On Dave Harper’s blog at Numismatic News, American Numismatic Association Executive Director Larry Shepherd called regarding being put on administrative leave.
According to Harper, Shepherd said, “I’m disappointed I was not told what the reasons for this was and I was not given an opportunity to defend myself to the board before they took this action.”
If Shepherd does not know why he was put on administrative leave, who does?
While it is important for the ANA to respect Shepherd’s privacy during an employment manner, I think the ANA should be responsible for telling Shepherd why they are taking this action. Then, unless there is a confidentiality agreement that would require Shepherd to remain silent, it should be up to him to chose whether to divulge the nature the problem.
The last time the ANA Board put an executive director on administrative leave, not only was it public, but the vote was also made public. While there was a lot animosity between the newly elected Board and then Executive Director Christopher Cipoletti with publicly made allegations of wrong doing, nobody seems to be aware of anything that Shepherd might have or have not done.
Let’s hope the ANA does the right thing and ends this soon.