Mikael Strandberg Gives Explorers Club President A Show of Support

Prior to taking a holiday-hiatus, I had written several times about an ongoing conflict that was brewing inside the Explorers Club. The gist of the story, which you can read about here, here, and here, was that some members of the club, particularly those on the prestigious Flag and Honors Committee, were dissatisfied with the leadership of the organization, with EC President Lorie Karnath receiving the brunt of the criticism. I won't rehash the entire story again, but would urge you to check out the links above to get the full background.

Today, EC club member Mikael Strandberg, who I coincidently wrote about yesterday, has written a message of support for the club, and President Karnath, on his blog. In an effort to offer a fair look at  both sides of the controversy, and because I respect Mikael greatly, I wanted to share a link to what he wrote and some of his thoughts on the current leadership at the EC.

In the post, Strandberg talks about his first impressions of the Explorers Club (they weren't good), and how those impressions changed after he became a member. He also talks about Karnath getting elected as President and all of the positive things she has done for the EC since she took over. He feels that Lorie has helped raise the level of awareness of the club internationally and has gone to great efforts to improve the financial status of the organization as well. Mikael goes on to share an internal e-mail from Barry Moss that went out to members of the British Chapter of the EC. That note gives a different perspective on some of the happenings inside the club and accuses Karnath's critics of trying to keep the club "more insular, conservative and New York centric."  He also says that they are undermining the club's integrity and hurting its reputation as a whole.

If you've been following this ongoing saga, which has been picked-up and documented by several other media outlets, you'll want to read Mikael's post as well, as it does provide a different perspective on some of the things that we've already heard.

Explorers Club Follow-Up: Clarification On Yesterday's Story

Yesterday I posted another story in the ongoing saga of the internal disputes that are taking place inside the Explorers Club, the 108 year old institution that has been at the forefront of exploration and adventure since its founding. In the story I quoted a New York Post article which stated that EC member Josh Bernstein, who also happens to be on the Club's Board of Directors,  was "censured and fined" because he accepted tickets to the Club's annual Patron's Dinner from the event's sponsor, Rolex. Turns out that isn't altogether accurate, and as with all things in this story, there is more to tell. 

Last night I heard from yet another source that Josh did indeed buy his own tickets to the event, but was invited to sit at the Eddie Bauer sponsored table, and not Rolex as the Post story indicated. As you would expect from a sponsor table, it was located closer to the stage, giving it a more prominent position at the event. That also means that tickets for that particular table actually cost more than a standard member ticket, which is what Josh purchased. It turns out Bernstein was disciplined not for receiving a free ticket to the event from a sponsor, but for the difference in price between the ticket that he purchased and the cost of one for the table where he actually sat. And remember, this so called inappropriate gift came about because Eddie Bauer execs in attendance at the event actually asked him to sit at their table in the first place. 

Of course, a lot of clubs and organizations have rules about what members and directors can accept in terms of gifts and comps, and they are usually spelled out pretty clearly in the bylaws. For obvious reasons, you don't want officers and board members having inappropriate relationships with donors/sponsors. But I'm told that in this case, it was not at all unusual for members and directors to sit at sponsor tables at events in the past, and no one thought twice about it. It wasn't until President Lorie Karnath called out Bernstein for accepting the invitation that this suddenly became an issue.

So why was Josh Bernstein singled out in this case? Should he have been called on the carpet for not having paid full price to sit at the Eddie Bauer table, particularly when they asked him to be there? Or is there some truth to the stories that Karnath made the move to fine and censure him in an effort to prevent his re-election to the Club's Board of Directors in 2012. That's exactly what member Ken Kamler told the Post yesterday in their story. 

Either way, I wanted to clarify the situation, as it varies slightly from what the Post reported, and I repeated yesterday. When these details ware conveyed to me, I thought it was important to pass them along.

Explorers Club Infighting Hits New York Post

One of the stories I've been following over the past few weeks has been reports of serious infighting going on at the Explorers Club, an organization that has been around for more than a hundred years and has counted such notable explorers as Neil Armstrong and Sir Edmund Hillary amongst its ranks. Today, a story appeared in the New York Post that gives us a further glimpse at what is going on behind closed doors at the venerable institution.

You can read the Post article by clicking here, but in a nutshell it shares some details of a completely different internal struggle from the one that I've been writing about. It seems that club leadership (read President Lorie Karnath) saw fit to bring disciplinary actions against one of its board of directors for accepting free tickets to the club's annual spring dinner. The tickets were provided by the sponsor of the event, Rolex, and were given to Explorers Club member Josh Bernstein, who the Post says was "censured and fined" over the incident.

