Coming CleanThe four former directors for the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association shed light on and their struggles for equitable opportunities and representation for all members and the events that led to their resignations. Part I — Lost Membership Opportunities On May 24, 2022, the WPRA Board of Directors in a 7 to 6 vote with one abstention removed then Chief Operating Officer Darla Lindt. By the end of the week, four members of the Board resigned. Jolee Jordan, who served as Roping Director, Becky Nix, who first served the Great Lake Circuit after members fought to remove Margo Ransom and later as an elected director, Kim Thomas, who served the Prairie Circuit, and former WPRA President Kathi Myers, who agreed to serve as the First Frontier Circuit Director after no one wanted the position vacated by Eileen Lang-Kramme, jointly issued a letter on May 26 stating their regretful resignations. In order to add transparency, the four directors were hoping to bring light to the situation they faced during their tenures, namely a voting block, which divided a once cohesive Board. “We had hoped when we walked away that it would shine some light and maybe get some people to start asking questions,” said Jordan. A visit with Lindt, who was employed little over a year by the WPRA, confirmed what the four were experiencing. “I think for some of the girls, those directors who resigned, it was good for them to be reaffirmed — I’m on the inside and I’m seeing the same thing that you’re seeing,” said Lindt. Lindt said the most frustrating thing about all of this is it looks like a “he said, she said” story. “I truly believe that many good-intentioned people have stepped up with courage and confronted the lack of accountability in recent years, but to no avail,” she said. The Crux of the Problem: A breach of fiduciary duty What all four directors were battling were a select group of Directors making decisions for the entire Association, they said. They noted those in the voting block hold key committee appointments and the majority of them serve on the Business Committee (BC). Through the BC, they’re conducting business beyond what’s outlined in the WPRA Rule Book and performing duties written in Lindt’s job description given to her by the Association. The clique is also withholding information from the full Board, they said. “They’ve breached a high level of fiduciary duty, blew through the bylaws and had the majority to vote out the one who blew the whistle on them,” said Nix. According to Boardsource.org: “Fiduciary duty requires board members to stay objective, unselfish, responsible, honest, trustworthy, and efficient. Board members, as stewards of public trust, must always act for the good of the organization, rather than for the benefit of themselves.” WPRA World Champion and attorney Kappy Allen noted that in the case of the WPRA, “‘good of the organization’ means what’s good for the members. The WPRA exists for the benefit of the members; it shouldn’t purse a separate agenda.” After trying to work for her members and the Association as a whole, Nix noted: “They’re so about their personal agendas that they’re leaving the membership behind.” Costing Members Opportunities 2021 San Antonio Qualifier Thomas and Nix told of the problematic qualifier for San Antonio in 2021. With Fort Worth opting to cancel their rodeo for the year, the PRCA was holding a televised qualifier in at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth that would give additional entries into San Antonio. While the PRCA was late coming to the WPRA with its plan, the Board voted on a motion to hold a qualifier. “Somehow it passed by one vote,” Thomas said. She, Jordan and Nix got to work immediately, since Lois Ferguson, the Texas Circuit Director, had voted against it. They had the arena booked, tractor drivers ready, and judges and timers in place. They even had the process with Procom formulated. Thomas had even secured a sponsor should the funds not be available through the WPRA. All they needed was final approval from the Board. “They said it didn’t happen because it was within 14 days of books closing,” said Nix. “We had it all set up and they wouldn’t call a meeting to give us final approval. They waited until the 11th hour. Twelve days before books closed, we got a Board meeting and they got mad at us for what we’d done behind the scenes. They just let it sit even though we had a motion passed.” What disappointed them the most was that the qualifier was a great opportunity for the entire WPRA membership, the very people whose interests the Board was supposed to serve. The membership at large had been asking for qualifiers to the major limited entry rodeos. WCRA Joint Effort Jordan too met with resistance for her roping membership, especially in regard to representation and a possible partnership with the WCRA. “The WCRA wanted the WPRA to be a part of their Women’s Rodeo World Championships because as they told me, ‘The WPRA is the flagship for women in rodeo,’” said Jordan, who works as a timer at some of the WCRA’s events. “The ropers wanted that, and as the roping director, they wanted me to reach out and find a way to be involved or co-sanction. I presented that to the Board. I knew from what had happened [regarding declining to sanction the first WRWC in 2020] before that they weren’t going to do it, but I felt that I had to pursue it because it’s what my members wanted. They give me, ‘Well, let’s talk about it and get a committee together.’” The WCRA told Jordan that they were willing to do whatever the WPRA wanted to make the co-sanction happen. “We go back and forth between me and this committee of Board members and the WCRA, from February until April,” said Jordan. “I finally said, this is the proposal and they voted it down, which I knew they were going to do anyway. They act like they’re going to do something and string you along and waste your time and then when it comes down to the vote, they were never going to do it. That’s the same with restructuring and getting more representation for the ropers.” Improving Ropers Representation The dismissal of more representation for the ropers was one of the Boards most vexing offenses for the resigned members. They all noted that everyone that ran for election had increased representation for the ropers on their platforms, but