Four more CapRadio board members, all connected to Sac State, quit. Only six remain

Four Sacramento State employees who sit on Capital Public Radio’s board of directors have resigned less than one week after more than half of the board left in the wake of an audit detailing dire financial problems besieging the institution.

Only six of 23 board members, including the student representative and the broadcaster’s interim general manager, remain at their posts.

Sacramento State, which holds the license for the bulk of CapRadio FM stations, announced the resignations Wednesday. A California State University released an audit earlier this month describing how significant financial peril — such as an unauthorized CapRadio endowment owning a Lake Tahoe-area timeshare — may lead to the radio’s insolvency by January.

It’s unclear why the additional four members resigned in Sac State’s news release, but Sac State officials said it was their decision to vacant their posts. Each who resigned Wednesday did not immediately return a request for comment.

Jonathan Bowman, the university’s vice president of administration and CFO, is among the four to quit the board Wednesday. University President Luke Wood appointed Bowman last week to steer the auxiliary group’s finances amid questions about questionable financial decisions amid a planned move away from the campus site to new facilities downtown.

“More changes are anticipated as Sac State and CapRadio respond to recommendations in the CSU audit, and while they await results of a forensic examination commissioned by Sac State to determine underlying causes of CapRadio’s problems,” the news release said.

The others who resigned Wednesday: Lorelei Bayne, chair of the theater and dance program at Sac State; Antoinette Vojtech, the university’s executive director of fundraising; and Marya Endriga, an associate dean for the school’s college of social science and interdisciplinary studies.

Also, Sac State officials said that Frank Whitlatch, an administrator at Cal Poly Humboldt, resigned in August. Whitlatch was a partner-appointed member, as CapRadio operates an FM station owned by the Arcata-based university. His post will be filled by another member from the North Coast campus, according to school officials.

The only remaining vote on the board representing the university is its student representative: Nataly Andrade-Dominguez, president of Associated Students Inc., the school’s student body arm. Andrade-Dominguez had previously called for some of her colleagues on the board to resign.

Tom Karlo, a longtime San Diego public broadcasting executive who was brought in last month by Wood just after he took office, is also a member of the board, though only in an ex-officio capacity.

The five others who remain on the board: Kenneth Johnston, who runs his own production company; Annie V. Lam, who operates a business consultancy; Terence Lau, the interim provost of Chico State, which owns the licenses for North State Public Radio; and Barbara O’Connor, the retired chair of Sac State’s communications program.

CapRadio’s news staff recently described to The Sacramento Bee how worry and exhaustion have been plaguing them after devastating news breaks about their own employer.

Last week, 13 board members — a group comprising Sacramento business and community interests — resigned over what they said was a failure by Sacramento State leadership to “engage with the board in good faith.” On the same day, another Sacramento State executive resigned separately.

The upheaval on the board began after a blistering audit revealed wide financial mismanagement, prompting Wood to announce the university was assuming operational control of the NPR member station.

Sac State has said that “inconsistencies” with CapRadio’s finances were first detected by Bowman in 2021, which led to the audit, and that CapRadio’s expansion plans to move downtown contributed to the problems.

Among the findings cited in the audit by Cal State’s Chancellor’s Office:

▪ More than $1.1 million in studio equipment and furniture loans were taken out without approval by CapRadio’s board. “These loans were signed by the executive vice president and (general manager), an individual who did not have written delegation of authority from the board.”

▪ Credit card charges were not properly reviewed and, in some cases, late fees and charges over the card limit were incurred.

▪ CapRadio accepted gifts “without written delegation of authority from the campus president” and processed an $85,000 “gift-in-kind” that actually was a discounted purchase of a piano that is now in storage.

▪ The operation did not have written agreements with either of the two entities that handled vehicle donations to CapRadio as a fundraising device.

▪ And CapRadio was not doing enough to involve students in its operations, a traditional educational byproduct of campus broadcast operations.

Oct. 4’s group resignation letter — which came a day after the university said it would not fund a new GM the board had hired — claims that any “such inconsistencies were not shared with the board; had they been, we could and would have acted immediately to avoid the current financial crisis.”

A further forensic examination by outside auditors is expected in January, Wood said.

Andrade-Dominguez, president of Sac State’s ASI, welcomed Wednesday’s resignations and said it would allow the board to start anew and get back to rebuilding and restoring CapRadio.

“Everyone is confused and lost about what’s going on,” Andrade-Dominguez said in a phone interview. She added her heart goes out to CapRadio workers whose job security is on shaky ground.

Andrade-Dominguez said she doesn’t hold any conflicts of interest since joining the board only in the past few months. She said there are policies and procedures now in place to help appoint new board members

“A fresh start is what CapRadio needs,” Andrade-Dominguez said.

The Bee’s Sam Stanton contributed to this story.