Gay Community Center President Ousted

GayRVA Staff
January 24, 2012

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Read More: Gay Community Center of Richmond, GCCR, Jay Squires

Jay Squires with board chair elect Beth Marshack at the Richmond Business Alliance launch event in September 2010. File Photo.

Jay Squires has been removed from his role as president of the Gay Community Center of Richmond. Squires told GayRVA.com that he received a letter from the board requesting his removal from the organization last Thursday.

Board chair elect Beth Marshak would not comment on the reason noting it was private, but said that an announcement on an interim director would be made this week. She said the board looked outside the organization to fill the position.

Squires said that there had been some tensions coming from the board for a while – also noting that operating the center had taken a toll on his attitude and health. “No good deed goes unpunished,” he said.

“The board and I have had some disagreements over the past 12 months,” Squires said noting disagreements over procedure. “They wanted things done a certain way.”

Squires said the foundation had a very good year in 2011. According to him, Diversity Thrift, which the GCCR operates as a revenue source, posted record sales. The GCCR is also funded through its bingo operation – which had been tough in the economic downturn, but was trending back up.

“The center’s programming increased substantially – we established a presence in the community,” he said. “Objectively, I did what I was paid to do. This was a surprising development…I had a clue that there were members of the board who weren’t pleased with the way that I operated. I think the board felt I was aggressive in my approach. They didn’t like that. Some of them I guess decided that they wanted to take care of the situation by taking care of me.”

Squires had been with the center for four years. Prior to GCCR, he practiced law for twenty years and served on the board of Equality Virginia. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of CenterLink – the national organization for LGBT Community Centers. Richmond is hosting CenterLink’s national conference in September 2012.

Squires also expressed that the board was difficult to work with.

“There’s a difference in opinion of what’s important to this organization…The problem was [the board] never made a decision,” Squires said. “This, in the end, is the most passive board of directors – they complain that they don’t have the information they need – when they have the information they need to make a decision.”

He also said the GCCR’s board of directors has the lowest contribution rate of any board he has worked with.

“They gave a total of $4,000 to the foundation,” according to Squires. “Three or four didn’t give anything at all. That is a terrible record of support to the organization. That was a sticking point with me from the start – I would call them on that. We need to get our donation level up. The board has a responsibility to participate in that. They didn’t like that.”

Squires warns that the board doesn’t know what they’re getting into.

“…It will be interesting,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m the only guy in the world that could run the place. I had no idea what it was like when I got there. It took more than a year before I had it all figured out. The place could run itself because the staff is very good…but will not have comprehensive leadership inevitably.”

Editor’s Note: For full transparency, GayRVA.com partnered with the GCCR to create the Richmond Business Alliance in September 2010.  The Richmond Business Alliance is now operating under the GCCR’s programing umbrella.