No eulogy for Evans
THE end of Robin Evans' ten years of service as chief executive of Britain's largest waterways authority has passed without the normal fanfare that one would expect, writes Allan Richards.
Having relieved the public of at least £4.5 millions for his services (an average of £450,000 a year), he handed in his notice within a few months of the British Waterways quango becoming Canal & River Trust (CaRT) and quietly left last month. His departure came just 10 months before he was due to retire, age 60.
Other interests
CaRT's only comment on his departure appears to be a press release in January stating that he had resigned two months earlier and would leave in May. He is quoted as saying: 'I want to pursue other interests and opportunities and now the Trust is firmly established I feel it's the right time for me to move on and a perfect time for the Trust to have a new leader.'
However, it seems that the Trust has seen fit to just let him fade into obscurity without comment. The minutes of its Board meeting dated 22nd November 2012 make no mention of his resignation. This is somewhat of a surprise as the resignation of Marisa Cassoni does appear in these minutes.
Marissa Cassoni
The minutes state 'The resignation of Marisa Cassoni as a member of the Board of Trustees for personal reasons to do with her private life was noted. The loss to the Trust of her considerable experience as a financial specialist at board level at the John Lewis Partnership and elsewhere was regrettable but the Board accepted the reasons for her resignation'.
Robin Evans? Not a word!
No comment
Perhaps he resigned after the November Board meeting and we must look to the minutes of January's meeting. The press release was dated the 9th January and the Board meeting took place on the 23rd.
Robin Evans? Again, not a word on his resignation.
It appears that this was no simple oversight either as the following meeting in April (which documented plans to recruit his successor) did not bother to thank him for his 10 years of service or mention his achievements.
Just consider it. The board expresses sadness for the loss of a trustee who resigned almost as soon as she had started, but ignores its chief executive after ten years of service.
No documentation
A Freedom of Information Act request asking for documentation relating to the reasons for Robin Evans leaving his post has received a response that no such documentation exists other than the press release. Can you believe that?
The person that made the request certainly did not. He suspects that at least a letter of resignation exists. CaRT have been asked for an internal review of its response.
Misinformation
So it seems that all the information the public has regarding Robin Evans' sudden resignation is contained in a single press release. It must be said, however, that the public has been misled in one respect of Robin Evans' departure.
The press release ends 'Odgers Berndtson has been selected as the executive search firm to work with the Canal & River Trust to appoint its next chief executive ....Tony Hales has been asked by Trustees to stay on as chairman to help ensure a smooth transition and he has kindly agreed to do so'.
Different reasons
Tony Hales, who had already expressed his intention to step down at the end of March 2013, agreed to stay on earlier and for quite different reasons to those given in the press release. As documented in Board minutes, the Trustees asked Tony Hales to stay on in September two months before Robin Evans resigned!
The reason given was because the delayed launch of the Trust made it difficult to appoint Tony Hales' successor by that date. Absolutely nothing to do with Robin Evans resignation.
Spin
Quite why the Trustees allow this sort of deliberate and blatant misinformation to take place without comment is a mystery. But then having no Board eulogy for Evans is something of a mystery in itself.
Perhaps they are just glad that he has gone!