Oldt steps down as Foundation president
A day after accepting the gavel to run the organization for the coming year and a week before he formally began his term, Tom Oldt has resigned as president of The Florida Bar Foundation.
Oldt, who would have been the second nonlawyer to head the organization, made brief remarks criticizing the Task Force on the Distribution of IOTA Funds when he accepted the gavel at the Foundation’s June 18 Board of Directors meeting. The following day he stepped down.
In his brief resignation letter to the board, Oldt said his passion for the Foundation and its mission “is perhaps a bit too blindingly obvious. The last thing I want to be is a hindrance to its mission. Accordingly, I believe it is in the best interest of the Foundation that I resign from the presidency and the board.”
The Foundation’s Executive Committee met on June 24 to accept Oldt’s resignation. The committee extended the term of outgoing President Hala Sandridge until September 15 or until the task force finishes its work. Then President-elect Steve Senn will become president and serve until June 30, 2021.
The Foundation sent out a statement to the full Board of Directors and former Foundation presidents announcing Oldt’s decision and its acceptance. “Tom’s passion for the mission and cause is unquestioned and we should be grateful that there are many good people outside the legal profession who support the Foundation’s work,” said the statement from Foundation Executive Director Donny MacKenzie.
It went on: “To better promote continuity as it relates to the task force and its work, the Executive Committee also voted to extend Hala’s term as President until September 15, 2020, or until such time as the task force proceedings are concluded. Afterwards, Steve Senn will preside over the Foundation until June 30, 2021.”
The Foundation declined to make any other statement about Oldt’s departure.
Oldt, a financial advisor licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has served on the Foundation board since 2012 and has chaired its grants and budget and finance committees.
In his comments at the June 18 meeting — which came hours after the task force had a public hearing on its proposals — Oldt said the task force has failed to make any rationale for its proposed change to Bar IOTA rules and called the amendments “unwieldy, unworkable, unwise, and unnecessary” as well as “an Alice in Wonderland cure for a problem that doesn’t exist.” He also said the task force’s intent seemed to be the “dismantling the Foundation by depriving it of funding.”
The task force was appointed by the Supreme Court last October to review how IOTA funds are collected and disbursed, and whether Bar rules should be amended to control how funds are channeled. The Foundation’s court-approved charter and Supreme Court precedent now control fund disbursement.
The court also directed, “In conducting its work, the Task Force shall give priority consideration to the need for funding direct legal services for low-income litigants in Florida.”
The task force’s proposed rule would eliminate mention of the Foundation in Bar Rule 5-1.1, which creates the IOTA program. The proposed rule would have the court “designate one or more IOTA Funds Administrators” to collect IOTA funds from banks and distribute them to “Qualified Grantee Providers” delivering “Qualified Legal Services,” and also sets limits on overhead, training, and reserves.
Reservations about the proposed rule were expressed by several speakers at the task force’s June 18 public hearing, and members invited anyone to submit their own suggested rule amendments by July 10. (https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/organizations-respond-to-iota-task-force-recommendations/.) The Bar’s Business Law Section and Pro Bono Legal Services Committee have voted to set up their own panels to review the task force’s recommendations.