I'm sure more than a few of you have seen Josh on his popular television shows Digging for the Truth and Into the Unknown. Bernstein, who has always been an explorer first and a television personality second in my mind, didn't offer comment on the affair, but his lawyer says that it has "resulted in unwarranted criticism of his character and integrity" inside the organization.

EC member Ken Kamler, who is also a club director, is actually much more candid in his assessment of the situation however, saying that the disciplinary action was taken as more of a vindictive move by Karnath over Bernstein. Kamler says that Josh is a potential candidate to be a future president of the Explorers Club, and is a direct threat to Karnath, who is up for re-election in 2012. Berstein's position on the board is also subject to re-election next year too, and the censure and fining could be used as a way to cast him in a bad light, with club elections just around the corner. Kamler concludes his statements by saying that under Karnath, the EC has become a "rich person's travel club," as the current president seems more interested in "rubbing shoulders with explorers while promoting cronies."

That last statement plays more into the controversy that I had been writing about recently. (You can read my previous reports here, here, and here.) As you may recall, my coverage of what was happening at the club started a few weeks back when I received word that 10 of the 12 members of the prestigious Flag and Honors Committee resigned when their selection process for awards and medals was openly questioned by nominees who had no business even knowing they were nominated, let alone the process that took place to select the eventual winners. My sources tell me that some of those nominees were put forward by the President, or her closest advisors, and that they were not happy when the Committee decided to select other winners.

As a result, the entire process was called into question at a board meeting in St. Louis, resulting in attacks on the integrity of the Flag and Honors Committee itself. I'm told it was quite a heated discussion, that went on for some time, and afterwards 10 of the 12 members of the Committee sent a letter to the Board asking for an investigation into the breach in confidentiality over their final nominations, and an over all look at how the awards were being given. The implication was that some of the EC leadership were using the awards for political gain or to reward friends, some of which had done little to earn such an honor. The letter asked for the investigation to be completed ahead of the next board meeting on January 27th, and that if such an investigation didn't take place, the 10 members would resign from the F&H committee. Rather than wait for the board to respond however, Karnath chose to accept the resignations immediately. By the way, the only two members of the Committee to not sign the letter to the Board were Karnath and her husband.

These two stories, the move against Josh Bernstein and the actions with the Flag and Honors Committee illustrate what some are saying are moves by the President, and her closest confidants, to consolidate power at the Explorers Club to ensure that Karnath stays at the helm of the organization for years to come. In her defense, she did guide the organization through a very tough economic phase and she found ways to keep the organization from hemorrhaging money. She has been credited with "bringing the EC into the 21st century" in a number of ways. But these current inside stories seem to hint that there is a high level of nepotism going on as well, which flies in the face of the values on which the Club was founded.

I'll finish this post with a direct quote from the article by the Post.

Fellow director Jim Clash added,“What is happening there now is truly insane. Sir Edmund Hillary, our late honorary president, is probably rolling over in his grave.”

Explorers Club Follow-Up: Flag and Honors Committee Members

Last week I posted a couple of stories about some strange rumblings coming out of the Explorers Club and an internal dispute that resulted in ten members of the prestigious Flag and Honors Committee either resigning or being dismissed, depending on which side of the story you believe. You can read both of my posts here and here.

So who were these rebel committee members that resulted in the first mass resignation in the history of the century-old organization? Are they some wild band of misfits? On the contrary, the group consists of numerous Explorers Club award winners, past presidents, and board members. Between them, they have over 200 years of membership in the club, in some cases dating back decades. The list includes:

John Bruno (President Emeritus)
Leroy Chiao (Astronaut)
David Concannon (Expedition Diver)
Constance Difede (Vice President of the Committee)
Lindy Elkins-Tanton (Research Scientist)
Max Gallimore (Explorer/World Traveler)
Ken Kamler (Expedition Doctor)
Mike Manyak (Expedition Doctor)
Lee Talbot (Environmental Specialist/Geologist)
Don Walsh (Oceanographer)

While some of those may not all be household names, these are men and women who are highly esteemed in their fields. Additionally, the serving on the Flag and Honors Committee is an honor within the EC as well.

At issue here isn't the fact that these committee members were let go, but that it happened as part of a larger dispute in which these ten people were asking for the Board of Directors to review the processes for which Explorers Club awards and medals are given out. The implication is that those awards are being used for political gain within the organization, and were not necessarily being awarded to people who had earned them by doing scientific research or ground breaking exploration. For an organization as highly regarded as the EC, this is a very serious issue to say the least.

