John Roth has been replaced as executive director of Friends of the Boundary Wat

[Lee Borgersen]

from Ely Timberjay
 
Saturday, October 21, 2001906 Volume 17, Issue 42

Roth ousted at Friends of the Boundary Waters
By Marshall Helmberger

John Roth has been replaced as executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness after just seven months on the job. He has been replaced by Cathy Jacobson, who will serve on an interim basis while the Twin Cities-based environmental organization seeks a permanent head. Jacobson is a principal in Cinncinatus, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm that provides strategy and leadership development services. Jacobson specializes in executive transition services and has completed nine such assignments with nonprofits since 1997. She has more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit, business and governmental organizations.
The Friends has given no reason for Roth?s dismissal, but the decision was not without controversy, as three members of the organization?s 16-member board of directors resigned in protest of the move.

Roth, who took the helm of the group last March, had sought to reach out to residents and organizations in northern Minnesota in an effort to build more positive relations with people and communities near the Boundary Waters. Roth, who has owned a cabin near Ely for many years, had acknowledged during anTimberjay interview last March that the group has developed a reputation for being ?too litigious,? a reputation he hoped to repair.

Friends Board Chair Carolyn Sampson, in a prepared statement, said that the Friends hoped to build on what she termed Roth?s ?innovative bridge-building.? But some of the group?s now-former board members are less convinced. One board member, who resigned over the decision, said he wasn?t sure of the reasons behind the dismissal, but added that the three board members who resigned shared his view that the group had relied too heavily on the courts in the past to achieve its objectives. ?I think it?s [Roth?s dismissal] too bad for the organization. I think they?ll head in the wrong direction,? said the board member.

Another organization source, who asked not to be identified, said Roth was seen by some in the group as too willing to compromise in an effort to improve relations with northern Minnesota interests.