10-18-2021, 10:42 AM
Just received this from Carl Borack.
' Wrote:Quote:Friends and Colleagues
Attached is a letter that Peter Burchard sent to the FIE this past Friday, October 14, 2021, submitting “the list of proposed FIE candidates approved by me, President of USA Fencing” and instructing the FIE that “[a]ny other candidates do not have my signature, and cannot be considered valid for the coming FIE Congress elections.”
With this letter, Peter Burchard sought to replace the many months of hard work and due diligence, as well as the collective wisdom and votes of this Committee, and the entire Board, with his own personal FIE nominee choices, which even included individuals that he never presented to this committee and who were wholly unvetted.
Please also note that despite the stated goal and strategic decision of this committee to nominate qualified women where possible given the FIE requirement as to the minimum percentage of women on its commissions and councils, Peter Burchard replaced two of the female nominees with men of his own choosing, such that 70% of the candidates on his personal slate he presented to the FIE are men.
He of course did not share this letter with this Committee, nor the National Office, nor the Board. He simply acted on his own and in the least transparent way possible. We were alerted to this letter by Nathalie Rodriguez of the FIE, who needless to say was not pleased. The letter sowed chaos and confusion, not to mention humiliation before one of our most important institutional partners. Sam, Kate and others have worked tirelessly since we became aware of this letter to fix the damage done. Please rest assured that the correct nominations, as approved by this committee and the Board, have been submitted to the FIE with the proper supporting materials.
As members of this Committee, as well as nominees, I believe you are entitled to be aware of this letter.
This letter is just one example of the innumerable instances of duplicitous self-dealing, malfeasance and corresponding breaches of fiduciary duty that Peter Burchard engaged in during his tenure, which collectively left the Board no choice but to take the action we did this past weekend.
As always, I am available to you to discuss this and any other matter that is of concern to you regarding USA Fencing.
Lorrie
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm