Evelyn Theiss, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio — When candidates for the vacant job of CEO of Neighborhood Progress Inc. go through the interview process this month, they might encounter a familiar name.
Former Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White — now an alpaca farmer in Tuscarawas County — is one of four advisors to the search committee that will fill one of the highest-paying jobs among Cleveland’s non-profit agencies.
Neighborhood Progress Inc, an agency that supports the work of Cleveland’s community development corporations, is looking for a new president/ CEO. Eric Hoddersen, who retired earlier this summer after 20 years at the helm, was only the second person holding that job since NPI was created in 1987.
The organization was launched that year with foundation money, to provide operating support and to help secure millions in annual funding for the city’s patchwork of community development groups.
In his role as one of the search committee advisors, the former mayor is representing the Mandel Foundation, says Lee Chilcote, co-chair of the search committee. “I think he’s been working for them since he left the office of mayor,” says Chilcote. “I think they value him.”
White was mayor from 1990 to 2001, when he chose not to run again.
According to Donna Cuilli, assistant to Morton Mandel, White is a consultant to the foundation. She declined to say if the position was paid or unpaid. White, reached by phone, also declined to discuss his job with the Mandel foundation and referred questions on the NPI search to Chilcote.
“They gave you my title, that’s all you need to know,” White said. “Have a good day.”
White also represents the Mandel Foundation at MidTown Cleveland Inc., as member of the board of trustees, according to MidTown’s Web site.
Besides White, the other search committee advisers for the CEO post at NPI also representing foundations are: Robert Jaquay, associate director of the George Gund Foundation; India Pierce Lee, a program director at the Cleveland Foundation and Denise Zeman, president and CEO of the Saint Luke’s Foundation.
Chilcote said the search committee itself has members mostly from NPI’s Board of Trustees, including Timothy Tramble, executive director of Burten, Bell, Carr Development Corp. and Mark Nasca of JDI Realty.
The search is being co-chaired by Chilcote and Beth Mooney, a vice president at KeyBank. She was traveling outside the country and could not be reached for comment. Logistics of the search are being handled by the executive search firm of Isaacson, Miller Inc. in Boston.
Preliminary interviews for the position of president and CEO of NPI began last week, Chilcote says, and the committee is considering national and local candidates.
While NPI isn’t making public its salary range for the position — the salary will depend in part on the candidate, Chilcote says — the most recent tax forms, filed in 2008, show that Hoddersen’s annual salary in 2007 was $190,000.
White is not listed as a consultant or mentioned by name on any of the Mandel Foundation’s Form 990s, which are required to be filed by non-profits for tax purposes. His wife, JoAnn White, is the foundation’s main contact and is a program director there. Her professional background is in fundraising. She is also not listed on the 990 forms, but only key officers and highest paid employees are.
By law, consultants – or independent contractors — paid more than $50,000 a year are required to be listed.
Story Compliments Of The Plain Dealer
