DCI's Next Director

[mcjordansc]

1 hour ago, Tim K said:

I have no idea of what Dan Acheson makes right now, but given DCI’s budget and the responsibilities I would guess the salary of a new director would be between $300K and $450K. To put it in perspective, the average salary of a high school principal in Indianapolis is $129K, the average salary of a college president in Indiana is $300K according to a quick Google search. 

In DCI's 2021 IRS filing Dan A made $200K with another $31K listed as other compensation. 

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/362754480 

[Jeff Ream]

7 hours ago, LabMaster said:

I agree and to add to what their expertise should include; understanding how to fix, support, enforce and discipline bad actors and behaviors in a youth organization.  There have been enough orgs, poorly managed fiscally.  There have been enough abuse instances without any remedies or repercussions to clean it up and ensure safety for members  and support for reporters.

Growing the activity will happen if these other items are properly addressed.

well...and getting everyone to play nice in the sandbox

[Jeff Ream]

6 hours ago, Algernon said:

Trust me, the person that is taking over has no experience in drum corps at all.

thats a big concern. see SCV 2020

[Jeff Ream]

4 hours ago, Triple Forte said:

I think Dan Acheson did a good job as the CEO of DCI.  I really don’t know who Dan’s replacement should be. Whoever it is, I believe they have to address some thing that has been neglected for a very, very long time. From what I could tell , very little has been done to try and bring awareness to what  DCI is outside of the Marching band, WGI and indoor Drumline, activities. There could very well be people out there with pockets full of money who would fall in love the DCI.   However ,  because there is no distinctive plan from DCI leader ship  for promoting DCI outside of the marching arts groups,  there’s little to no chance we can find people like that.  Promoting the activity within like-groups is an obvious thing to do.. DCI leadership should be actively going after the sources who know nothing about drum corps and try to bring them onboard. Just my opinion…

remember Dan or whoever replaces him serves at the pleasure of the board. they float the idea and its his job to try and make it happen

[Galen]

11 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

nope. i do not have the non profit background required, and since the director serves at the pleasure of the board, i'm pretty sure my bluntness would last 2 hours of one meeting

But what a 2 hours it would be... 😁

[dcifanforlife]

What DCI needs is an Executive Director that can herd cats ( Voting Membership) , and keep donors and sponsors happy. DCI needs to move away from being an events only company and buy a revenue generating business. On January 1 ,2023 DCI had 14,000,000 in cash surplus.  Hope some of that was invested in various CD;s, Bonds and even the Stock Market. DCI can only give back so much to the membership each year.

[Algernon]

14 hours ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

You know this as a fact? 

yes

[Moz]

Wasn't DA basically a "emergency hire" as they brought in an outsider guy (Sam someone?) after Don Pesceone retired at the end of 1994 (or was it 93?) and lasted not very long?

Not actual sure what happened there if someone has any knowledge - all I remember was the new guy was interviewed on the video that year and then nothing was mentioned of him again (at least from my prospective!)

[IllianaLancerContra]

8 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

thats a big concern. see SCV 2020

A nationally-touring competitive community theater organization…..

[IllianaLancerContra]

15 hours ago, Tim K said:

Personally I thought the tribute Dan Acheson received at finals was well done and well deserved. At the time he was hired DCI faced many challenges and its survival was questionable. When drum corps folded in the late 70’s to 80’s, many of the corps had seen better days, music instruction in schools had improved, and there was a wider variety of sports and youth activities available. The decrease in corps was understandable. When it continued in the 90’s and newer corps were few and far between, I really thought the end was near and when attendance at shows kept decreasing, I was certain the end was near. I am very happy to say I was wrong. In a very 90’s/early 2000’s leadership manner, Dan Acheson got the activity on solid footing. He could be very diplomatic and handled the tumult of the G7 threats well or so it appeared to me. That being said, how more recent challenges were handled was problematic, namely safety issues and abuse issues. Perhaps if he had more authority things would have been different. 

The person selected will be important and there are excellent people out there, some who have been named in this thread and other threads, some not. I do think moving forward that we need to look at the job description. The director needs to have more teeth especially when the unforeseen situations arise. There were times Dan A should have taken more decisive action, but there were also times where it seemed his hands were tied. In an activity that is competitive and where quite often each corps looks out for its own interests first, the director’s position needs more authority but without becoming a dictator. 
 

I would hope that they hire someone who has enough knowledge of modern & DCI that the individual hired would demand, as a condition of accepting the job, the authority to make tough decisions. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by IllianaLancerContra
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