It is unclear whether Evans resigned or was forced out.
By Knowles Adkisson / Associate Editor
Rebekah Evans, CEO of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce, resigned Feb. 17 after a meeting with members of the executive committee of the chamber’s board of directors. The chamber announced Evans was stepping down in a press release Friday last week, but did not specify why she was leaving.
Mark Perrson, a member of the chamber staff, has been named interim CEO. Evans served in the position for nearly six years, and previously held the same position at the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce from 1998 to 2001.
It was reported that Evans was asked to resign, but neither Evans nor executive committee Chairman Don Schmitz would confirm that outright.
“I know I speak not only for myself, but for the entire board, that we all like Rebekah very much and we’re grateful for her efforts,” Schmitz said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
Evans could not be reached for comment, but her husband, Chris Evans, indicated the decision was not made voluntarily.
“I’ve been married to Rebekah for 32 years and she’d never leave a job she loved,” Evans said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Malibu Times. “She not only loved the job, she did exceedingly well at it.”
When asked whether his wife had been forced to resign, Evans said, “You’d have to take that up with the new chairman of the board, Mr. Don Schmitz.”
Schmitz was named chairman of the board of directors in January. When asked whether Evans had been asked to resign, Schmitz declined to specify.
“I’m not going to comment on that at this juncture,” Schmitz said.
The Malibu Times contacted other executive officers of the chamber, including Roger Gronwald, Sam Sahrai, Christine Hameline and Stu McNelis in an attempt to determine the reason Evans stepped down, but calls were not returned. It is unclear whether a severance package is being negotiated currently with Evans.
Susan Tellem, a Malibu resident who has worked with Evans on chamber issues before and supported her, said she was “shocked” to hear the news, and that she thought Evans was forced to resign. Tellem said she had spoken to boardmembers of the chamber who said they were not informed by the executive committee before Evans departed.
“The executive committee and the membership are not on the same page,” Tellem said.
Schmitz said it was the prerogative of the executive board regarding decisions about chamber staff, according to chamber bylaws.
“Any decisions that were made were the unanimous determination of the executive board and all four of the past chairmen after exhaustive deliberations,” Schmitz said.
Tellem believes Evans was made to resign because she would not go along with plans by the executive board to become more active in city politics in an effort to defeat potential legislation by the Malibu City Council to enact a formula retail ordinance or a diversification ordinance.
Schmitz rejected that accusation out of hand, noting that Evans had stated multiple times at public forums and before the city council that the chamber was opposed to such ordinances. He added that the chamber has been involved in city and regional politics for a long time.
Tellem also charged that the executive board was comprised of people more sympathetic to larger businesses at the expense of small businesses.
“I think that it’s going to be very difficult for the chamber to have the small businesses I know renew,” Tellem said. “There’s been talk about not having small businesses renew because of the way the chamber board is set up.”
Schmitz said the chamber board’s commitment to small businesses had not changed and would not change in the future.
“This board and staff has worked and will continue to work very hard for small businesses,” Schmitz said, and cited as an example the chamber’s shop local program “Shop the Bu.”
Tellem said Evans had asked her last year to apply for the chamber’s 2012 board of directors, but withdrew the invitation because the executive board considered her too outspoken on small business advocacy.