Marrazzo

glenspringfield.com

Presented here, in its entirety, a letter from "A Group of Dedicated WHYY Employees" to their uber-paid CEO and President William J. Marrazzo. Seems things still aren't all that happy over on Sesame Street (and special thanks to new CP Intern Eileen Talone for transcribing all five typed pages. Atta gal):

September 1, 2007

An open letter to William J. Marrazzo, CEO and President, WHYY

Dear Mr. Marrazzo,

We are a group of WHYY employees with an accumulation of 109 years of service. Many of us have worked for a number of CEOs over the years, but never has someone with your title and responsibilities impacted the company in such an adverse way. You have displayed a serious lack of understanding when it comes to creating an environment that is conducive to a healthy work place.

This letter is to inform you of the growing negative climate created during your ten years as CEO. Your lack of leadership has contributed to an atmosphere of low morale, virtually no teamwork or cooperation between departments, and an overwhelming feeing of distrust between senior management and the rest of the company.
 
Under your direction, the ability to get things done in a speedy and timely fashion has slowed to a snail’s pace. You and Bruce Flamm, CFO/COO have created a workplace filled with anxiety, trepidation, and despair when it comes to getting any funding or budgets approved. This attitude has negatively affected our company in a variety of ways. You and Mr. Flamm have instilled a culture that never existed prior to your arrival. During your tenure, there has been a common saying among our staff—“That’s just the way it is around here.”

Whether it’s old, outdated equipment, under-funded budgets, or well below average staff wages, one often hears these same defeated remarks. Mr. Mazzarro, if you understood how good companies operate and treat their employees, you would know your actions only create an unhappy workforce. Good leaders respect their employees and challenge them to be leaders themselves. As employees, we should be encourages to bring new ideas to the table, so as to create an inclusive atmosphere. Your approach to running our company is exactly what respected business management books teach readers not to do. It’s no coincidence that most of our staff never has a nice word to say about you, professionally or personally.

 
While we would prefer to disclose our names, we know that would lead to our dismissal. This has been proven over the years when an employee has challenged you or your policies, so we reluctantly have to remain anonymous.
 
So you understand the serious nature of our concerns, the following is a list of reasons we feel this letter is necessary.
 
1) Your annual compensation package is excessive and inappropriate for a CEO of an NPR and PBS member station. This has been written about in the media many times, and it has affected our ability to raise the funds necessary to operate as the 4th largest market station should. Someone with your business background and educational degrees is certainly entitled to a generous salary; however, earning over $500,000.00 per year is highly disproportionate to that of all other member stations. Many of us have been told by family, friends, and people we’ve met on the street, that they stopped giving to WHYY once they learned of your compensation.
 
Additionally, your salary has substantially drained our operating budget, and grossly affected our ability to serve the public. If it was more in line with similar member station CEOs’, it’s estimated there would be an extra $300,000.00 annually, which could be better appropriated to serve our cause. As recently as a few weeks ago, a column in The Philadelphia Inquirer brought your salary to the public’s attention once again. The day the column appeared in the newspaper, our station received a number of calls from members protesting, and some regretfully choosing to cancel their membership.
 
For years, our staff was proud to say we were contributing members. But now it’s just the reverse; we choose not to be members, because it helps to fund your excessive salary. Mr. Marrazzo, we all could have chosen to work in the commercial side of broadcasting earning higher salaries. However, we’ve willingly decided to work for less, knowing we are contributing to a god cause, a cause we strongly believe in. As our leader, you should also be willing to make the same sacrifices. It is clear that you do not understand a fundamental idea many of us learned long ago: do the right thing.
 
Last year, Charity Navigator rated you as the Highest Paid CEO at a Low-Rated Charity in the country. Further, WHYY rated only two stars, which designated us as: “underperforms most charities in its cause.” It’s no coincidence that our ability to reach our fundraising goals has decreased in the last three or four fund drives. The majority of our fundraising comes from our audience and in the last few years they are increasingly choosing not to give. This is negatively affecting our operations as well as our credibility. Further, when we don’t reach our goals, the pledge drives are extended and our radio and TV airwaves are saturated with more pleas to give. However, most members tell us they find