NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, vol. 15, no. 4, Summer 2005 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 469 C ASE S TUDIES Called to Order A Board President in Trouble Stefan Toepler This is a fictionalized case based on real events. It is intended as a teaching tool to stimulate discussion about procedural issues in nonprofit governance; board roles and responsibilities; communications; and relationships between boards, chairs, and executives, particularly in the context of smaller organiza- tions. It is meant to support sessions on nonprofit boards and governance in introductory courses on nonprofit management or for use in workshops with new or less experienced executives and board members. Set in an organization engaged in cultural exchange, the case can be used in introductions to nonprofit management, arts administration, or international nongovern- mental management. M ECHTHILD “Hildi” Müller stared out of her office window overlooking Lafayette Park and the White House on a gray and rainy Monday morning in June. Although she was already past deadline in drafting several public relations commu- niqués relating to her employer Maschinenbau AG’s planned invest- ment in a new manufacturing plant in Mexico, her thoughts kept returning to the e-mail that Brian Smith had sent to the full board of directors of Latin Adventures, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization engaged in cultural and educational exchange with Latin America, whose presidency Hildi had assumed six months ago. Without calling Hildi first, Brian, Latin Adventures’ immediate past president, raised significant charges of improper board procedures and violation of fiduciary responsibilities in the e-mail and in a subsequent phone conversation had threatened to go public if the board would not discuss the issue at its next meeting. Note: I am indebted for many good comments on an earlier draft by Robert Goler, Jane Kornblut, Patricia Lewis, and the four anonymous reviewers.