Qia - Quadruple I Association

Background

The Connecticut-based Quadruple I (Irish-Italian-Israeli-Indian) Association (QIA), founded in 1949, is a nonprofit social organization devoted to promoting tolerance and diversity and celebrating the cultures and holidays of its Irish-American, Italian-American, Israeli-American, and Indian-American members. Since its inception, it rapidly grew to become one of the largest social organizations in New England. The association has dues paying members, a cadre of volunteers, a small paid administrative and management staff, and an Executive Director retained by and reporting to a Board of Directors. There are seven Board members, voted in for overlapping terms by the general membership.

QIA owns a large, multi-purpose facility in Hartford, CT which houses its administrative offices, a large classroom/auditorium, a youth activities center, a banquet hall, kitchen, and ballroom. The banquet hall and ballroom can be reserved for such functions as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, parties, etc. In addition, the banquet hall and ballroom are automatically reserved for one major holiday of each of its ethnic groups (e.g. Columbus Day, St Patrick’s Day, Purim, Hindi New Year). Any member with guests is welcome to attend these special festivals, which are organized and hosted by the relevant ethnic group.

Following its rapid growth and extraordinary success through the 1980’s, negative social and economic factors contributed to a continuing decline in membership. From 1990 to 2010, QIA’s membership dropped from 36,000 to 21,000 and the average attendance at its festivals was halved.

New Leadership

After its Executive Director retired, the Board spent many months looking for candidates who fit its expectations. The search committee then received an unsolicited, unexpected letter and resume from JRE. He didn’t fit the criteria they had for the search profile, but seemed to be a leader with great conviction. Therefore, in February...