Last Friday, the Calista Regional Native Corporation held a private meeting in Bethel to discuss an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit against the company. The corporation invited a range of Bethel corporate and tribal organizations to discuss the case with them, but might have excluded four of its own board members.
The corporation became involved in two different lawsuits this summer, and Calista attorney Walter Featherly says that Friday’s meeting was intended to bring shareholders up to speed. The Association of Village Council Presidents, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, the Orutsararmiut Native Council, and Bethel Native Corporation were all invited to attend.
But multiple anonymous sources confirm that board members Wayne Don, Myron Naneng, JoAnn Werning, and Leslie Hunter Sr. were not told about the private meeting. In a past interview with KYUK, Hunter said that the four of them have been excluded from Calista meetings before.
"In my mind, we've got 11 members, not six," Hunter said. "And they should be involved in everything the board does."
Former board chairman Wayne Don has been locked in a power struggle with CEO Andrew Guy for the past year, and Naneng, Werning, and Hunter reliably vote in Don’s favor. Featherly denied that the four opposing board members were excluded. “It’s my recollection," he said, "that at the last board meeting, at which all board members were in attendance, it was announced that Calista was going to be reaching out to shareholders and stakeholders to provide this information.”
Calista’s boardroom infighting revolves around a sexual harassment complaint from 2017, which CEO Andrew Guy allegedly mishandled. Business owner Tiffany Phillips is currently suing the corporation, Guy himself, and a former employee over the incident. She claims she was relentlessly harassed by former Calista executive George Owletuck, a political ally and longtime friend of Guy’s. In her lawsuit, Phillips says that she complained to Guy about Owletuck’s behavior in August 2017, but Guy never properly reported it. Her lawsuit accuses Owletuck of harassment, Guy of breach of contract, and the Calista Corporation of negligence. Calista had disciplined Owletuck for harassment several times before, and Phillips argues that the corporation should have known he was a liability.
The corporation’s board is fiercely divided over whether Guy handled Phillips’ complaint appropriately. By the time Phillips sued Calista, the corporation was already in court over whether former board chairman Wayne Don overstepped his authority by challenging Guy’s management of the issue. That internal conflict came to a head at a particularly tense shareholders’ meeting earlier this summer.
Calista's opposing counsel expected the corporation to respond to Phillips' lawsuit by midnight last Friday, but Featherly says that filing deadline has been extended. The case has been moved to federal court, and Phillips' attorneys expect to receive responses from both Calista and CEO Andrew Guy by September 14, 2018.