‘The New York Times Magazine’: Red Cross’s Troubles

The chairman of the American Red Cross doesn’t want to look for a new chief executive to replace Bernadine P. Healy, who resigned in October, until the organization’s governance system is revised, says The New York Times Magazine (December 23, 2001) in a cover story.

David T. McLaughlin, the board chairman, told the magazine he fears that the composition and size of the current board is undermining the ability of the chief executive to run the organization.

The nonprofit organization has had three presidents and four interim leaders since 1989, the magazine says.

Under the Red Cross’s charter, which was established by the U.S. Congress, seven of its board members are Cabinet secretaries or other top federal officials and 12 are corporate or academic leaders.

The remaining 30 are selected by local Red Cross chapters and “they really control the organization,” says the magazine. “They tend to be lifelong Red Crossers who have worked their way up from local to national prominence within the organization; they also tend to be protective of traditions.”

Mr. McLaughlin told the magazine that he wants to establish an executive committee that would be representative of the entire board, and to establish qualifications for board members so that loyalty to the Red Cross would not be the sole criterion for membership.

Dr. Healy ran into problems with the board soon after she took over in 1999, the magazine says.

“She was an entrepreneur, and entrepreneurs don’t like boards or controls,” Mr. McLaughlin told the Times. “She kept getting out ahead of the board, and the board was chasing after her. In hindsight, her decisions were right. But her personal style was uneven.”

For her part, Dr. Healy was frustrated by the organization’s dedication to old ways, the magazine says. After her resignation, the magazine reports, she told the board that “maybe you wanted more of a Mary Poppins and less of a Jack Welch.”

The magazine says it is unclear how Mr. McLaughlin and the new interim president, Harold J. Decker, will fare in their efforts to change how the organization is governed. Inside the Red Cross, the magazine says, their ideas about changing the board composition “are fighting words.” It adds: “There is no telling what kind of resistance they will encounter and how they will handle it.”

The article is available online at http://www.nytimes.com.