Dievendorf departs

Equality Michigan once again seeking a leader

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For the fifth time in less than a decade, the statewide gay rights organization Equality Michigan is without an executive director, after last week’s departure of Emily Dievendorf.

Dievendorf had led the agency since the departure of Denise Brogan-Kator in July 2012. Dievendorf has worn many titles, but all were, effectively, executive director of the agency.

Neither Dievendorf nor David Wait, Equality Michigan board chairman, returned calls seeking comment on the departure.

The newspaper Between The Lines has learned that Bill Greene, the former board chairman of the Ruth Ellis Center, a youth services agency serving the Detroit area, will step in as interim executive director. Greene is president of the W.K. Greene and Associates Consulting Co., where he advises businesses and nonprofits. Sources close to the organization said a national search for a new executive director will be conducted, and Greene — unlike previous interim executive directors — will not be a candidate.

Since the 2007 retirement of founding executive director Jeffrey Montgomery — who led Equality Michigan´s predecessor agency, Triangle Foundation — the agency has witnessed a parade of leaders brought in with great fanfare, then let go in short order. In 2010, Michigan Equality and Triangle Foundation merged to form Equality Michigan.

In 2008, board member Kate Runyon moved over to the position of interim executive director of Triangle, while the agency sought a permanent executive director. She left to run Equality Maryland and now lives in Germany.

In 2008, Alicia Skillman was hired by the board and was in charge until her resignation at the end of 2010. Skillman was replaced by board member Brogan- Kator, first as interim executive director, then for 10 months as permanent executive director. Brogan-Kator left in July 2012. Dievendorf was formally appointed to be managing director of the organization in April 2013 and then as executive director beginning in March 2014.

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