Members of the Southwest Detroit Business Association are demanding an explanation for why the nonprofit organization’s first Latina CEO was abruptly fired.
SDBA Board Chair Tonia Patino said Laura Chavez-Wazeerud-Din would take the organization to “unprecedented heights” when she was appointed president and CEO in 2023. At the January grand opening of a $24 million mixed-income housing development on Vernor Highway, Patino said Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s dedicated leadership had made a “meaningful impact” on Southwest Detroit.
But during a membership meeting in early April, the first held in eight months, Patino declined to comment on Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s performance and why the board parted ways with the CEO.
Patino told BridgeDetroit that the separation was “pending,” despite announcing the “leadership change” in a March 26 email to members.
“The organization does wish her well, and at this point, that’s pretty much all that we can share,” Patino said in an interview.
The termination is sparking concerns from members who say they are growing distrustful of the board and fearful of corporate influence over the nonprofit. The board conveyed to members that the changes have been made “with the best interests of the organization in mind.”
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s separation from the SDBA marks the latest leadership shakeup in recent years. Robert Dewaelsche served three years as president and CEO before departing in 2020 and was followed by interim CEOs Alicia Ramon and Theresa Zajac before Chavez-Wazeerud-Din was hired.
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din told BridgeDetroit that she was terminated on March 21 for reasons that remain unclear more than a month later. She said the Board of Directors offered her three months of severance pay, but Chavez-Wazeerud-Din declined because the deal required signing a document stating she couldn’t attend board meetings or enter property owned by the SDBA.
“I was not given a reason why I was terminated; I was told that the board made a decision, and the decision was I am no longer employed by the SDBA,” Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said in an interview. “I knew that this organization had never had a Latina in this role that represents this very diverse community, and I knew that I could make an impact.”
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said she called into a Friday afternoon meeting in March with several people on the SDBA Board of Directors. She was told the board decided to fire her and that she had 15 minutes to gather her belongings.
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said she was successfully rebuilding the business association after membership cratered during the pandemic. At an April 14 membership meeting, the board celebrated being named Organization of the Year by the Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities for work done while Chavez-Wazeerud-Din served as CEO.
“I had to build credibility, I had to build relationships, and I had to listen to businesses that needed support emerging from the pandemic,” she said. “I can hold my head up high right now and say that the organization is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was when I came into the door.”
Jenn Smith, a SDBA member who has become more active since the firing, said the organization has been “transformed” under Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s leadership. Sonya Rivas, owner of Casita Title & Escrow Agency, said the firing is an example of the board making decisions that undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of members.
Members, she said, are often left in the dark about the location of board meetings and what goes on in them. Requests for meeting minutes from the last two years have gone unanswered, she said.
“Nobody really knows what this board does,” Rivas said. “Nobody really knows if they contribute to anything. Nobody knows how they got their position. As a member, there is so much miscommunication.”
Gracie Ziegler had a lesser impression of Chavez-Wazeerud-Din, claiming she was rude and preferential to friends. Ziegler said she avoided the SDBA until the leadership change.
The board acknowledged the revolving door of leadership for the association in a March 26 email to members. The letter, dated March 14, stated that Vice President of Programs and Compliance Brandi Watts would assume temporary duties while the board launches a national search for a new president and CEO.
“We acknowledge that SDBA has experienced several leadership changes over the past four years,” the letter states. “The Board of Directors believes that each decision has been made with the best interests of the organization in mind. Throughout these changes, SDBA has consistently delivered on its commitments and achieved significant milestones, thanks to your continued support.”
Rivas rents office space from the SDBA and has been a member for the last two years. She hadn’t interacted with the board much in that time until last fall, when Rivas said she was “awkwardly” asked by the board to give a performance review of Chavez-Wazeerud-Din. Rivas took the request as a signal that something was wrong.
“She’s brought a lot of awareness to the SDBA, they’re finally on the map,” Rivas said. “ I’ve lived in the area my whole life. I didn’t even know what the SDBA did until like two-and-a-half years ago.”
Residents who supported Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s work also voiced confusion on social media after her “departure” was announced on Facebook. The SDBA turned off comments on the post.
“Members should have the majority say of what’s happening within the organization,” Rivas said. “I call it a dictatorship at the end of the day, because that’s essentially what it is.”
The SDBA was created in 1957 to “combat community deterioration” by supporting businesses in Southwest Detroit and development projects that promote revitalization. It collected $705,105 in grants in the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to tax records, and had $4.5 million in assets.
Members pay dues ranging between $100 and $500 per year, which opens access to benefits like grant assistance, business planning workshops, commercial real estate assistance and the option to lease office space from SDBA.
Patino remarked on a larger-than-usual attendance at the April 14 meeting, which was the first membership since July 2024. It featured verbal sparring between SDBA members who voiced frustrations with a perceived lack of transparency from the board and others who defended the board.
“They (members) just want to participate more at this time,” Patino said, when asked to explain the source of tension. “That’s what we’re here for. Our members are open to attend the board meeting. I love the engagement. It means we’re touching the community and connecting with the community.”
Patino opened up more about the source of tensions during an interview a few days later.
“Whenever you have change in an organization, it’s going to bring about some uneasiness,” she told BridgeDetroit. “With us being transparent, having an (upcoming board) election, and giving the opportunity for the membership to speak like we just did will continue to foster the relationship that we have with the community. I wouldn’t say that all the community feels that way. There are a few, but for the most part, we’ve heard nothing but support and just eagerness to move forward.”
