Jon Tarkington


July12th, 2007

Attn: All Members of the American Cycling Association

RE: Resignation from ACA Executive Committee

Members of the ACA,

As many of you know the driving force behind the ACA’s development programs is the Executive Director, Beth Wrenn-Estes. Through the years she has done a tremendous job building the ACA into what it is today. There are over 3000 individual members and many development programs aimed at continuing this growth. Unfortunately, the Association has now outgrown the capabilities of the current Executive Director. Seeing as Mrs. Wrenn-Estes is no longer the correct person to serve as the Association’s day-to-day leader, perhaps she could fill a new position fit to her specialties, such as grassroots development program coordinator.

Over the past month the ACA lost a longtime supporter and official, Andy Rosen. Because of this incident a large number officials decided to no longer work races with or for Beth Wrenn-Estes. Two members of the Executive Committee have also resigned in the past weeks.

As a member of the Executive Committee for the past 3 years I have developed a deeply rooted passion for the continued success of the ACA. This year nearly the entire Executive Committee clearly shared that passion. The only obstacle prohibiting that passion for success from being put into action was the Executive Director. Meetings have had a feeling of hostility and fear of heavy-handed anger from our primary staff person. Many, if not most, ideas are swiftly and firmly put down if they are not in line with her personal views of the association. This type of aggressive behavior clearly contributed to Mr. Rosen’s resignation as well as many official’s unwillingness to work with Mrs. Wrenn-Estes.

The behavior of the Executive Director has made it difficult for the Executive Committee to achieve their goal of ensuring the ACA continues to prosper well into the future. The Committee has a fiduciary duty to the members to ensure financial prosperity. This is complicated, if not impossible, to do with Executive Director also acting as Treasurer. Many non-profit organizations would consider this dual role to be completely un-ethical. Again, any questioning of this conflict of interest results in great anger and accusations of mistrust by the Executive Committee. Accusations of mistrust by Mrs. Wrenn-Estes have usually been accompanied by threats of resignation (refer to e-mail attached below). This is clearly not the leadership needed for a burgeoning organization.

It is with great regret that I must resign from the Executive Committee, effective immediately. I cannot proceed on the committee without being able to function to the best of my abilities, something that is clearly not possible with the current Executive Director. I feel that such a drastic measure is in order to alert you, the membership, to the current situation. It is only a matter of time before more committee members depart and the ACA suffers irreconcilable damages. It is my sincere hope that you will care enough about the racing you enjoy to encourage the remaining Committee members and your club representatives to intervene in order to rectify this downward spiral.

Respectfully Yours,

Jon Tarkington