Over the past several years, the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce has grown from a grassroots startup to one of the largest organizations of its kind in the US, serving more than 400 Bay State businesses and with over 70 corporate partners, according to its current leadership. But as the organization grew under its former executive director, Grace Moreno, problems emerged from the top concerning financial record-keeping, filing errors, a lack of transparency and an increasingly unpleasant workplace culture. And so earlier this year, “a decision was made [by the board of directors] that the Chamber was entering a new phase in its growth and required new leadership,” says Jon Firger, the consultant hired to oversee the transition.
Moreno started with the organization as a volunteer in 2018, raising considerable funds and bringing in government and business connections from her previous work. She took on the paid role as the Chamber’s first executive director in 2019. Now she, too, says she believes it is time for a new leader to take over. “My greatest strength is in launching startups — whether it’s an organization, a program or a project,” she says. “I believe that founding executive directors often have a unique skillset for starting something new, but there comes a time to step back and allow others to contribute to the next phase of the organization. The board felt it was time for that transition. I agreed, and we parted on good terms. This next phase is going to be equally exciting,” she adds.
“Grace is a talented startup leader and brought many years of experience to the role. As we said at the time of Grace’s announcement of leaving the Chamber, our board is grateful for Grace’s vision and relentless passion for this work,” says Benjamin Perkins, the Chamber’s current board chair. “The Chamber has become a force in driving policy decisions, helping hundreds of LGBTQ businesses thrive, and creating a more just economy in our Commonwealth.”
Adds Perkins, the Chamber has under Moreno’s leadership secured significant corporate partners, convinced the city and state to add LGBTQ designations to their supplier diversity requirements, opened an office in Western Massachusetts, hosted 12 job fairs for the LGBT community, launched successful educational programs and helped businesses navigate challenges during the pandemic.
But for all its success, by early 2024, the Chamber was experiencing some serious growing pains, Perkins acknowledged, and the problems had to be addressed.
The problems
While the top brass sings Moreno’s praises, there are still lingering questions among former employees complaining about Moreno’s lack of transparency and inclusion in key Chamber decisions. One former employee, Mads Glasco, posted on social media in March a screenshot of a job posting for a couple of Chamber positions and included a warning to potential applicants. Glasco, who did not return repeated calls for comment, wrote that she was “severely bullied” by the organization’s director, whom she claims called the organization “her Chamber” and “said she would fire me if my partner and I adopted a puppy.”
Moreno says she is not at liberty to discuss past employees, but that she does not recall ever referring to the Chamber as “my Chamber” and that she “definitely never, ever threatened to fire an employee” if they adopted a puppy. She likens her employees to “family,” and says, “I genuinely cared, and still care, about every person I worked with — both the staff and board. The team we assembled was truly a dream team.”
That said, after more complaints were voiced by other employees this past spring, Chamber spokesperson Matt Wilder confirms that the Chamber’s board commissioned an assessment of operational as well as financial processes. “The assessors made suggestions to improve processes, and the board and staff are working to implement many of those suggestions as the Chamber seeks to grow and scale its work,” he says, adding that “the assessment itself contains confidential information relevant to current Chamber employees, and therefore is not able to be released.”
Firger says that the assessors found no evidence of financial wrongdoing and that questions raised about any financial wrongdoings by at least one former employee — who refused to further comment — did not factor into Moreno’s departure. “Any questions of financial mismanagement were reviewed, and nothing was found,” Firger claims.
When pressed for more information about the “assessment,” Wilder says it “focused on improving processes consistent with an organization that is maturing out of the startup mode. It reflects much of what [Firger] mentioned to you that he and the organization have been focused on these past few months.”
Wilder refused to disclose the name of the firm or how much it was paid. However, Boston Spirit has learned that the company hired by the board is Verdolino & Lowey, P.C., a Foxboro-based accounting firm — the same firm they hired to submit its 990 tax exempt forms to the Internal Revenue Services for at least the past three years.
In addition to hiring an accounting company, the board, also in the spring, hired a lawyer to speak with each of the Chamber’s employees. Conducting the interviews was Katherine Perrelli, a partner with Seyfarth Shaw LLP who, according to the company’s website, is “a nationally recognized authority in trade secret and unfair compensation law.” Perrelli did not return phone calls from Boston Spirit.
These reviews came on the heels of employees sending to a board member a letter on Jan. 25, 2023, that criticized Moreno. The employees, who requested anonymity in the letter for what they claimed was a “very strong concern about retaliation,” listed a variety of concerns. They accused Moreno of, among other things, excessive spending of Chamber funds, not treating employees fairly when it came to benefits such as health insurance, and a lack of communication with employees.
While Firger claims that no financial wrongdoings were found, that’s not to say that mistakes weren’t made under Moreno’s watch, Perkins says.
For example, in the organization’s 990 filings (financial forms required by the Internal Revenue Service for nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations) for 2022, in a section asking if the organization was “party to a business transaction with one of the following parties,” a list that included a family member of “a current or former officer, director, trustee, key employee, creator or founder, or substantial contributor,” the “no” box was incorrectly checked, since Moreno’s spouse, Nerissa Fry, was paid by the Chamber. According to Firger, Fry’s company, Lightness, was paid $8,000 a month from January 1, 2022, through April 30, 2024, with the scope of work “focused on graphic design for all program materials, events, monthly newsletters and website updates.”
