Michael Capiraso OUT as NYRR CEO after sexism, racism complaints

wejo wrote:

Putting on mass events that people enjoy to me doesn't seem to be like a job where everyone hates you but maybe I'm wrong or maybe you're going much more insular in terms of who you are talking about hating you.

Two notes, Wejo:

1) The job of the CEO of NYRR is so much more than putting on events. In fact, they have a senior VP (Jim Heim) who is responsible for just that... and is just one of 14 VPs listed on their website.

2) I don’t think it’s accurate to say that everyone hates NYRR’s CEO at all-times, but I think the note about multiple competing mandates is well-taken: a decision that benefits clubs or the NYC competitive running scene may take something away from runners not from NYC running the marathon, and that may frustrate local officials who support the marathon because of its economic impact which is largely driven by tourism, or a decision that supports elites may take away some benefits from those local club runners and ALSO frustrate people who support the marathon or NYRR because they love its community programs and think those resources could be put to better use there. And having to serve all of those competing interests likely means that, in some circumstances, any decision you make is going to make someone unhappy.

To the larger issue at-hand, the number of people who are outright dismissive of these stories from Rebuild NYRR is, well, I guess not surprising (this is LetsRun), but is disappointing. I don’t love the anonymous social media angle that was taken by Rebuild NYRR, and it led to some claims that whoever is running those social accounts should’ve (in my opinion) known better than to amplify, if only because it reduced the impact of their more serious claims. But sometimes people without power feel like they need to remain anonymous, and some of the stories that surfaced on those accounts and were then confirmed are the kind of stuff that shouldn’t be happening in any workplace.

Now, I don’t know enough to know whether the CEO needed to be fired over it, but someone needed to be held accountable, and people who are closer to the situation than I am said he did. So I think we should listen to them, be thankful NYRR did, and hopefully that organization and our running community as a whole can learn some lessons from this and emerge stronger, better, and more equitable.

(Okay, flame away...)

browski wrote:

NYRR lost a ton of support this summer when they plastered all their social media with pro-BLM propaganda. Caipiraso has been around for a while, but I think a lot of NY runners have felt that the quality of events has dropped since Peter Ciaccia left a few years back. The points made above about NYRR races are pretty much valid, though I'll say this, the price for the smaller races are great especially if you're a member. You know that you're getting a certified distance and lining up NOT behind walkers.

Of course, now they're making people run essentially time trials with masks on for an arm and a leg. Go figure.

This is false. They got a huge backlash from supporters when they put up a post supporting the police during the protests. If that wasn't Capiraso that ok'd it then that person should also be fired. Right or wrong you need to know your base. It'd be better to say nothing than put up a pro police post in the middle of massive protests. This is NYC no one is going to publicly get mad at you for being pro BLM.

Seriously. Nyers are so damn uptight and persnickety.

No wonder half of them are in therapy

From the RW article, 2 things stand out to me.

The first is, "In June, NYRR hired Tai Dixon—an expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion—to facilitate discussions among staff about race and racism, after a poorly worded Instagram post in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police upset staff and members of the running community and revealed deep internal dissatisfaction over equity issues among employees."

And the second is, "Many employees also told Runner’s World they felt the July layoffs and furloughs were unnecessarily deep, given the large financial reserves of the organization. "

So, the diversity consultant comes in and creates racial divisions as is standard CRT protocol. Then, a month later the layoffs and fuloughs hit. Everyone, feeling victimized blame the CEO. All the "micro aggressions" that were dug up or suggested by the diversity consultant become the allegations of the Rebuild NYRR group. Once that is set in motion, there's no recovery.

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/amp34822776/nyrr-ceo-michael-capiraso-ousted/

The “Rebuild NYRR” movement lost me with their watering down of any serious claims with disingenuous mud-slinging, but it looks like they prevailed anyway.

It's not false. Below is just one example of their FB posts that had a collection of negative replies. And yes, I get that NYC is primarily left-leaning, but not everyone who runs NYRR events is.

Yes, I’m sure they just hemorrhaged supporters with that post...