Members dig into board and bylaws
Smith, a real estate agent and owner of the real estate company Preservation Hound, has been organizing members to have more say in who represents them on the SDBA Board of Directors.
Smith said the board is doing a poor job of representing dues-paying members. She led a petition signed by 50 members demanding a meeting to hold board elections for four vacant seats. The SDBA has 170 members as of May.
The board declined, but elections will be held in June. The nominating committee includes Patino as well as directors Joe Gappy, Ahmad Al-Hassan, Elias Gutierrez and Marja Zeon.
It’s the first election since before the pandemic, Patino said, though she didn’t recall the exact year of the previous election. The SDBA bylaws require elections to be held every year.
The last five board members were appointed by the previous executive director instead of being elected: Zeon, Gutierrez, Hasan, Shelley Holberbaum and Alondra Carter-Alvizo.
Patino said interest in serving on the board has waxed and waned over the years. Board members, she said, can serve indefinitely, until they resign or their business withdraws from the SDBA.
The board has longer-term members like Treasurer Steve Weiner, vice president of Edw. C. Levy Co. Patino said Weiner has been on the board for nearly 20 years.
Five directors are elected to serve one-year terms, including a chairman, president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. An undefined number of additional directors are annually elected by members, who choose from a slate of candidates identified by a nominating committee made up of board members.
The bylaws also call for a four-member executive committee, which authorizes contracts, obtains loans, and can perform other duties on behalf of the SDBA in between board meetings.
Patino affirmed that the board will strictly follow its bylaws, originally adopted in 1996, “because of new concerns brought about how decisions are made here.”
“These rules, at least 30 years old, were created long before anyone currently serving on this board,” she explained during the April meeting. “These authorities give us mutual guidance for making decisions and keeping things fair.”
The SDBA bylaws establish the Board of Directors structure. Directors must be dues-paying members of the SDBA, a rule that Smith said had not been followed until members started putting pressure on the board. Chavez-Wazeerud-Din alleged Patino herself was not a paying member.
“We don’t disclose anyone’s membership status,” Patino said in an interview. “We work within our bylaws. So if our bylaws state that’s what we have to be, then that’s what we are.”
In a follow-up email, Patino said everyone on the board, or their affiliated organizations, are dues-paying members “or may be granted an exception based on civil status or public service responsibilities.”
Patino has served on the board for eight years. She’s a vice president and senior treasury payments advisor at Fifth Third Bank.
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said a former high-level member of SDBA filed a federal civil rights complaint against a current director on the board for alleged sexual harassment. Patino declined to comment on the allegation, and did not confirm or deny the claim.
“We don’t comment on any personal or legal matters,” Patino said.
Patino was appointed by longtime President Kathy Wendler. The board had struggled to find a permanent replacement for Wendler since her retirement in 2017.
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said the board attempted to change the structure of the SDBA last July by scheduling a vote on bylaw changes with short notice. A majority of members rejected the proposal which would have turned the nonprofit into a directorship and reduced the ability of members to weigh in on board decisions, she said. Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said the board discussed ways to overturn the vote afterward.
Patino had a much different account of the decision. She said the vote was on whether to keep the bylaws as written.
“It was just to vote the current bylaws in as they stood,” Patino said. “It was some kind of deadline or something we had to submit for, if I’m not mistaken. But there was nothing that we were changing. We didn’t have any alternative.”
Flood response posed as possible explanation
SDBA members who spoke with BridgeDetroit connected Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s termination to flood emergency response efforts. Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said it was a source of tension between her and the board, and a possible reason for her firing.
Patino declined to comment when asked whether Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s decision to lead flood relief contributed to her firing. Without an explanation from the board, members said they are left to speculate.
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said she organized emergency response after a water transmission line broke in February, flooding residential streets, damaging 400 homes and temporarily displacing 260 families.
“They felt we were not servicing businesses,” she said. “They felt that there were not enough businesses impacted. We all work together as nonprofits in this neighborhood, and us being the 70-year-old nonprofit, it only made sense to leverage our connections. I don’t regret it, I was very proud of it.”
Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said she worked with local businesses to collect donations and secured help from Walmart, which provided 43,000 pounds of water and pallets of diapers, food and household items. Residents who sought shelter in hotels paid for by the city were fed by local restaurants and catering businesses in Southwest Detroit.
“I believe that that is the power of a business association leveraging resources, being a community connector and collaborating,” Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said.
Smith and Rivas said they interacted with board members who felt the SDBA should stay focused on supporting businesses instead of offering resources to the community at large.
“When the flood relief took place, Laura jumped in,” Rivas said. “She basically jumped in without a life jacket; there she went in full force. You can tell that the board did not even want to be in that position. They did not even want SDBA to be a part of any type of relief whatsoever.”
But others, like Larry Mason, secretary of Central Management and an SDBA member, stressed that the organization’s sole purpose is to support businesses.
At the April 14 meeting, he complained of a “hostile takeover” by people who are upset about Chavez-Wazeerud-Din’s departure. Mason also said the SDBA’s new affordable housing development is in direct competition with property management companies, which are represented by the nonprofit.
“Some people just don’t grasp the purpose of a business association, and it isn’t to deny community involvement, but its specific purpose is to uplift the businesses,” Mason said.