Eric Braverman Tried to Change the Clinton Foundation. Then He Quit.

[mountaineer]

Eric Braverman Tried to Change the Clinton Foundation. Then He Quit.
Inside the power struggle at Clinton, Inc.
By KENNETH P. VOGEL
 March 01, 2015
 POLITICO

In December, the board of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation approved a salary of more than $395,000, plus bonus, for its Yale-educated CEO, Eric Braverman, while voting to extend his board term through 2017, according to sources familiar with the arrangement. Braverman, who had worked with Chelsea Clinton at the prestigious McKinsey & Company consultancy, had been brought in with the former first daughter’s support to help impose McKinsey-like management rigor to a foundation that had grown into a $2 billion charitable powerhouse.
 
But in January, only weeks after the board's show of support and just a year and a half after Braverman arrived, he abruptly resigned, and sources tell Politico his exit stemmed partly from a power struggle inside the foundation between and among the coterie of Clinton loyalists who have surrounded the former president for decades and who helped start and run the foundation. Some, including the president’s old Arkansas lawyer Bruce Lindsey, who preceded Braverman as CEO, raised concerns directly to Bill Clinton about the reforms implemented by Braverman, according to sources, and felt themselves marginalized by the growing influence of Chelsea Clinton and the new CEO she had helped recruit.

The previously untold saga of Braverman’s brief, and occasionally fraught tenure trying to navigate the Clintons’ insular world highlights the challenges the family has faced trying to impose rigorous oversight onto a vast global foundation that relies on some of the same loyal megadonors Hillary Clinton will need for the presidential run sources have said she is all but certain to launch later this year.

 Already, a spate of recent news stories in Politico and elsewhere have highlighted questions about the foundation’s aggressive fundraising both before and during Braverman’s tenure, including the news that the foundation had been accepting contributions from foreign governments with lax oversight from the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. The foundation has been Clinton’s main public platform since she left State in February 2013.

The hiring a few months later of Braverman, who had been a partner in McKinsey’s Washington office, was seen as validation of Chelsea Clinton’s view that the foundation needed to address recommendations from a 2011 audit for tighter governance and budgeting, as well as more comprehensive policies to vet donors and avoid conflicts of interest.

When Braverman arrived to replace Lindsey as CEO, he moved quickly to adopt the auditor’s recommendations, and then some. He diversified the foundation’s board beyond the Clintons and their longtime political allies and restructured its finance department. He oversaw the creation of a $250 million endowment and implemented data-driven analytics to measure the effectiveness of foundation programs.

No public explanation was offered for Braverman’s resignation.

But sources say Braverman’s modernization efforts were hampered by the occasionally conflicting visions of the three Clintons, and their rival staff factions. Some told Braverman, “You don’t know how this place works,” while others—including Lindsey—second-guessed Braverman to Bill Clinton, according to sources familiar with the situation. They said a repeated refrain from the old guard was that Braverman was in it for his own glory.

Braverman referred requests for comment to the foundation.

Asked if Braverman was pushed out, foundation officials pointed to an official resignation statement, in which Braverman thanked the foundation and the Clintons praised his leadership in helping “improve our governance structure, increase coordination across the Foundation and build better internal processes.”

The foundation announced that, while it was looking for a permanent successor, longtime Clinton loyalist Maura Pally would serve as acting CEO. Other than a stint at Bloomberg Philanthropies (which has donated more than $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation’s efforts), Pally had spent most of her professional life working for the Clintons, from Bill Clinton’s White House to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and subsequent State Department term. ...

Read the rest at Politico

[mountaineer]

From the article:

...  In many ways, what played out over the past two years at the foundation was the story of Chelsea Clinton’s rise. Her power now at the foundation cannot be overstated, according to sources with knowledge of its workings, who say no major decisions occur without her input. ...

[mountaineer]

As seen in this thread from 2013, hiring Braverman was Chelsea's idea in the first place. Looks like she told him to "resign," too.

[mountaineer]

Well, this certainly is much better.   

Donna Shalala to Lead Clinton Foundation
Former Clinton administration cabinet secretary to take over foundation amid scrutiny of its fundraising

By Peter Nicholas and Beth Reinhard 
Updated March 6, 2015 6:23 p.m. ET
 
 
 
Donna Shalala, a former Clinton administration cabinet secretary, will take over as head of the Clinton Foundation at a moment when the charity’s fundraising practices have created political turbulence for  Hillary Clinton  ’s emerging presidential campaign, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.

Ms. Shalala, 74, had announced in September that she would step down as president of the University of Miami, a position she had held for 14 years. After leaving the university later this year she will move to New York to become chief executive officer of what is now officially called the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, one person familiar with her plans said.

The move means two seasoned veterans of Bill Clinton ’s administration will likely play powerful roles in the family’s future. John Podesta, who served as White House chief of staff in Mr. Clinton’s second term, is expected to become chairman of Hillary Clinton’s likely presidential campaign.

A foundation spokesman declined to comment. An effort to reach Ms. Shalala wasn’t immediately successful.

Ms. Shalala, a friend of Mrs. Clinton, served for eight years as Mr. Clinton’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. She will take over a philanthropy that has provided a platform for the Clintons to pursue interests in disease prevention, empowerment of women and the alleviation of poverty.

During her tenure at Miami, she led two fundraising campaigns that, together, are expected to bring $3 billion to the university.

As Mrs. Clinton girds for a presidential bid, the Clinton Foundation has drawn criticism for its reliance on foreign donations.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the foundation had accepted contributions in 2014 from foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, at a time when Mrs. Clinton was weighing a presidential campaign. The foundation hadn’t accepted contributions from foreign governments, in most cases, in the time that Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, from 2009 until early 2013.

The 2014 donations raised ethical questions in light of Mrs. Clinton’s apparent presidential aspirations. Some Democrats have called on the Clinton Foundation to reimpose its fundraising restrictions.

The foundation has defended its actions, saying it would review its fundraising practices should Mrs. Clinton become a candidate.

A Journal review published last month found that at least 60 companies that had lobbied the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary also donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation. Some 44 of those also participated in Clinton philanthropic projects valued at $3.2 billion.

One person familiar with the matter described Ms. Shalala as a respected figure in political and academic circles who could help curb the “drama” at the foundation. Eric Braverman resigned as chief executive officer of the foundation in January. The foundation named Maura Pally, a Hillary Clinton confidante, as an interim CEO while it looked for someone to fill the job permanently. Ms. Pally had served under Mrs. Clinton in the State Department. ...

Rest of story at WSJ