Sawaya resigns again as Pacifica’s national director

Originally published in Current, Sept. 15, 2008

Nicole Sawaya, executive director of the progressive Pacifica Foundation radio chain, has quit the job again, according to Greg Guma, her predecessor.
With the departures of the chief financial officer, Lonnie Hicks, and the human resources director, Dominga Estrada, the national office faces “a leadership vacuum” on top of mounting financial pains, controversy over her 25 percent cutback of funding for Free Speech Radio News and ongoing struggles involving board elections and employees, Guma reported Sept. 12 in his blog, Media Maverick.

After Guma gave up the job in September 2007, Pacifica chose Sawaya as his successor, but she objected to restrictions on her authority and announced her resignation in December, Guma said. She came back in March. But she quietly quit again in August before overseeing network coverage of the political conventions, Guma wrote.

The Pacifica national board is to meet Sept. 19-21, in Washington, D.C.

Web page posted Sept. 25, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Current LLC

She confirms the report with regretful critique of Pacifica's state

Update, Sept. 25, 2008

Explaining that she "was continually thwarted to do the job I was hired to do," Nicole Sawaya announced yesterday that she had resigned as executive director of Pacifica Radio. Sawaya said she gave the Pacifica National Board notice Aug. 3 that she would be out of the budget by Sept. 30.

In the form of a letter to the late Pacifica founder Lewis Hill, Sawaya regretted the present state of the lefty pubradio net, which she said has "dysfunctional" governance, "shoddy and opaque" business practices and a work force that includes both "dedicated and smart" broadcasters as well as those who merely protect their self interest and resist change. Sawaya writes: "Paralysis has set in, coupled with organizational drift."

LINKS

Guma discusses Pacifica and Sawaya's resignation in his blog.

 

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