place within the national office, but from his view as a food-bank leader in Philadelphia he believed Ms. Aviv’s “leadership was very good.”

Specifically, Ms. Aviv added two people to the national board in 2017 that Mr. Bergman described as “excellent.”

And he says she was moving the organization and its leadership in the right direction when it came to advocacy work on “the lingering issues, the upstream issues of food insecurity in our country,” no small task given the gridlock in Congress.

He was surprised, Mr. Bergman said, by the letter criticizing Ms. Aviv.

‘Tough Gig’

When she started in the fall of 2015, Ms. Aviv was the third Feeding America CEO in four years. Her predecessor, Bob Aiken, held the job from 2012 to 2015. Vicki Escarra served as CEO from 2006 to 2012.

The CEO position is widely recognized, including by those highly critical of Ms. Aviv, as a demanding one. Among the many responsibilities is fundraising from big corporations, lobbying in Congress, and understanding and tackling the logistical hurdles of moving billions of pounds of food.

Additionally, the job requires managing relationships with network food banks. Andrew Fisher, an expert on anti-hunger policy in the United States who recently published a book on food banks, said that tension between the national Feeding America office and its network leaders has simmered for years.

“It is a tough gig,” he says of the CEO job at Feeding America. One reason is huge differences among the 200 food-bank affiliates: differences in the size of their staffs, where they operate, and the demands they face from local political leaders and donors, he says. While there has been some turnover as longtime leaders have retired, many others remain in place and are “very entrenched in their ways.”

That can make carrying out changes at Feeding America hard he says.

“The Chicago office wants to move people in a certain direction. It is like shoveling frogs in a wheelbarrow. You don’t have that many tools at your disposal.”

Those who signed the letter are:

Michael Flood, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

Brian Greene, Houston Food Bank

Jaynee Day, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee

Susannah Morgan, Oregon Food Bank

Linda Nageotte, Food Lifeline

Lisa Scales, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

Kevin Seggelke, Food Bank of the Rockies

Matt Habash, Mid-Ohio Foodbank

Al Brislain, Food Bank of Northern Nevada

Melody Wattenbarger, Roadrunner Food Bank

William Kerr, Food Bank of Eastern Michigan

Paul Ash, SF-Marin Food Bank

Larry Sly, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

Matt Gassen, Feeding South Dakota

Jayne Wright-Velez, Food Bank of Central Louisiana

Dennis Cullinane, East Texas Food Bank

Michelle Riley, The Foodbank, Inc.

Karen Vauk, The Idaho Food Bank

Frank Finnegan, St. Louis Area Food Bank

Zack Wilson, High Plains Food Bank

Bart Brown, Ozarks Food Harvest

Kris Douglas, Westmoreland and County Food Bank Inc.

Jason Clark, Second Harvest Inland Northwest

Robin Cadle, Food Bank of the Golden Crescent

Julie Yurko, Northern Illinois Food Bank

Willy Elliott-McCrea, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County

Amy Pezzani, Food Bank for Larimer County

Dave Krepcho, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

Bob O’Connor, Weld Food Bank

Jean McMurray, Worcester County Food Bank