Photo by Howard Owens.
The search for a new president and CEO of Western Regional OTB is well underway, with the field of global candidates getting narrowed, and the expectation Henry Wojtaszek's replacement is announced before the end of the year, Dennis Bassett told reporters on Thursday.
The discussion with reporters came at the conclusion of the OTB's monthly board meeting at Batavia Downs.
"The search is moving; it is moving along actively, and we're doing our due diligence," said Bassett, chairman of the OTB board.
"We have narrowed the field down," he added. "I'm not going to say how many we have now but we've gone through a step process with the first wave of applicants, narrowed that down, did another perusing by the committee, narrowed that down, and now we're not far away from being able to make some decisions."
Bassett said that when the field is narrowed sufficiently, the entire OTB board will be involved in the candidate interviews, and the board will make the final decision on which candidate to hire.
At its June meeting, the OTB board authorized the buyout of employment contracts for Wojtasek, CFO Jackie Leach, and VP of Operations William White. In the same resolution, the board authorized Bassett to form a CEO search committee.
On Thursday, Bassett said the committee received resumes from applicants that is global in scope, but among the criteria the committee is using to screen candidates is knowledge of the regulatory, legislative, and political landscape of New York.
"One of the key ingredients is knowledge of the New York politics, knowledge of the New York Legislature, how you can work your way through the maze, and how you can help us shed a better light on OTB," Bassett said. "Because one of the key things that I have seen is that we need to do a better job of making sure that the people in Albany know what we're doing and that they look upon WTB as a positive because no one ever asked me, 'are you guys making any money?' In the last two years, we have had record earnings. We are on track to have our third consecutive year of record earnings. No one asks me those questions. No one wants to know. No one wants to see that we're a very successful corporation."
Erie County media has repeatedly speculated on whether Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown would be a candidate for the job. Bassett suggested Brown hadn't applied but then took it back, saying he wouldn't discuss specific candidates.
"I've heard that speculation, too," Bassett said. "If Byron Brown is interested, he'll put his name in," but added that the resume process is closed now.
Asked, "Are you suggesting he has not applied for the job?"
"I'm not suggesting anything like that," Bassett said.
Asked later in the conversation if Brown had applied, Bassett said, "I'm not going to give any answer about our applicants. I'm not going to answer about who has applied for the job, whether it's Byron Brown or anyone else. It's unfair to any candidate to give a name because the candidates who have applied for the job have a job. If I give their name and they don't get the job, how do they go back to their employer and say, 'Well, I was out fishing, and I didn't catch any fish, so I'm back. I'm back, coming to work today.'"
Bassett, a Democrat who represents Monroe County, said he recognizes the need to move quickly if OTB is to have a new CEO in place before Dec. 31, Wojtasek's last day of employment.
Part of what drives the need to move quickly is at the executive level. For some employers, a mere two-week notice isn't sufficient. An executive may need to give a 30-day notice.
"That's why I have been very keenly aware that we have to move swiftly to try and get through this search process," Bassett said. "The longer you wait, the tougher it is. You don't have good candidates hanging on the fence. We've tried to be very crisp, we've tried to be very thorough, and we've got a very metrics-driven process that we're using, and I think it's working well. The board is going to have some good candidates in front of them for the interview."
Whoever is eventually hired, Bassett suggested, will have big shoes to fill. Wojtasek is popular with staff, with customers, and has delivered record-breaking results in recent years.
"I have a great working relationship with Henry," Bassett said. "I applaud him and will continue to sing his praises because he's been great to work with. He's been great with the employees. He's been really great with this board. So Henry's electing to leave. Henry is looking for a different challenge. And quite honestly, what better way to leave than leave on top? And I've got to give him his props."
