Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Saturday, April 30, 2016
Caught 'Borrowing' Museum Funds, Bishop Museum CEO Quits
By News Release @ 3:19 AM :: 11142 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii History

Blair Collis To Leave Bishop Museum, Appoints Lindalee Farm As Interim CEO, To Begin Search Process

News Release from Bishop Museum April 29, 2016 

The Bishop Museum Board of Directors today announced that Blair Collis has resigned as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the museum. The Board has appointed LindaLee Kuuleilani (“Cissy”) Farm as interim president and CEO and will launch a search to fill the position.

Collis’ last day with the museum will be May 6, 2016. Collis has held the position as president and CEO since June 2011. He first joined the museum as director of Bishop Museum Press in 2003 and served in several capacities, including being senior vice president and chief operating officer prior to being appointed president and CEO.

“It has been an honor to have served Bishop Museum over the last 13 years and particularly as president and CEO over the last five years. I am leaving to pursue new opportunities knowing the museum is in strong and capable hands. I wish the very best to the board of directors and staff of this amazing institution,” said Collis.

“The Board of Directors of the Bishop Museum want to thank Blair for his many years of service to the museum. We wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Allison Holt Gendreau, Chair of the Museum Board of Directors.

Farm is a partner at Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, a Limited Liability Law Partnership where she concentrates her practice in the area of commercial litigation. She serves as a member of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation (NAGPRA) Review Committee, a federal committee which monitors and reviews repatriation activities pursuant to NAGPRA, and is also on the Historic Hawaii Foundation Board. Farm received her J.D. from the University of Hawai‘i Richardson School of Law, her B.A. from Scripps College and is a graduate of Punahou School.

“The Board is pleased that Cissy Farm has agreed to take on the interim role and we are confident that she will be able to effectively guide the museum during this transitional period,” said Gendreau.

The board will launch a nationwide search for a president and CEO.

---30---

President Latest to be Caught ‘Borrowing’ from Museum Funds

CB: …Collis had been under pressure in recent weeks for using museum funds for personal use.

The Attorney General’s office, in a routine review of the museum’s tax records, discovered that Collis had taken an interest-free personal loan from the museum’s funds.

The museum’s 990 form, filed with the Internal Revenue Service in 2014, showed that Collis borrowed $14, 377 from the museum’s treasury.  Tax records show the loan was not authorized by anyone on the museum’s board . The form showed that Collis had repaid about $1,500 of the money.

Under Hawaii state law, nonprofits are prohibited from making loans to directors or officers. Joshua Wisch, spokesman for the Attorney General, said the thrust of the law is that the assets of a charity should not be put at risk on loans to insiders.

The 990 form on which the loan showed up is a report nonprofits file annually with the IRS. The purpose is to give the IRS an overview of a nonprofit’s governance, finances and activities in order for the government to determine whether the nonprofit should continue to get tax exempt status.

This is not the first time the Bishop Museum has been investigated for loaning money to an executive.

In 2004, the Attorney General’s office discovered in tax records that the museum had given a $300,000 loan at 7.333 percent interest to its then-director Donald Duckworth to buy a house.  Duckworth received the loan between  1998 and 2001…. 

read … Just Another Grifter

KHON: Bishop Museum president, CEO resigns amid questions over loan

SA: Collis Resigns

Jan 8, 2016: Bishop Museum to ‘Focus on Disposition of Assets’

Jan 25, 2016: Frustration: Greenwell ‘Surprised’ By Sudden Bishop Museum Sale Announcement

Jan 25, 2016: A level of frustration bubbled beneath the surface

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT