The CEO of New York Road Runners, the nonprofit behind the New York City Marathon, is stepping down amid organization-wide allegations of racism and sexism and calls for his removal.
Michael Capiraso, the NYRR president and chief executive officer, will depart the organization on Dec. 31, the group announced Monday.
“Over the past several months, the Board of Directors has listened to the concerns raised and recommendations offered by the community NYRR serves, including its employees and members of the broader running community,” George Hirsch, chairman of the board of NYRR, said in a statement.
“In order to achieve our mission to help and inspire people through running, we will recruit new leadership to the organization.”
In September, a group called Rebuild NYRR — made up of current and former NYRR employees — started an online petition demanding Capiraso immediately resign for allegedly fostering a “toxic, discriminatory, and systemically racist work culture at NYRR.”
More than 1,150 people had signed that Change.org petition as of Monday morning.
“For years, we have been experiencing racism, bias, and bullying that goes unchecked. We want to create a healthy, equitable, and safe environment for ourselves and for our community. We have been pushing for fairness and cultural competency for years only to have it fall on deaf ears,” the group had posted on its website.
Additionally, the group is seeking an independent pay equity audit and corrective action to be taken to “remediate disparities.”
Back in September, NYRR’s board of directors announced in an email to staff that it had retained an outside law firm to interview employees and examine the organization’s policies and practices, Runner’s World magazine had reported.
The scope of the investigation was then expanded to include former employees.
Runner’s World had spoken to 17 current, furloughed and former staffers, who shared their concerns about discrimination at NYRR, the magazine said in an October report.
Many of the complaints were summarized in a four-page presentation that one department, Strategic Partnerships and Runner Products, created for Capiraso in June, the magazine reported.
Staff members, in one bullet point section, wrote they “don’t feel uniformly valued based on their race and gender,” and in another, they claimed, “Staff do not believe HR is able to address sexism and racism at NYRR,” according to Runner’s World.
NYRR employees who spoke to the magazine described a culture where it was hard for people of color to earn promotions, while their fellow white co-workers rose up the ranks.
A white male manager of several employees of color told the magazine that he found it difficult to get them recognized for the strong work they were doing.
“I had a much harder time getting raises, bonuses, and promotions for staff of color than others, and at first I wasn’t quite sure why that was,” the manager, who was not identified, said. “But it became a pattern and practice that was hard to overcome. Once there was a preconceived notion about a staffer, it was also very hard to change and reverse, no matter how hard you fought for them.”
Capiraso has been the CEO of NYR since 2015, and previously served in other executive roles at the organization.
In a statement Monday, he said: “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served the NYRR running community for the past 10 years. I am proud of the growth the organization and I have achieved and the impact we have had, and I wish NYRR continued success.”
Kerin Hempel, who has a long history with NYRR including serving as the organization’s vice president of strategy and planning from 2010 to 2014, has been appointed interim CEO as the board conducts a search for a permanent one.