when it came to adding more voting members to the Board, they declined. It can be noted that WPRA rule 1.3.6.4 provides that ProRodeo Breakaway Membership Cards will be treated the same as National Card members and that, according to rule 1.3.1.2, “member” is used generally to encompass cards, permits, Gold Cards, Roping Division (over 18) and ProRodeo Breakaway. In practice, since the advent of the ProRodeo Breakaway membership in 2020, “card member” has been used in general to refer to both WPRA card (in theory, barrel racers) and ProRodeo Breakaway card. As such, it has been argued that circuit directors should represent both barrel racers and ropers on the Board of Directors. But election policies have disallowed ropers from voting for circuit directors unless they compete in both events and then they must choose to vote either for Roping Director or the circuit director, noted Jordan. “Honestly, because of my long history on the Board with Roping members under the old system prior to ProRodeo Breakaway cards, I hadn’t thought of that argument until this spring,” Jordan said, “although I always wondered why you couldn’t vote for both if you were competing in both events.” At the Spring Board meeting, some Board members had offered to help with roping issues within their circuits to help lessen the enormity of the Roping Director’s work load, Jordan said. “But the ropers did not have the chance to vote for any circuit directors so it doesn’t really count as more representation for them unless election policy changes and they are able to not only vote for those positions but also step up and run for them,” she said. Last summer, Jordan proposed adding two additional roping directors and breaking the circuits into groups of four. “We’d just add two more members to our Board which is already too big,” Jordan explained the short -term solution. “I know long-term that’s not the best plan, but we’ve got to give them some more representation. We’ve got to spread this job out and make sure their needs are getting addressed.” The committee tasked with looking at the proposal decided they would rather look at the long term solution rather than implementing a band-aid, intermediate fix but when Jordan brought a more fleshed out proposal to restructure the whole Board and ensure elected representation for the ropers in every circuit to the Spring Board Meeting, it was rejected as well. “They were fine with them having regional directors, but they didn’t want them on the Board,” said Thomas. “Jolee said we have 12 directors for barrel racing, why can’t we have three for the breakaway? They wouldn’t go for it. They were worried about losing control, because that’s four more votes.” Walk-Up Replacements Members have also asked for a walk-up replacement policy. It would benefit the members and the rodeos, Nix said. “I was talking with a RAM representative at a rodeo,” Nix recalled. “He said, ‘You girls are cutting your own throat. Ten girls were entered and only five showed up. How are the committees supposed to function with that? At some point people are going to walk up and want their money back, because they didn’t get a full performance.’” Jordan said since the summer of 2020 they’ve worked on a means of implementing some form of walk-up replacements. “We discussed it to death that summer, but opted against it” she said, noting that many rodeos were limited at the time due to COVID. “It was brought up at every membership meeting last year — every single one. So, we brought it up again at the (2022) Spring meeting, and it was sent to the Competition Committee, headed by Lois Ferguson, who was never in favor of it. As far as I have heard, they’re still not allowing it.” Divisiveness Reigns Myers was shocked by the divisiveness of the current Board. “I was really noncommittal going back onto the Board,” said Myers. “I knew the Association, knew the history and thought I could help because I’ve had experience and I didn’t want the First Frontier members left with no representation. But on day one of the Board meeting, I quickly got the message that there was division when it was pointed out where my seat would be across the room. I quickly realized that there was a specific “side” I was assigned to. “It blew my mind that it’s really five people running the Association and they’re not fundamentally making good decisions. I spent 10 years as a director and two as president and I never saw this behavior among the women I served with. It appeared to me to be a futile situation form the beginning.” Jordan said it’s “beyond frustrating.” “I’ve had people say, ‘Well, it’s a Board. You don’t always get what you want.’ I say, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly right. I’d been on the Board nearly 10 years the last time around, but everyone listened to everyone else. The decision wasn’t predetermined. I’ve walked into numerous meetings over the years with a strong opinion on something and after listening to other Board members experiences and opinions, changed my mind. That’s what a Board is all about. If you get out voted on those kinds of things, that’s fine, but when it’s orchestrated before you get there…You’re asked to talk about something and you look across the room and everyone is on their phone or computer or talking to each other and not listening to you, it’s very disrespectful and tearing apart the process,” she said. “You can name 10 issues that have been floating around in the last 10 years, and almost to a T, there is a small group making all the decisions and other people don’t know about it. When they do find out about the decisions made without Board approval, and sometimes against good business practices and even our by-laws, they aren’t willing to stand up against their friends on the Board and say, ‘You were wrong on that,’ and force the change for the good of the members and Association. The pattern just repeats.” To Be Continued with Part II — Lawsuits & Petitions Author’s note: Following their resignation, the former WPRA Directors reached out to me in hopes that I would share their experiences while serving on the Board. This is not an investigative piece. This was complied, organized and presented in a manner to best get their voices heard. This is their story. I didn’t ask all the questions. That is for the membership to do. ~ Tanya Randall | 
WPRA Members Read Part 1
