Running News Daily

New York Road Runners Parts Ways With C.E.O. Amid Workplace Complaints

Michael Capiraso led the organization that puts on the New York City Marathon to record revenues but will leave after employees and others raised concerns about his leadership.

The New York Road Runners, the club that puts on the New York City Marathon, announced Monday that its chief executive would depart at the end of the year, amid complaints from current and former employees who questioned the organization’s commitment to diversity, social justice and gender equality as well as its financial management.

The executive, Michael Capiraso, who has led the Road Runners since 2015 and is credited with significantly increasing its revenues, will leave his post Dec. 31. Kerin Hempel, a former executive with the New York Road Runners who has worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Co., will serve as the interim chief executive until a permanent replacement is named.

George Hirsch, the chairman of the organization, announced the leadership changes on Monday morning. He said the Road Runners’ board had spent the past months listening “to the concerns raised and recommendations offered by the community N.Y.R.R. serves, including its employees and members of the broader running community.”

“In order to achieve our mission to help and inspire people through running," he continued, “we will recruit new leadership to the organization.”

The Road Runners has been reviewing the way it has addressed systemic racism and social justice efforts since a wave of protests after the police killing of George Floyd inspired a re-examination of race nationwide. The review gained added urgency in August after a group of anonymous current and former employees published online a letter critical of the organization under the Instagram name “RebuildNYRR.”

The letter detailed a series of complaints about the Road Runners, including accusations of financial mismanagement and of failing to adequately address diversity and issues related to racism. The letter was critical of Capiraso’s commitment to the issues.

Steve Mura, the manager of running, training and education for the Road Runners, said Monday that Capiraso’s ouster was overdue.

“It shows that the higher-ups, higher leadership, has been listening to what employees have been saying, finally,” said Mura, 36, who has worked at the organization for six years. “This is one of the first major things that they have done to prove that they are listening.”

Before the letter was published, the organization said it had undertaken efforts to pay more attention to issues of race. In June, the Road Runners hired a diversity consultant, who spoke with employees both in groups and individually about their experiences. The consultant also began conducting a diversity and inclusion training program with the senior leadership team, the Road Runners said.

In November, the organization also hired Erica Edwards-O’Neal to serve as senior vice president of diversity, staffing a position that had been unfilled for more than a year. She will start in December.

At the same time, the board also hired a New York law firm to conduct an investigation of its workplace culture. According to two people with knowledge of the matter, that investigation is nearing its conclusion. The firm, Proskauer Rose, will deliver a report to the board of the organization; the New York Road Runners has said it will keep the report confidential to protect the identities of people who cooperated with it.

Mura said the meetings and discussions about diversity and inclusion had addressed the need for change, but that little change has occurred that is visible to the public.

“We’re actually doing a lot internally, but change is slow and it doesn’t show externally, so it really appears like we are moving at a snail’s pace,” he said.

Capiraso said he and the leadership of New York Road Runners had taken the complaints and concerns that current and former employees had raised “very seriously.”

“I understand what the board is saying, that they are making a decision after having listened to people,” Capiraso said in an interview.

Capiraso began working with New York Road Runners in 2012. During his five-year tenure as chief executive, revenues at the organization increased to more than $100 million, from roughly $70 million, with the help of new media and sponsorship deals and increased participation in high-profile large races like the marathon, which now registers some 50,000 participants, and two half marathons run by the Road Runners that have some 25,000 participants each.

Like all sports organizations, New York Road Runners has been tested financially by the pandemic, which forced the cancellation of the New York City Half Marathon, the Brooklyn Half Marathon and the New York City Marathon. The resulting losses led the organization to lay off or furlough 40 percent of its staff of 229 this year.

In the wake of Capiraso’s dismissal, several current and former employees went public with complaints about the organization’s management.

Frances Alvarado, 26, who is now a teacher, worked at N.Y.R.R. for nearly two years. She said she left in 2019 after she was called an “educated Puerto Rican woman” on multiple occasions, mocked for speaking Spanish, and told to take pictures of people of color for use on the organization’s social media accounts.

“Hopefully they fill that position with someone who reflects the interests of the team and who cares about health and the running community more than the appearance of the company or N.Y.R.R. as a product,” she said.

Janet Cupo, 65, worked for 30 years registering people for races before leaving the Road Runners in 2015. She said Capiraso’s move to automate registration online, where credit cards are required, served to exclude low-income runners, some of whom were minorities. When she suggested a change in the policy, she said, her ideas were rejected.

Sam Dupuis, 29, who has worked with the organization for three years and coordinates running programs, was hopeful the leadership change would result in a more intense focus on including communities of color.

“Our achievements in recent years, while still wonderful in their own right, have not allowed us to be as connected to all of the communities in our area,” Dupuis said.

(12/05/2020) Views: 1,835 ⚡AMP
by NY Times