An interesting development in the last few hours at the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF): a short statement has been posted to their website under the title “Los Angeles Office Closed”, advising that the headquarters of the organisation is moving across the country to Virginia. Oh, and also as an aside (in a statement released at the end of a long weekend) that the President of the organisation, D.J. Grothe, “is no longer with the JREF”!
In order to achieve cost-savings and greater efficiency, the Los Angeles office of the JREF has closed effective September 1, 2014. All operations have been moved to Falls Church, Virginia.
DJ Grothe is no longer with the JREF. James Randi has taken over as acting President.
This restructuring is part of an enhanced educational agenda aimed at inspiring an investigative spirit in a new generation of critical thinkers by engaging children and their parents, as well as educators and the general public, in how to think about the many extraordinary claims we hear every day.
With the lack of information in the statement, it’s difficult to say too much about this development. I might guess – given that the JREF is quite a professional organisation – that the abruptness of the statement, and silence from D.J. Grothe’s camp since the announcement, that Grothe was dismissed from his position with little notice (interestingly, D.J.’s name has immediately disappeared from the ‘Staff’ listing on the JREF site, while his own social media accounts still list him as President of the JREF).
It’s interesting to note as well that the shift in headquarters (which only moved from Florida to Los Angeles a few years ago) is to the administrative offices of the JREF, which is centered around JREF board member Rick Adams (the wealthy pioneering internet entrepreneur who financed the Million Dollar Challenge). Adams has previously sat in the background somewhat, but has also recently taken on the job of shifting the JREF’s forum away from the official website.
Is the change-up due to a dire financial position? On Twitter, Jim Lippard has posted the JREF’s recent revenues, which have almost halved in the last 3 years (2011: $1.56M, 2012: $1.29M, 2013: $887.5K). JREF backer Rick Adams isn’t short of coin though…but as a successful businessman, perhaps those figures necessitated change. Or perhaps there was a personality clash? All speculation at the moment…perhaps it’s all amicable and pre-planned. Certainly doesn’t seem like it at this point though…the burying of the lede in that statement is truly bizarre.
