CEO quits: But what of the board?

News emerged today that Peter Campbell, CEO of Brackenridge, an intellectual disability facility, has resigned after five months of investigations and media scrutiny. Tragically, three residents died at the facility last year. There have been a series of complaints relating to safety as well.

Clearly, there have been operational problems at Brackenridge—the review concluded that management had been distant and unresponsive. Notwithstanding this, I suspect there has been a failure of governance as well. Some important questions that need to be asked are:

• What has the board been doing in the period leading to the review and since?
• Did the board know about the "series of complaints" that precipitated the review? If so, why did it not investigate and act? And if not, why not?
• Why has the chair chosen to defend the CEO, when clearly something was amiss?
  

Superficially, the board appears to have been quite passive, to the extent it may have failed to discharge its legal and moral duties effectively. Notwithstanding the remedial plan now in place, the performance of the board needs to be reviewed. Weaknesses need to be identified and changes made, to improve the process of governance and quality of oversight at Brackenridge. The residents and their families deserve as much.