succession planning

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What Goes Around, Comes Around

July 16, 2024 by 1 Comment

The bench phase of the NRA’s trial in New York City opened today. The first witness to take the stand was former NRA President Charles Cotton who now chairs both the Audit and Ethics Committees. Among the things he included in his testimony was the following regarding succession planning according to AP reports.

Charles Cotton, an NRA board member, was the first witness to take the stand. He revealed that the organization did not have a succession plan in place when LaPierre announced his retirement in January, just before the start of the trial’s first phase — suggesting his exit was hasty and not expected.

If only they had listened to one of their members who offered a resolution asking the Board of Directors to draft and adopt a formal succession plan. That resolution was offered at the NRA Meeting of Members held in Tucson, Arizona in October 2020. Mind you that this was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the most vulnerable population included senior citizens like LaPierre. That meeting was being run by 1st VP Charles Cotton as then-President Carolyn Meadows was absent due to health concerns.

As you can probably guess by now that resolution was soundly defeated. One of the arguments offered against it was that the NRA Bylaws provided a succession plan in that the Executive Director of General Operations would take over as the Interim EVP and CEO. This is exactly what happened when LaPierre resigned. Another argument was that the NRA was not the same as a for-profit corporation where succession planning is a best practice.

Among those testifying against the resolution in favor of succession planning was Joel Friedman who now sits as Vice-Chair of the Ethics Committee. Friedman is also a member along with Charles Cotton on both the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee and the Finance Committee. He is only on the Board now because Carl Rowen, Jr. was convinced to resign in order to allow Friedman to ascend to a directorship.

This truly is a case of what goes around, comes around.

As to the Endowment Life member who offered that serious resolution of succession planning, it was me. Perhaps if the Board had listened to the members instead of kowtowing to the Cabal, the NRA wouldn’t be in the position it is now.

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Adam Kraut Joins SAF As Executive Director

October 26, 2022 by

I have known Adam Kraut for a few years now. I supported him in his runs for the NRA Board of Directors even though Marion Hammer considered him “the enemy within”. I think one of the smartest moves he made in the past was opting not to fill out a term on the NRA Board of Directors in lieu of becoming the FPC’s Director of Legal Strategy which later became the VP for Programs. He left the Firearms Policy Coalition in August to be a sole practitioner.

On Monday, it was announced that Adam would be the new Executive Director of the Second Amendment Foundation. He will be doing that full time.

From the announcement:

Kraut brings almost a decade of experience in the Second Amendment realm as a litigator and educator. Throughout his career, Kraut has represented individuals, companies, and institutional plaintiffs in state and federal litigation and regulatory matters.

In addition to his legal background, Kraut draws management experience from his time in the non-profit world, where he was responsible for overseeing the programmatic functions of a liberty-based non-profit, which concentrated on Second Amendment issues. He also managed a federal firearms licensee. Kraut comes with a variety of media experience, having written for publications such as Recoil magazine, Recoil Web, and other online publications, writing and hosting a YouTube series, hosting and appearing as guest on multiple podcasts, and appearing on television.

Alan Gottlieb, SAF’s founder and Executive VP, had this to say on the appointment:

“We’re delighted to have Adam coming aboard at a time when our legal activities are greatly expanding,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “He brings a wealth of experience to the position, at a critical time when we are challenging an array of restrictive gun control laws that clearly have restrained peaceable, law-abiding citizens while accomplishing nothing in the effort to reduce violent crime.

“Adam has been a SAF Life Member since 2013,” Gottlieb added. “He has a keen understanding of our mission, our history and our effort to win firearms freedom, one lawsuit at a time. We are proud to bring him aboard to fill an important role as we ramp up our fight to restore and expand the Second Amendment as the cornerstone of our Constitution.”

In accepting the position, Adam acknowledged the legacy of the Second Amendment Foundation and said he looked forward to continuing developing more cases to bring to the Supreme Court “to ensure the right to keep and bear arms is restored to its original meaning.”

I think this is a great selection. While not said out loud, I think Alan Gottlieb is looking to build a succession plan for SAF. Contrast that with Wayne LaPierre and the NRA where any thoughts of a succession plan are quickly stomped out. Healthy organizations look to succession; unhealthy organizations actively resist it.

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My NRA Succession Planning Resolution Was Shot Down

October 25, 2020 by 2 Comments

Perhaps I was naive but I thought with the COVID-19 pandemic that my resolution asking for a formal succession plan for NRA leadership would pass. It didn’t.

Having a formal succession plan is a key to a healthy organization. This is critical for both for-profit and non-profit organization. The current NRA “succession plan” is a bylaw that states the Executive Director of General Operations will act as the Executive VP in a temporary capacity if the EVP is removed or incapacitated. This person will only serve until the next Board of Directors meeting. That’s it.

My proposal was, as follows:

Resolution submitted to the Annual Meeting of the National Rifle Association, 24 October 2020, by John P. Richardson of Arden, North Carolina, Endowment Life Member No. xxxxx

WHEREAS, the National Rifle Association exists for the benefit of its members and has a long, illustrious history as the nation’s premier provider of firearms safety, training, and competition, as well as our country’s oldest and most effective civil rights organization; and

WHEREAS, strong, effective, and consistent leadership is required for the organizational health and efficacy of the National Rifle Association; and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused great disruption to the normal activities of the National Rifle Association; and

WHEREAS, National Rifle Association President Carolyn Meadows has called COVID-19 “a wakeup-call to the importance of the NRA”; and the most vulnerable age cohort to COVID-19 are those over the age of 65 and is the age group with the highest mortality; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre is over the age of 65; and the premature death or disability of Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre would create an executive management and leadership vacuum greatly disrupting the effectiveness of the National Rifle Association in promoting our civil rights; and

WHEREAS, succession planning is a critical component of all effective organizations; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that, on this 24th day of October, 2020, the members of the National Rifle Association of America here gathered at the Annual Meeting of Members in Tucson, Arizona do hereby request the NRA Board of Directors to create a formal succession plan for the Chief Executive Officer and for the Executive Directors; and

RESOLVED, that we, the members here gathered, further request the NRA Board of Directors to have a draft of this formal succession plan ready for presentation and comment at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board in 2021; and

RESOLVED, that we, the members here gathered, further request the NRA Board of Directors to present this formal succession plan to the Meeting of Members in Houston, Texas on the 15th of May, 2021.

Because I thought the matter was important, I even couched in it terms of “what happens if we lose the irreplaceable Wayne!” Of course, that was BS.

After I rose to speak for the resolution and even used Charles Cotton’s mention of “best practices”, I was followed to the podium by three Board of Director members to speak against it. They were Don Saba, Joel Friedman, and Kayne Robinson. Their arguments were it wasn’t needed, that filling the position wasn’t the same as with a corporation, and that the Director of General Operations works closely with Wayne. They, of course, missed the whole point.

Frank Tait did rise to speak in favor of it which was much appreciated.

Resolutions at this Meeting of Members were pretty much doomed to failure in their original form. They best they could hope for was a referral to committee. A reasonable guesstimate of the number of voting members attending the meeting was in the 150-200 maximum range. That included 50 Board members, a number of their spouses, a number of older members from the area, and just a handful of us who want to see the NRA become a healthier organization. I really felt like I was one of the younger members in attendance and I’m 63!

I realize that change takes time and I need to play the long game. It is still frustrating but it is what it is. Just another great thing brought to you by 2020.