Chapter 20 - DAD’S BOARD HEARING
The Hart Harbor board convened an independent special committee.
Dad attended with counsel.
So did I.
Not as prosecutor.
As witness and beneficiary.
Rina presented the findings.
Dad admitted several governance failures.
He denied intentional fraud.
Some evidence supported him.
The company had survived difficult years because he moved fast.
Storm damage.
Pandemic debt.
Insurance disputes.
He personally injected $2 million at one point.
He renegotiated vendor contracts that saved jobs.
He also used that history to justify later shortcuts.
“Did you authorize Jodie’s guarantee?” the committee chair asked.
“I believed she had conceptually agreed.”
“Did she sign the definitive instrument?”
“I believed her certificate could be used.”
“That was not the question.”
Dad looked down.
“No.”
“Did you conceal the transition notice?”
“No.”
“Did Felicia?”
“She signed for it.”
“Did you see it?”
Long pause.
“Yes.”
“Did you give it to Jodie?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I wanted the refinance closed first.”
There.
“What did the notice change?”
“It made her suspicious.”
The chair stared at him.
“It informed her of legal rights.”
Dad corrected himself.
“Yes.”
“Did you create the transition risk file?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Jodie is competent but emotionally difficult.”
“Did you create one for Tawny?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She was not becoming trustee.”
The committee recessed.
Dad was removed as CEO three days later.
Not permanently at first.
Suspended pending final governance resolution.
COO Elaine Brooks became interim chief executive.
No family relation.
No dramatic security escort.
Dad left through the same lobby he had entered for thirty-two years.
Employees watched.
Some cried.
He had been a good boss to many.
That complexity mattered.
May you like
A person can be generous to employees and coercive with family.
Institutional performance does not cancel private harm.
