Ramona Sangalli was removed Wednesday evening as executive director of Lions World Services for the Blind, the international nonprofit headquartered in Little Rock.
Carl Foreman, chairman-elect of the LWSB board of directors, confirmed Thursday morning the board's vote and said he would serve as interim director until a replacement for Sangalli could be hired.
Sangalli, reached by telephone on Thursday morning, declined to comment. She had been director for nine years and was a finalist for the Arkansas Business Nonprofit Executive of the Year award in 2007.
There was no suspicion of malfeasance by Sangalli - "absolutely none," Foreman said. "I believe [the issue was] just differences of philosophy with the board of directors, and mostly just in executive decisions," he said.
LWSB has been assembling a new campus in downtown Little Rock near the Clinton Presidential Library and the Heifer International headquarters, but Foreman said plans to move from 2811 Fair Park Blvd. in southwest Little Rock are on hold.
"Because of the recession that we're going through now, that's been tabled in its priority so that we can concentrate on the training [of blind clients] that's going on right now."
Foreman, a retired steel executive from Indiana who lives in Hot Springs Village, has been on the board of directors for eight years.
"LWSB is very dear to my heart and the wonderful work they do here. We want to make certain that there's no changes in service at all, and we'll make certain that occurs," he told ArkansasBusiness.com.