Of the 12 members who sit on the Flag and Honors Committee, only the Explorers Club President and her husband, declined to offer their resignation over this still developing situation.

Explorers Club Follow-Up: More Details Emerge

After posting my previous story last night on the unusual happenings at the Explorers Club, I've now had a second source come forward to fill in more of the details and I've also spoken with an official from the Club itself. This is definitely an evolving story right now, with two very different perspectives of this situation. I'll try to best relate the details as they have been conveyed to me from both sides.

First, I'll tell you what I heard back from the Club itself after I placed a phone call yesterday looking for comment. This morning, I received a call back from Explorers Club Executive Director Matt Williams, who understandably couldn't share a lot of details. He did say that the dispute came about when the Club's Board of Directors requested specific information from the Flag and Honors Committee and that the committee refused to provide that information. When the Board pressed them for the requested documents, 10 of the 12 committee members threatened to resign, and when that happened, President Lorie Karnath chose to accept their resignations immediately.

Matt didn't share exactly what information the Board was requesting, nor is the reasoning behind why the committee would refuse to provide it, simply stating that it wasn't something for public knowledge. Williams also noted that this dispute is an internal one, and that the Club wished to resolve it privately and with respect to the history and stature of the organization.

Some of what the Executive Director told me runs a bit counter to what I'm hearing from my second source however. I've been told that the dispute began prior to an October Board meeting that was held in St. Louis, when a list of nominees for the Club's prestigious awards was leaked to several of the people who had been nominated. Some of those nominees had been backed by Club Directors, and when the Flag and Honors Committee held their confidential vote, those nominees were ultimately left off the short list of final candidates. I'm told that this didn't sit well with the Directors who nominated them and caused quite a stir at the Board meeting. The integrity of the F&H Committee was called into question, as were their policies and procedures they employed. Some even suggested that the final list of candidates for the awards be thrown out altogether.

As a result of these proceedings, 10 of the 12 F&H Committee members drafted a letter to the Board asking them to investigate the breach in confidentiality in the Committee's process for selecting award winners and the use of the awards for political gain. Those members said that if such an investigation didn't take place prior to a Board meeting scheduled for January 27, 2012 in San Francisco, that they would resign their positions.

This letter in question was sent to the Board approximately ten days ago and echos some of the same concerns that were part of a separate report from the Club's Ombudsman that was the result of an independent  assessment of how the Club operates. The two documents were on the agenda for a special Board meeting that was held on Monday of this week, but despite their urgent nature, and the possibility of high ranking club members resigning, I'm told that neither of them were discussed.

On Wednesday, the President notified the 10 members of the F&H Committee that she was accepting their resignations immediately and without any discussion with the Board on the matter. They were, in effect, let go from their positions on the Committee, without receiving a proper response to the letter that expressed their concerns over how the Club is being run.

According to one of my sources, this is the first time in the Club's 107 year history that there have been mass resignations from any committee. It is also unclear whether or not the President acted within her purview in accepting the resignations, as all committee members and chairs are approved by the Board of Directors.

In regards to the story that the Committee members were let go because they refused to provide information requested by the Board, my sources say that this is untrue. I'm told that the Board didn't request anything from them, although the President and two Directors did ask to see documentation showing deliberations by the F&H committee on the nominees who failed to win the awards. This came after the Board of Directors accepted the Committee's nominations. Apparently, members of the Committee didn't feel comfortable handing those documents over to anyone other than the Board, citing prior issues with keeping the information confidential.

The Explorers Club is an organization with a long and storied history, and for more than a century its members have been some of the biggest names in exploration and adventure. It is clear that there is an internal dispute going on right now over how the organization is being run and where it is headed in the future. While the story clearly has two sides, I can tell you that the two sources that I have spoken to on this topic have a deep respect and admiration for the Club and its members, both past and present, and they fear a tainting of the organization's reputation due to the use of some of the Club's institutions for political gain.

How will all of this play out? For now, we'll have to wait and see. The details to the story are still emerging at this time.

Are Things Amiss At The Explorers Club?

I received an interesting tip today of big things brewing at The Explorers Club, the venerable institution that has played a vital role in promoting the exploration of our planet. It seems that over the past day or so, 10 of the 12 members of the organization's Flag and Honors Committee have resigned over disagreements within the Club. I'm told that members of that committee sent a letter to The Explorers Club Board of Directors expressing concerns about the direction the Officers and Directors were taking the organization. The letter reportedly requested the Board take action to address their concerns by their next meeting, scheduled for January 27, 2012, or the committee would resign. Rather than address those concerns however, President Lorie Karnath elected to accept their resignations effective immediately.

