CUNA’s Former Chief Advocacy Officer Claims He Was a 'Token Diversity Hire'
CUNA says Robert Lewis’ race was absolutely not a factor with regard to any employment decision.
It appears Robert Lewis Jr. and CUNA did not amicably part ways.
Instead, the former chief advocacy officer, who worked less than a month in one of the organization’s top jobs, was apparently fired following a confrontation with CUNA CEO Jim Nussle and a racial allegation made by Lewis that he was a “token diversity hire.”
According to Lewis’ lawyers, David Sanford and Alok Nadig from the New York-based firm Sanford, Heisler, Sharp, LLP, just two days before Lewis’ termination, CEO Jim Nussle allegedly told Lewis that he (Nussle) “’never had a Black direct report in his career before,’ and then said ‘I do not know how to manage you.’”
“How we see it is that CUNA anticipated that Robert Lewis would be a token diversity hire,” according to Lewis’ lawyers. “And when he attempted to actually do his job and exert authority over his majority white team, CUNA fired him after only 22 days.”
CUNA denied the allegations.
“CUNA will strongly defend unjustified claims and can clearly support its legitimate decision to terminate Robert Lewis,” CUNA said. “Mr. Lewis’s race was absolutely not a factor with regard to any employment decision and CUNA simply does not discriminate as to any protected characteristic.”
Lewis’ attorneys countered: “We disagree with Credit Union National Association’s (‘CUNA’s’) assertion that race was ‘absolutely not a factor with regard to any employment decision’ related to Robert Lewis.” Lewis is considering filing a lawsuit against CUNA, according to his lawyers.
Lewis was fired last week, about a month after beginning his new job on Jan. 3 and about three weeks before his official industry debut at the 2023 CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference on Feb. 26.
However, on Thursday Feb. 3, Nussle, Lewis and Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer for Federal Government Affairs Jason Stverak met with NCUA Board Chair Todd Harper to discuss credit union priorities, according to a CUNA press release.
On Friday, Feb. 4, CUNA sent an email to league presidents about Lewis’ departure.
“I received an email notification last Friday afternoon of the separation effective immediately,” a league president said. “No other information was shared.”
When CUNA announced in December that Lewis had been appointed the new chief advocacy officer, he received hundreds of congratulatory wishes on social media from fellow advocacy professionals of many other industries, and from credit union leaders across the nation.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Robert to the CUNA-League system, his impressive background in financial services and track record of getting things done in Washington, D.C., will be a great benefit to credit unions and their 130 million members,” Nussle said in a December news release.
In addition, the allegations made by Lewis ran counter to Nussle’s work in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
In August, 2019, Nussle told attendees of the African American Credit Union Coalition conference in Charlotte, N.C., that he would propose to the CUNA board to make DEI the eighth principle of the cooperative movement. And under Nussle’s leadership, CUNA and the African American Credit Union Coalition launched a collaboration agreement to advance DEI initiatives in January 2021.