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[Access]

Originally Posted by Freight

The last rumors I heard were that staffing reimbursement had been slashed, but that's a whole different animal.

I would have no problem with this, in fact it should be encouraged; many cons including cons of similar size have all-volunteer staff, no one is paid. Paying staff, hiring a CEO, etc., none of these things are the norm.

[Freight]

I'm not referring to paying staff for hourly work. I was speaking of staff reimbursement for rooms and expenses working during the convention itself.

[Hakaider]

Well, one thing is for sure. For things to improve next year, the CEO of the SPJA needs to be at least present for the most of the time when Anime Expo is going on.

I don't know of many sci-fi or anime cons where the CEO or the con chairman would fail to show up for most of the time when the con is occurring, and then expects to continue to get paid with a large salary.

If the CEO is no longer able to show up for whatever reason during the con, then it's high time that he steps down, and let another more capable SPJA member take over.

But I would be very surprised if Mr. "El Presidente", (As Marc Perez likes to call himself) would want to step down willingly.

[Resident-chick]

Not to be rude,but if you name yourself "El presidente",has a fake roast style panel that another perfectly great fan panel couldve had,not to mention expects a large salary and isn't there for majority of the time,then he sounds like an asshole.Someone who obviously shows no real care for the thing that's keeping money in his pocket.



I would love to see ANYONE other than this man as CEO at the moment.

[El_Duque]

Originally Posted by Freight

I'd also like to see a continuance of the 21+ Lounge. That place was an utter oasis this year.

I give it one more year before it's scrapped. I just don't see what the advantage would be over going to someone's hotel room party and doing the same thing for basically free in terms of obtaining the beverages.

[Hakaider]

I would love to see ANYONE other than this man as CEO at the moment.

A lot of people will agree with that statement, and he's become more of a hindrance than a help to Anime Expo. When the person starts caring more about keeping the "prestige" of the title of CEO, and more about himself, rather than caring about the fans, it's time for them to go. This is the same guy who likes people to personally address him as "El Presidente". (We be just lowly peasants & serfs, compared to the Great "El Presidente".)


Unfortunately, it probably will take nothing short of a miracle for him to be removed from office, or for him to voluntarily step down. He'll fight tooth & nail & just about anyone to keep that position of "El Presidente", even though he will be remembered in history as the man, (Along with Micheal Lattanzio) who led AX into the worst financial disaster of a $1.2 million debt since AX's began in 1992.



On things of a different note, the official AX forums has been down & out of service for a few weeks now.


Also, I was looking at the new upcoming Animegacon convention in Las Vegas, and it made realize just how financially broke AX really is, for this year. Animegacon is offering a $10,001 first prize for the Masquerade contestants, and lots of swags & prizes for the regular attendees. (Plus all their concerts, and their Masquerade is totally free, once you pay for their membership badge.) And the nicest thing about their panels is that they don't have a single panel that's titled, "Bad jokes by the CEO". (Plus, their chairman won't go "missing in action" during the con, unlike "El Presidente". )

http://www.animegacon.com/

[animejunkie]

Originally Posted by Resident-chick

Not to be rude,but if you name yourself "El presidente",has a fake roast style panel that another perfectly great fan panel couldve had,not to mention expects a large salary and isn't there for majority of the time,then he sounds like an asshole.Someone who obviously shows no real care for the thing that's keeping money in his pocket.



I would love to see ANYONE other than this man as CEO at the moment.

I agree 100%...anyone else would be better at this point. Someone who actually cares about AX/SPJA, the convention and the fans who support the convention every year by attending

[Freight]

Well, if the pattern from last year holds true, there will be a Board member status vote next month. We could always write letters to the Board before the vote and voice our displeasure with the direction of the CEO. It's important for the Board to know who's unhappy to improve the overall product.

[Access]

Originally Posted by Freight

Well, if the pattern from last year holds true, there will be a Board member status vote next month. We could always write letters to the Board before the vote and voice our displeasure with the direction of the CEO. It's important for the Board to know who's unhappy to improve the overall product.

Can someone go over the general background for his position?

Why was he picked as CEO, what positive qualities or qualifications he had for the job, basically why the board chose him over other candidates, etc.?

In general, why a paid CEO position is justified, especially if they don't seem to stick around for long as of late? It always seems to cause so many problems, at least from an outsider's point of view, and when they leave, they rarely leave on good terms. What does a paid CEO bring to the organization, especially when that pay is around several percent of the total (annual) revenue that the convention brings in (and that for a 20-hour work week)?

The only other convention NPO I can think of that has paid staff is comic-con, see:
http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_...201008_990.pdf
pages 7, 8
pay is around 1.5% of the annual revenue, and the only executive who gets paid close to $100,000 also has a 50-hour work week, full-time plus versus half-time. Hard to compare the two, really.

