Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America - Leda

“The treasurer of leda, enrique foster gittes, is married to a board member of leda, lois severini. John roberts and arun alagappan have a business relationship. Enrique foster gittes and warren haber have a business relationship. Arun alagappan and bert rosenblatt have a business relationship.”

“In september 2016, the board of directors approved changes to the organization's bylaws, to clarify the responsibilities of the treasurer for annual financial reporting, and to clarify the approval process for the executive director's compensation.”

“Form 990 is reviewed by the senior director of finance and operations, and the executive director, and is then provided to leda's board of trustees prior to filing.”

“Leda has set in place effective mechanisms that allow staff to communicate information to management and management to commmunicate orginizational policies. These mechanisms include: regular staff meetings, regular meetings between staff and immediate supervisors, and annual employee performance evaluations. Each leda employee receives a personnel manual when they begin employment. The manual emphasizes leda's core values (excellence, integrity, compassion, community) and outlines the organization's expectations for conduct. Leda's board of directors, executives, and senior staff are required to sign the organization's conflict of interest policy annually, and are expected to disclose any conflicts as they may arise. The executive director also monitors proposed or ongoing transactions of the organization for conflicts or potential conflicts. Senior staff would disclose any relevant transactions to the executive director. The executive director and board members would disclose any relevant transactions to the chair of the board or the chair of the governance committee. When a conflict involves a decision-maker, the person with the conflict ("interested party") must fully disclose the conflict to all other decision-makers, and may not be involved in the decision of what action to take, but may serve as a resource to provide other decision-makers with needed information. In cases in which the conflict was referred to the full governance committee, the fact that a conflict was referred and managed, as well as the outcome, must be reported, where applicable, to other appropriate committee(s) of the board. The chair of the board, working with the committee(s), if applicable, must report the fact that the conflict was managed to the full board and the report must be recorded in the minutes of a board meeting.”

“The leda board annually reviews the executive director's compensation by the following process: the compensation committee researches salary data in relation to non-profit organizations of comparable scope and size. In a meeting of the full board, in the absence of the executive director, a vote is taken regarding the executive director's compensation for the upcoming year. The board keeps notes of the meetings, documenting the basis for its determination of the executive director's compensation.”

“Leadership enterprise for a diverse america makes its conflict of interest policy available on its website and its governing documents and financial statements available upon request to the public.”

“Leadership enterprise for a diverse america (leda) is a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to identifying and developing the academic and leadership potential of exceptional public high school students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. These students are currently underrepresented in our nation's top colleges, universities, and ultimately, leadership sectors. Leda believes that highly competitive colleges and universities are a nexus for the development of leadership. These institutions require an infusion of diversity to improve the mix of ideas and information impacting leaders of public and private organizations across the nation. By helping socioeconomically disadvantaged students gain admission to and succeed at selective academic institutions, leda seeks to equalize educational opportunity. Leda recognizes that we are better off as a nation and as a people if we offer equal opportunities to all, regardless of socioeconomic status, by drawing upon the leadership potential of all our most talented citizens.”