Editor-DN
The 52-year-old’s spending habits also worried the company’s former chief financial officer.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis is facing criticism after a shocking announcement. The New York TimesThe report claimed he spent lavishly, including taking a $22,000 first-class ticket to Cannes and remodeling his home office with money from a non-profit LGBTQ advocacy organization.
An investigation into the payments made between January 2022 and June 2023 claims that Alice’s spending habits may have been against the LGBTQ organization as well as Internal Revenue Service regulations. The 52-year-old’s spending habits also worried the company’s former chief financial officer.
According to the NYT, GLAAD’s internal travel guidelines advised staff to be “cost-conscious,” take public transit and book economy flights. However, when reviewing GLAAD expense reports, employment contracts, tax returns, and additional documents, the outlet discovered that the CEO took more than 30 first-class flights over a year and a half (including Delta’s Cannes Lines One-trip $21,743), spent nearly half a million dollars renting a seven-bedroom chalet in Switzerland for a week while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos and using private transportation services. Additionally, her renewal contract included $25,000 for summer rent for a summer home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and $20,000 to remodel her home office with ivory pillows and a chandelier.
A GLAAD representative told the NYT that the renovations made the area “suitable” for virtual events and television appearances. All of these expenses were on top of Ellis’ annual salary, which was reported to be $441,000. However, due to numerous bonuses, his actual compensation may range from $700,000 to $1.3 million. Richard Ferraro, a spokesman for GLAAD, informed the outlet that GLAAD is “eager to retain” as a result of its success and that it would be “virtually impossible” to reach the final amount.
In 2023, GLAAD’s then-chief financial officer, Emily Plauch, warned Liz Jenkins, chairwoman of the company’s board of directors, that money was not being properly disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service. However, the organization amended its travel regulations after a law firm investigated its concerns.
GLAAD supported the spending, and the chair of its board of directors announced that the board “stands firmly behind Ellis”. The renovation of the house was done due to its on-camera exposure and virtual events during the Covid-19 pandemic and was approved by the board of directors, he said. Meanwhile, renting a summer house was a business expense to make meetings with donors.
The spokesperson also highlighted GLAAD’s criticism of the NYT, claiming the newspaper published “inaccurate, biased writing about transgender people” during the year-long campaign. In its report, the NYT accepted this criticism and confirmed the quality of its work.
The chairwoman said she supports Ellis “with respect and admiration for how she and her team are leading the movement at a time when our community is under attack. We have every confidence That they are doing so with integrity and that they share with the board undeniably a commitment to strong governance and business practices.”
Ellis added, “I take my role as GLAAD’s chief financial officer incredibly seriously, and we will continue to update our procedures to keep pace with the organization’s rapid growth. “
