RA Board To Schedule Final CEO Interviews Amid Criticism Over Not Delaying The Process

RESTON, VA — Reston Association Board of Directors took another step closer this week to hiring a new chief executive officer to manage the day-to-day operations of the association.

The board voted unanimously Wednesday night at the end of a special meeting to authorize payment of travel expenses to the finalists being interviewed to fill the vacant CEO position.

The association has been without a full-time CEO since the beginning September 2021. That's when former CEO Harry P. "Hank" Lynch stepped down to become the CEO at WildAid, a nonprofit focused on protecting endangered species and their habitats.

Since Lynch's departure, Larry Butler, RA's chief operating officer, has been acting as CEO.

RA Board President Caren Anton told Patch on Monday the board was focused on completing the CEO hiring process by the time the RA election wraps up on April 1.

Some in the community, including board candidate Irwin Flashman, criticized the decision of not delaying the hiring process until after the election.

Flashman told Patch in a phone interview on Monday he thought the board's decision not to delay the process to be "unseemly." He compared it to former President Trump's rush to appoint Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before the 2020 presidential election.

"The same thing applies here because they are proceeding forward," he said. "We're in the midst of the election and they are continuing to move forward with the selection of the CEO."

Three members of the current board — John Mooney, Tom Mulkerin, and Aaron Webb — will be stepping down in April. Flashman objected to the three participating in the hiring process, when they weren't going to have to work with the new CEO once the new board was seated. As such, they would have undue influence on choosing the person who would be making decisions on the daily operations of the association, he said.

"The CEO who will be appointed will have a major impact on the staffing, because there are a number of senior staff positions that are currently open that the CEO will be very instrumental in appointing," Flashman said.

RA has three senior leadership vacancies — the HR director, IT director and the senior level environmental position.

Although Anton was aware of the objections to the board continuing the CEO hiring process during the election, she said it was important to get a candidate selected in a timely fashion.

"The feeling was just that it happened on our watch," Anton said. "We've been doing all the work and we're anxious to get the process done, so we can get a new CEO and move forward."

The board hired advisory firm Baker Tilly last fall to help identify a list of candidates. Residents also provided input via an online survey in January on what qualifications they'd like to see in the next CEO.

Anton said on Monday that there were 46 or 47 applicants for the CEO job. The list was narrowed down to 12 semifinalists, who the board interviewed remotely over the last week or so.

Most of Wednesday's special meeting was held in executive session, so that the board could discuss the candidates they'd interviewed and pick the finalists.

Coming back from the executive session, the board voted unanimously to offer the candidates selected for in-person interviews reimbursement for travel expenses for each of them and one other individual according to applicable RA travel policies.