One Board Member Resignation Already Confirmed, Others Possible

ANN is monitoring problems being reported at the highest level of the Experimental Aircraft Association arising out of failed efforts to seek a successor for its current leader, Tom Poberezny.

During Oshkosh 2009, ANN reported exclusively, that a successor announcement that had been about to be made, was derailed shortly before the decision was to be made public... a decision that reportedly would have put GAMA's Pete Bunce at the helm of an organization that had been run by the Poberezny family for decades.

On July 29th, 2009, ANN reported that "The front-runner for this position, GAMA Boss Pete Bunce was considered to have been pretty well vetted and locked in until recently. However; internal correspondence from Poberezny confirms reports that have circulated in the last 24 hours... that Bunce has taken himself out of consideration due to the fact that he feels that he can not get the breadth of support he thinks he would need to take on this position.

In a Tuesday afternoon email, Tom Poberezny informed EAA's senior advisors and board members that "Earlier today, Pete Bunce advised the EAA that he withdrew his name from consideration for the EAA’s president position. He wanted a unanimous vote of support from the Board and believed this was unlikely at the upcoming Board meeting. As a result, the EAA search for a new president is ongoing..."

Since the search appeared to be winding down, and a number of top prospects had been passed over in favor of Bunce, a Thursday morning board meeting will reportedly start the process anew."

The near-selection and subsequent abandonment of Bunce for Poberezny's successor has not sat well with a number of EAA luminaries -- both in terms of the loss of a highly respected figure as a potential leader, as well as the manner in which the process went astray.  

Since then, the political fallout from that set of decisions has resulted in one confirmed resignation of a prominent EAA Board member (Vern Raburn) and reports that a number of others are considering whether to resign or not seek re-election/reappointment when their terms expire (please note that the term re-election is used loosely... EAA uses a very tightly controlled balloting process that ultimately results in minimal independent voting). Further; some of the political infighting that has resulted has now escalated into threats of legal action, allegations of personal attacks, and something of a standoff between factions that have been part of the senior decision-making process at EAA for a number of years.

In one case, a demand has been made for a written apology from EAA for actions/statements made by one Board member about another -- with an associated threat of legal action if the situation is not addressed. These statements directly relate to the failed Poberezny successor search and confirmation process. The alleged victim of these personal attacks, who states that he has significant corroboration for his beliefs, is also calling for the resignation/dismissal of the Board member that he feels has slandered him. There's more, but we're waiting for additional information before expanding this story.

Regardless; the situation is growing more negative, and doing so in a rapid manner... with at least two major players now suggesting that there may be a call for Poberezny, himself, to step down... or even more extreme, an effort to force the issue.

ANN is examining memos and reports from a number of sources at this writing and has calls/emails into the EAA HQ for comment. ANN is preparing follow-up reports for dissemination as soon as more information becomes available. Still; the continued troubles at EAA and growing concerns over the direction of AOPA and its new leadership leave much of the General Aviation world vulnerable and in disarray at a time when much of its interests are under attack or exposed to negative scrutiny... hardly a positive situation for the GA world. More to come...

FMI: www.eaa.org