Former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she was "shocked" over what transpired at the American Irish Historical Society last week when the job of Executive Director Elizabeth Stack was eliminated by the AIHS Board.
That effective firing led to the immediate resignation of three board members, including Quinn.
Quinn said her view of the leadership at the AIHS was that it has "no vision, no operational budget, no strategic plan."
She said that in her time on the board there had been virtually no supervision of, or communication with, Elizabeth Stack.
"They made it about finances claiming no money. But that doesn't hold water," Quinn said of the scrapping of the full time Executive Director's job.
The board floated the idea of a part time replacement. It did not offer this reduced job to Stack though, according to a statement issued last week by the three board members who resigned, did invite her to apply for it.
"This was not about money, but was an attack on her (Stack), " said Quinn.
"One board member complained that under Stack there were too many events at the society. That's a compliment in my book, not a criticism."
Quinn said that the board was not looking to the larger community or diaspora to engage with, nor was it focused on a diversity of events and participants.
Rather, she said, the AIHS was being run more on the lines of a "little pet project."
