Almost exactly a year after the departure of ILTA programme director Peggy Weschler caused an outcry in the immediate run up to ILTACON 2017, Dan Liutikas, the CEO who has led a hugely unpopular restructure of the member-led body, has announced his resignation and will not be attending the conference this year.
In a note to ILTA partners on 8 August, ILTA president of the board, Angela Dowd said this:
Dear Partners,
Today I reach out to you with news regarding ILTA’s professional staff. ILTA’s CEO Dan Liutikas recently approached the Board of Directors to discuss pursuing another professional opportunity. After much discussion, we agreed to accept Dan’s resignation from ILTA effective August 31.
The Board is working closely with Dan, Jason Stookey and the Partner Development Team to ensure a smooth transition for all of ILTA’s partners. Dan will not be available to attend ILTACON 2018.
Working closely with the Board, volunteers and professional staff, Dan has been instrumental in assembling an incredibly capable professional staff team that includes both veterans and new faces, establishing critical organization support structures and helping to focus efforts on key segments and programming needs. A highlight of these efforts was the inaugural Ascend Volunteer Leader event held in January that brought together more than 125 volunteers from all reaches of the organization to collaborate on programming and networking ideas.
Many of the concepts that started as ideas in January will be on full display as we head into ILTACON 2018. ILTA’s 41st annual educational conference will kick off in less than two short weeks. A team of more than 35 volunteers along with ILTA’s professional staff have done a tremendous job of preparing for what is sure to be an amazing week of peer-powered education and networking. We look forward to seeing many of you in National Harbor.
Looking ahead, we will build on the momentum of ILTACON in pursuit of our 2018 goals of improving access to relevant information, making meaningful connections, serving our diverse membership and ensuring we have the resources in place to deliver the value and service our members, partners and the entire ILTA community expect. ILTA’s partner community will be an important part of these efforts.
We wish Dan the very best and thank him for the hard work, dedication and creativity he brought to the role. While the Board implements a plan to fill this important leadership role, we are confident that Jason and his team will be able to deliver the service and value you expect from your ILTA engagement.
Please reach out to me or Jason Stookey if you have any questions.
Thank you for all that you do in our ILTA community.
Angela Dowd
President of the Board
CLICK HERE for contact details for the Board of Directors.
Comments about Liutikas resignation have been flooding in to Legal IT Insider, including one top 50 UK IT director who told us: “I’m surprised but not unhappy. His appointment ruffled a few (well, a lot of) feathers and the fairly brutal shake up made a lot of volunteers question the core values of ILTA. That’s a pretty fundamental problem in a volunteer based organisation.
“What they do now will be interesting – I imagine there will be a huge sigh of relief at the conference but they need to find someone who gets how to run a volunteer led organisation without pissing people off and who can also deal with some of the archaic and ridiculously cumbersome processes. That’s quite a tough combination to find.”
Under Liutikas tenure other ILTA exits included Clay Gibney and Deb Himsel, leading ILTA veteran Rick Heller to write an open letter to ILTA bemoaning its trend towards commercialism and leaning towards hierarchy as opposed to a peer-led organisation.
Ben Weinberger, lawyer in residence at Prosperoware and an active ILTA member, said: “Over the past year, there was a significant level of turnover of ILTA staff and other changes in volunteer opportunities that generated a fair amount of concern across members and vendors alike, many of whom, like myself, have been involved for years. Perhaps the next CEO might come from within the ILTA community itself – whether a vendor or member participant. Having a good understanding of ILTAs history and its unique culture and the value it provides to both its members and vendors alike would certainly go a long way toward ensuring success.”
Neither ILTA or Liutikas immediately responded to our request for comment. We will update this post when they do.