June 2, 2000 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Betty Stanley Beene, president of the United Way of America, plans to leave her post within the next 18 months, the organization announced Friday.
United Way said that at its June board meeting, Ms. Beene told directors of her intention to “conclude her service to the organization.”
Ms. Beene did not disclose what she plans to do after she leaves United Way, and the charity did not announce any financial arrangements related to her departure.
United Way spokesman Anthony DeCristofaro described Ms. Beene’s eventual departure as a “planned transition” and said the board accepted her announcement “with regret.”
“While there’s not necessarily a date certain when her tenure here will end, she has told the board that ‘within this time frame, the job you brought me here to do should be complete and ready to turn over to new leadership,’ ” Mr. DeCristofaro said.
Ms. Beene “was not asked to leave” by the board, he said.
In recent months, Ms. Beene has been criticized for a decision by the charity to spend $12-million on a new on-the-job giving software system that was scrapped because it didn’t work.
United Way covered any loss from the mishap with the proceeds of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Some local United Way officials have criticized Ms. Beene for not ensuring adequate oversight over the software project.
Mr. DeCristofaro acknowledged that some local United Way officials had been pressing for Ms. Beene’s departure, but he denied that the software deal was a factor in her announcement.
“If she were buckling to that pressure, you’d see her saying, ‘I’m leaving today, or I’m leaving in the very near term,’ ” he said.
In a statement released Friday by United Way, Dimon R. McFerson, chairman of the organization’s board, said that Ms. Beene’s leadership had been “instrumental in helping United evolve from community fund raiser for health and human services to catalyst for achieving real change in the quality of life in communities.”
United Way said that before Ms. Beene leaves she wants to complete a review of the governance and structure of the United Way system.
Ms. Beene was the third person appointed to head the charity after former president William Aramony was forced to resign in 1992 amid accusations of defrauding the organization. She was preceeded by Kenneth W. Dam, who served from March through August 1992, and by Elaine Chao, who served from November 1992 until April 1996. Ms. Beene’s tenure began in January 1997.
