Hawaii Tourism Authority fires CEO George Szigeti
The chief of the Hawaii Tourism Authority has been ousted.
The authority’s board voted to terminate ‘without cause’ the contract of president and CEO George Szigeti.
He will leave on October 31 and will pick up six months’ pay as severance.
Szigeti’s contract was due to run through 2020.
"We decided we needed to go in a new direction. I want to make it clear that George did a lot of good work," said HTA chairman Rick Fried.
It was a ‘mutual’ decision, according to Szigeti.
"This team has really accomplished a lot; 2016 and 2017 were supposed to be flat to down. Instead we hit all the numbers. The challenge for the next CEO will be how to balance the numbers with managing the destination," he said.
There had been criticism over HTA leadership which intensified after a damaging state audit report was published recently.
It found lax oversight of spending and reimbursing contractors for first-class airfares and other extravagant expenses in violation of its own rules
Szigeti was also fined $1,750 for receiving upgrades for business class airfare.
Fried said an executive selection committee made up of board members and stakeholders will be set up to begin a search for a new CEO and president.
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