By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corp. Executive Committee voted unanimously Tuesday morning to put President and CEO Gloria Ray on administrative leave with pay, pending approval by the full board.
The KTSC Board of Directors agreed Friday to accept Ray's retirement in two weeks, pending an agreement on money. The board rejected Ray's current contracts during its meeting. The members want to retrieve $96,000 already paid to Ray.
Ray is still CEO of KTSC, but is no longer in charge.
"What we were seeing was a problem with the continuity in the running of the day to day business, and we felt like it was in the best interest of the Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corp. to move Gloria out of a position of having to make any decisions," said Bo Connor, newly-elected member of the executive committee.
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Kim Bumpas was appointed as interim president.
"It is important for the organization to do the business of the organization," said KTSC attorney Ward Phillips. "And the organization needed to have somebody who is in charge and moving forward."
Ray will remain on administrative leave with pay while attorneys try to reach an agreement to allow her to retire. If they can't, the board plans to terminate Ray, but it's unclear if it would be "for cause" or "without cause."
The board determined Ray collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in pay and bonuses the members knew nothing about.
"It's been a difficult journey," admitted Bumpas, "but I'm a believer in that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes you don't know what that reason is when it's happening, but we're just looking forward to probably putting a little closure to it and moving one step at a time."
Bumpas made it clear that neither she nor any member of the board will contact or communicate with Ray, even though they all maintain a high level of respect for her.
The executive committee voted board member Michael Kelly in as secretary, to sign checks on brokerage and checking accounts.
Bumpas and interim Chair Peyton Hairston will also be able to sign checks.
Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corp. President and CEO Gloria Ray
The KTSC Executive Committee met very briefly Tuesday morning.