Since its founding in 1904, the Explorers Club has remained at the forefront of the research and exploration of our planet. The organization now boasts more than 30 chapters around the world and its grant programs remain instrumental in helping scientists, explorers, and adventurers achieve their goals. Over the years, the Club has had a number of famous and distinguished members, including Sir Edmund Hillary, Roald Amundsen, Robert Peary, and Neil Armstrong.

Exactly what is at the heart of this internal dispute isn't exactly clear, but I can tell you that the members of the Flag and Honors Committee are certainly not rank and file members. I'm told that their ranks include several Sweeney Medalists, winners of the Citation of Merit, a senior Past President, nine former Board Members, and the current Honorary President. Collectively, these committee members have more than 200 years of club membership amongst them.

For these members to take a stand of this nature, there must be some serious issues that need to be resolved. Earlier today, I called the Explorers Club in New York to give them an opportunity to make an official statement on the situation, but those calls, as of now, remain unreturned. I guess we'll have to wait to see how this plays out, but it seems that things are definitely amiss at the Explorers Club.

Explorers Club Now Accepting Student Grant Applications

The Explorers Club is now accepting student grant applications for 2012. The program gives students, high school through grad school, who will be conducting individual scientific or exploration research projects the opportunity to receive funding to support their work.

The awards programs fall into two categories, Youth Activity Fund and Exploration Fund. The former is designed for high school and undergrad students, while the latter is for graduate, post-graduate, doctorate and early career post-doctoral students. The amount of the award generally falls between $500-$1500, but can go as high as $5000 in rare circumstances.

For more information on the grants and the process for applying click here. You'll also find the application form and lists of past winners on the same page.

The deadline for submitting your application is November 15. Grant winners will be announced in April.

Inside The Explorers Club

The Explorers Club is an organization dedicated to adventurers and explorers from around the globe. Today, the Huffington Post gives us an inside look at the club in both this article and the video posted below. The EC is usually closed to non-members –and membership is exclusive– so this may be your one and only chance to see what the place is like. I know I'm still waiting on my invite to visit!

The Explorers Club and Eddie Bauer Offer Expedition Grants

The Explorers Club and Eddie Bauer are joining forces to offer adventurers an opportunity to get their expeditions funded. Applications are now being accepted for two Explorers Club-Eddie Bauer Grants, each of which offer $25,000 to worth recipients.

The first grant is the The Explorers Club - Eddie Bauer Youth Grant, which will be given to one or more eligible applicants (valid student I.D. required) for work in climate change, preservation and sustainability, consistent with the mission of The Explorers Club. Applicants must display a history of field research or academic study in one of these areas, although they do not need to have an advance degree. The $25,000 award could be divided amongst up to three projects if the grant board finds them worthy.

The second grant is The Explorers Club - Eddie Bauer Grant for Expeditions, which is to be used to fund one or more eligible expeditions relating to climate change, preservation and sustainability, consistent with the mission of The Explorers Club. The goal of this grant is to "support field research activities around the world in keeping with the mission of The Explorers Club and the untamable spirit of adventure, core to the Eddie Bauer brand." This one is more open in terms of who can apply, although the focus should be on environmental research or sustainability in some way.

You can find out more about these grants, and how to apply, by clicking here. Winners will be notified by November 30th of this year and will receive their awards at the Explorers Club annual dinner to be held in March of 2012.

Nat Geo Interviews Explorers Club President Lorie Karnath

This Saturday is the annual Explorers Club Dinner in New York City, which is expected to be attended by hundreds of explorers, adventurers, and scientists who are on the cutting edge of exploration around the globe. Before that event takes place however, National Geographic Adventure had a chance to interview EC President Lorie Karnath, and posted the Q&A on their blog.

In the interview, Karnath briefly talks about  the role explorers play in world events such as the unfolding disaster in Japan, before moving on to the theme of this year's club dinner. That theme is "Maya Prophecy" which extends well beyond the dire predications for 2012. The interview moves on to discuss modern day exploration and how important it is for us in the 21st century. That's just the tip of the iceberg, as Lorie talks about a host of other great topics as well, including her next expedition to a remote part of China.

I've read several interviews with Karnath, and she never fails to impress. She is smart, well read, and very informed of what is going on in the world of exploration and adventure. This particular interview serves as a bit of a "State of Exploration" address, and is definitely worth the read.