Fiesta Bowl Fires CEO Junker After Investigation Into Compensation Issues
Fiesta Bowl President and Chief Executive Officer John Junker was fired following an independent investigation into campaign contributions and executive compensation.
Junker, who was placed on administrative leave in February after failing to cooperate with the investigation by a special committee, was terminated with cause effective immediately, the Fiesta Bowl’s board of directors said today in a news release.
“We are extremely disappointed and angered by the findings of the special committee’s investigation,” Duane Woods, chairman of the Fiesta Bowl’s board, said in a statement. “While the special committee final report speaks for itself, I must say that the actions undertaken and orchestrated by John Junker and others are shocking and completely unacceptable.”
The Arizona Republic first reported in December 2009 that current and former bowl employees said they were encouraged to make contributions to certain politicians and then were reimbursed those funds. Such practices would be a violation of Arizona and U.S. campaign finance laws.
Lawyer’s Response
Stephen Dichter, an attorney for Junker, in an e-mail directed Bloomberg News to the notes from two interviews Junker gave to the special committee’s lawyers that “provide the best and most accurate rendition of Mr. Junker’s responses to the subject matters.”
“We are in the process of reviewing the report and may have additional comments at a later date,” Dichter said in the e-mail.
The independent probe by the special committee is separate from an Arizona attorney general’s probe into possible criminal wrongdoing involving political contributions by Fiesta Bowl employees.
The Fiesta Bowl, founded in 1971, is a non-profit organization that annually hosts college football’s Fiesta Bowl game, as well as the Insight Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl game is a part of the Bowl Championship Series that crowns a national champion, and BCS officials released a statement on their website saying the Fiesta Bowl must “demonstrate why it should remain a BCS bowl game.”
“If the bowl remains a part of the BCS, its handling of this matter will be closely monitored going forward,” Graham Spanier, chair of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, and Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS, said in the statement.
Unanimous Vote
The Fiesta Bowl’s special committee, which was formed Oct. 8, found “an apparent scheme to reimburse at least $46,539 in improper campaign contributions;” a flawed initial investigation and “apparent conspiracy to conceal the reimbursement scheme;” and unauthorized and excessive compensation, non-business and inappropriate expenditures, and inappropriate gifts, the release said.
The 22-member board, which voted unanimously to fire Junker, also adopted new measures to ensure additional levels of transparency, including additional reviews of compensation and expense reimbursement, as well as a comprehensive whistleblower policy.
“The board placed too much trust in a single executive without proper oversight, and has already acted to put into place new bylaws, policies and controls that will ensure such activities do not happen again,” Woods said.
The organization is committed to recouping money lost because of the violations, Woods said.
“The Fiesta Bowl is legally bound and highly motivated to recover money that was misappropriated and will be examining all of our options to do so,” Woods said. “The Fiesta Bowl will continue its full cooperation with the Arizona attorney general’s investigation.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page