Really, really glad I let my membership expire —political whining at its finest. Downstate does little but whine and moan —-they forgot what the basic premise is—-running ...and yeah, I’m leaving NY next summer, can’t wait

About time. Seems like employees have been putting up with a lot for a long time. I noticed that most pros stayed silent during Rebuilds efforts (thinking here about Sisson + Linden + NAZ types & others who collect checks from the marathon + half). That culture definitely needed a change. It starts at the top so hopefully the next person who comes through is more intentional about race/gender/sexism/discrimination/etc.

you say caprsano is 'guilty' , yet he has not been charged or convicted; you say this is a 'fact' yet you have not presented any facts, proof or evidence; what you have posted is actually your opinion , allegation or surmise, unsupported by any facts, proof or evidence; this is what so-called 'social justice warriors ' do all the time, make allegations (actually just complaints) and call them facts and then call the subject person 'guilty', same as the spanish inquisition did

It's kind of hard to argue that an organization that was led by a woman CEO for 10 years (and led well) is all about protecting and promoting underperforming white males. This reeks of woke whiners piling onto the cancel culture.

White Men Can't Jump wrote:

It's kind of hard to argue that an organization that was led by a woman CEO for 10 years (and led well) is all about protecting and promoting underperforming white males. This reeks of woke whiners piling onto the cancel culture.

Any chance Mary comes back? Personally I'd love to see her back.

Seems like being head of NYRR is more influential than her current cycling gig. Thought she did a great job.

I guess only downside is if the people behind RebuildNYRR can't be satisfied. Looks like they are getting NYRR to address some things that needed to be addressed which is good. Having said that to me, some of their complaints/goals seemed to be very far out there on the ideological spectrum.

Like it or not, it's basically part of a CEO's job description to get fired after an organization goes through enough turmoil for the sake of making a fresh start possible.

Besides the CEO, are other executives/employees who helped foster this type of work culture being shown the door?

wejo wrote:

White Men Can't Jump wrote:

It's kind of hard to argue that an organization that was led by a woman CEO for 10 years (and led well) is all about protecting and promoting underperforming white males. This reeks of woke whiners piling onto the cancel culture.

Any chance Mary comes back? Personally I'd love to see her back.

Seems like being head of NYRR is more influential than her current cycling gig. Thought she did a great job.

I guess only downside is if the people behind RebuildNYRR can't be satisfied. Looks like they are getting NYRR to address some things that needed to be addressed which is good. Having said that to me, some of their complaints/goals seemed to be very far out there on the ideological spectrum.

yeah walking into a situation where the previous CEO was fired for reasons unrelated to the fundamental purpose of the institution...makes the job a total minefield. You take the job to put on races and help kids stay healthy...and you end up spending all your time on diversity issues, expecting to get slammed by anonymous critics all the time.

Dr Yuengling wrote:

I hate these press releases. If they found the allegations to be credible, they should come out and say he failed at his job for X, Y, and Z reasons and is being fired.

If they didn’t find anything significant and are just afraid of the damage to their reputation I think it’s kinda pathetic to throw him under the bus and hide that behind a vague ‘transition’ plan.

And he’s a p*ssy for allowing his name to be slapped onto a BS hr-written quote.

exactly.

They couldn't legally share the reason for his dismissal in a reference check, but they've made that irrelevant.

Maybe he has a severance that makes the inevitable law suit go away?

Most detailed report out at the moment.

https://thexc.org/michael-capiraso-resignation-new-york-road-runners-nyc-marathon/

This is just a rehash of what already knows with nothing new (except it is riddled with grammar mistakes) and just piles on the #metoo crowd with zero reporting of the other side. All you need to read to understand how clueless this author is is this paragraph:

A typical non-profit CEO makes around $103,345 with just 10% making over $205,000. Capariso made $479,195; all of this to say that NYRR upper level management are incredibly well compensated. This disparity between leadership and staff became a point of obvious friction when races were cancelled throughout 2020, and NYRR reportedly laid off 11 percent of its workforce and furlough another 28 percent.” This 11 percent number has been disputed by NYRR employees who claim the actual number of furloughed employees was much higher.