‘ Spend big,’ ousted charity leader urged
CEO had transformed the Wounded Warrior Project but harmed its reputation.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Steve Nardizzi’s entrepreneurial approach to charity work transformed the Wounded Warrior Project from a shoestring effort to provide underwear and CD players to hospitalized soldiers into an $ 800- million fundraising enterprise. It also led to his downfall. A lawyer by training who never served in the military, Nardizzi arrived at the Wounded Warrior Project in 2006 and convinced the board that it needed a more aggressive leadership style.
By 2010, Nardizzi had replaced founder John Melia as chief executive and catapulted the nonprofit into the top ranks of U. S. charities. His success led to lavish spending — the group’s annual staff meeting in 2014 cost $ 970,000 — prompting complaints from employees, veterans and charity watchdogs about profiteering off veterans that emerged in reports by the New York Times and CBS News in January.
On Thursday, Nardizzi and Chief Operating Officer Al Giordano were f ired, the board said, as the organization cracks down on employee expenses and strengthens controls.
Melia, a former Marine who launched the group in 2003, told the Associated Press on Friday that he had requested a meeting with the board and was open to leading the group again.
Board Chairman Anthony Odierno did not respond Friday to a request for comment. Neither did the f ired executives. In Thursday’s statement, Odierno said, “It is now time to put the organization’s focus directly back on the men and women who have so bravely fought for our country and who need our support.”
The news reports described extravagant parties and last- minute, businessclass air travel; one former employee compared it to “what the military calls fraud, waste and abuse.” The group’s 2014 meeting, at a f ive- star hotel where Nardizzi rappelled from a tower into a crowd of employees, was particularly costly.
Nardizzi defended the spending when he was still leading the charity.
“We need to embrace the notion that has long guided the for- profit world: think big, and often spend big, in order to succeed big,” he wrote Jan. 18 on his Facebook page.
The nonprofit’s Facebook page has been f illing with angry comments from people rethinking whether they should donate again. Wounded Warrior Project said in response that it was proud of its programs and stood behind its fundraising.