Report assesses Boathouse District challenges

A report on the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation’s management shortcomings concludes former businessman and philanthropist Aubrey McClendon gave the foundation its ability to dream big but, overly reliant on his generosity, the organization failed to develop the tools needed to sustain itself.

The result was an agreement earlier this year for a $2 million cash infusion from the city of Oklahoma City to help the foundation regain its footing.

The foundation oversees the Boathouse District, an Olympic training site for water sports. It is the city’s operating partner for the MAPS 3 whitewater rafting and kayaking park.

The city council on Tuesday will consider $7.9 million for the whitewater park to help the foundation save money on utilities, broaden the park’s appeal and bring in more revenue.

In its report, the Mettise Group said it was common among those who were interviewed to hear that Boathouse Foundation Executive Director Mike Knopp “came up with the ideas and Aubrey made them happen.”

Interviewers were told, “We had the opportunity to soar and go big. Aubrey was the back stop. Aubrey covered if there were losses.”

“The downside of this kind of governance,” the report says, “is that the organization’s programs and management systems are seen as not having been tested and honed through the natural maturation of an organization responding and accountable to strong governance and market conditions.”

The deal approved by the city council for the $2 million required the foundation to follow recommendations in the report, including restructuring its board, adding experienced executive leadership and developing a strategic plan.

McClendon was co-founder of Chesapeake Energy Corp. and partowner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team. He was killed in a traffic wreck on March 2, 2016, a day after being indicted on federal

charges of conspiring to rig bids for Oklahoma oil and natural gas leases. He was 56.

“Nobody I’ve ever met has been as passionate about Oklahoma City,” Knopp said Monday.

He said McClendon helped set the pace as the Boathouse District grew, with more than $100 million in investments in its first 15 years.

A recent study found the district’s direct economic impact is $23 million annually.

With McClendon, Knopp said, it was “onward and upward and what’s next.”

There was a lot of strategic planning in those early years, he said. “Even before the opening of the Chesapeake Boathouse in 2006 we were talking about whitewater.”

The $46.2 million whitewater park later was included among the projects promised to voters who approved MAPS 3 in 2009.

“It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Knopp said. “The first 15 years was like a rocket.”

Knopp said the Boathouse Foundation’s restructured board embraced the recommendations in the report from the Mettise Group, of Oklahoma City.

The report recommended the board restructuring, hiring a chief operating officer, strengthening financial management and budgeting, and developing a strategic plan.

“A simple, actionable strategic plan is a management tool that serves the purpose of focusing the energy, resources and time of everyone in the organization in the same direction,” it says.

The foundation’s board has undergone the restructuring and streamlining and is now chaired by energy executive Ronnie Irani.

The strategic plan, a requirement of the deal for the city’s $2 million, has been presented to the new board.