Firger says that prior to her paid role, Fry provided pro-bono services to the Chamber. Moreno confirms that her wife provided services for the Chamber free-of-charge from its inception until 2022 when she was hired as a paid consultant.
Other filing inaccuracies included information that for the years 2019–2022, the person who, according to the 990 questionnaire “possesse[d] the organization’s books and records,” was Kimberly Simonsen. However, when contacted by Boston Spirit magazine, Simonsen said she worked there only part time in 2019, and not for the additional years in the 990 filings. She also says she worked in operations and didn’t do anything with finances. “I was hired to work part time but was given more and more hours,” Simonsen says. “I had other commitments in my life, so I left.” She said she was only paid for the time she actually worked there, and not for the years the filings included her name in the documents.
Perkins, who became chairman of the board in December 2023, admits that mistakes were made on the tax forms prepared by Verdolino & Lowey, P.C., which Moreno was responsible for reviewing. “A few clerical errors were made in the 990[s] and are being corrected in a refiling,” he says.
Moreno says she isn’t surprised [by mistakes], but that there was never any intent on her part to file incorrect information. “We had an accounting firm handle our 990s and all tax forms. While I reviewed the numbers, I didn’t go through every line of the 70-plus-page report. I shared the documents with the board of directors, who also reviewed them,” she says. (The 990 for the 2020 tax filing states that “each member of the board of directors [is] provided with a copy of the form 990 prior to filing with sufficient time to provide comments, if any.” No comments noting mistakes appear on the filed report.)
“Leading a critical cause during the pandemic came with immense pressure to accomplish a great deal in a short time,” Moreno says. “I had to move quickly and piece many things together, which led to some things falling through the cracks.”
She adds: “I wish I had taken more time and moved a little slower, not just for the sake of paperwork accuracy, but also to ensure that people knew that everyone’s thoughts and contributions were valued, because they deeply were.”
Firger says he now is focusing on improving financial accounting and human resource initiatives, in addition to making software enhancements.
“We are building the capacity of the financial processes — the software and the efficiency of both billing and payment of bills,” he explains. “We are also building the capacity of HR processes by putting in stronger systems to track our activity, manage employee benefits and performance reviews, [and] we are integrating the software platforms to improve our ability and efficiency to collect and track performance data for everything we do.”
More salary questions
Prior to her role at the Chamber, Moreno, now 54, worked in leadership roles at state and national nonprofit organizations. Her salary when she left the Chamber was $299,999.80, according to Firger, who says the organization’s annual operating budget is $2 million. Moreno’s nearly $300,000 salary at the time of her departure in 2023 was more than $70,000 higher than her $229,519 salary listed in the Chamber’s 2022 tax filing. In the 2021 filing, her salary was listed as $195,000 and in 2020 it was $177,884.
When asked to speak with Perkins about Moreno’s salary, Wilder says that he “is not available for an interview on that and can’t comment on board deliberations.” However,” he adds, “I can share that the executive director’s salary was decided after a robust compensation review [by the board].”
Firger has also received a hefty salary. The Chamber is paying Executive Solutions $25,000 a month for his services. The average salary for an interim executive director for a not-for-profit in Massachusetts is $189,253 a year, or $15,772 a month, according to salary.com. On glassdoor.com, the average annual compensation for the same position in the same field in Boston was listed as $190,135, or $15,845 per month.
When asked why the Newton firm was being paid significantly more than the state average for Firger’s services, Wilder says that “engaging with IES allows the Chamber to be matched with an experienced interim executive director who brings a vast set of talents to the table.” He says the company “provides a great service to nonprofits like the Chamber who need the expertise of talented interim executive directors on a short-term basis, often on short notice.”
Firger, who has spent 25 years as a chief executive — first at Jewish Family Services of the North Shore in Salem and then at Family Access in Newton — is a consultant with the Newton-based Interim Executive Solutions, which the Chamber’s board of directors hired to facility the transition.
Heading into 2025
Firger says the board has been screening applicants for the permanent executive director position with the plan to hire someone in the fall. Says Perkins, the Chamber’s board was looking for a dynamic leader who could move the Chamber to the next phase. “Ideally,” he adds, this would be, “someone who has led a similar organization in the past and has a vision for how and where the Chamber can have the most impact.”
(Just as this issue went to press, the Chamber announced the appointment of a new executive director, Alexandria Eberhardt, who’s first day on the job was October 15. Eberhardt had most recently served as president and CEO of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, working across 14 communities.)
As for Moreno, she says she is currently consulting and “looking for the next startup opportunity.” And while she admits that things weren’t always easy, she says she believes in the work the Chamber did under her direction and will continue to do with new leadership.
“When a group of people with shared challenges come together with focus and passion, putting in the time for the right reasons, you can accomplish amazing things. When you mix love, identity, and your best self, the results are powerful,” she says. “I stayed on for two months behind the scenes and still talk to Jon [Firger] occasionally. Whenever I find a resource, I send it to him. I’m still helping, just now as a member of the community.”
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