SPJA:
http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_...01012_990O.pdf
pages 7, 8

Even if one is willing to accept that paid staff is a necessity to bring the high caliber of guests of honor coming to the convention (the standard for AX being A-class talent that has never performed in the US before) it seems like they could be getting much more 'bang for their buck' than paying $150,000/yr for 20 hours a week.

Other large conventions:
Sakuracon
Otacon
Fanime
All-volunteer as far as I know, no paid staff or executives.

ie.
Otakon:
http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_...201110_990.pdf
page 7

I know they're not as big as AX, though. But comic-con is larger and that organization actually manages three different cons, comic-con (more than twice as large as AX), wondercon (about the same size as AX), and the alternative press expo or something like that.

[Hakaider]

Can someone go over the general background for his position?

Why was he picked as CEO, what positive qualities or qualifications he had for the job, basically why the board chose him over other candidates, etc.?

That's a very good question. What ARE Marc Perez's qualifications?

I know he worked as a Data Analyst temporarily for a Federal job, but he left after a few short years.

What does a paid CEO bring to the organization, especially when that pay is around several percent of the total (annual) revenue that the convention brings in (and that for a 20-hour work week)?

Wait...Marc Perez gets paid 7 percent of the total annual revenue? That's a hell of a lot more that what some people gets paid per year.

And he still gets paid that much for not showing up at the con this year? What a deal...

I know they're not as big as AX, though. But comic-con is larger and that organization actually manages three different cons, comic-con (more than twice as large as AX), wondercon (about the same size as AX), and the alternative press expo or something like that.

Both the head of Comic Con, and Otakon worked their tails off, before, during, and after their con. AX is the only big con that I know of, where the CEO doesn't show up for the con, and still gets paid for it.

[Access]

Originally Posted by Hakaider

Wait...Marc Perez gets paid 7 percent of the total annual revenue? That's a hell of a lot more that what some people gets paid per year.

And he still gets paid that much for not showing up at the con this year? What a deal...

Well that is based on 2010 numbers, the form 990's are always a few years behind...

During his one-year tenure, the CEO of 2009-2010 was paid roughly $165K, when the organization brought in roughly $2500K in revenue (line item 12). Also see line item 15, $533K (or roughly 20%) going to salaries as a whole.

Not sure what the CEO's of years past were paid, and the 2011 forms are still at least several months from being released.

[Freight]

$140,000? That's a sad amount for what was delivered, at least from my standpoint.

[Access]

Originally Posted by Freight

$140,000? That's a sad amount for what was delivered, at least from my standpoint.

Yeah, it also doesn't include the upward bump in travel expenses, etc. The 'perks' as he called them.

Going through the past forms, for 2004 form, $1038K revenue, ~$70K in wages, ~31K to the CFO (17 hour week) and exactly $30K to the CEO (19 hour week). 2005, actual pay went down, but was balanced by an 'expense account' (no idea what happened here), 2006, CEO and CFO were both the same person, ~$43K (5 hour week!), 2007, same (but now working 25 hours a week), and in 2008, ~$52K (same 25 hours a week). For the 2009 form, it was ~$50K (20 hours a week) and the CEO was only there for the latter third of the year. For the 2010 form, ~$117K (20 hours week) again only for the former two thirds of the year. So in all, it was roughly $167K compensation for the one year the CEO served.

I would hope the current numbers have gone back down. And maybe they have, but we won't know until the forms are released.

It's important that it is publicly verified, I mean, I remember all the public denials about Lattanzio being paid that much (until the forms showed otherwise).

[El_Duque]

I can't even watch the current season of AX Live, that guy with Frances sounds terrible.

[Hakaider]

I can't even watch the current season of AX Live, that guy with Frances sounds terrible.

I wouldn't be surprised if both the show's quality, and the audience numbers keeps dropping.

The former AX Live host & co-founder, Jason Pier has said in the past that, Marc Perez had made things very difficult for the show.


Let me quote again what Jason Pier had said in his blog: (FYI: While many have already seen Jason's Pier's comments about the CEO Marc Perez, many still have not, so I'm reposting it here again.)

"For awhile now, I have been observing actions taken by the CEO of the SPJA (Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, who put on Anime Expo every year) and more recently, the newly-instated Division Director of EX. Several of these actions consist of decisions that I personally do not agree with. Some of these actions include:

- The CEO’s conduct and commentary in front of representatives of several organizations during a trip to Japan from March 20th, 2012 through April 2nd, 2012.
- The CEO’s apparent lack of communication and interest in suggestions, comments, and concerns by the Anime Expo / SPJA staff on several issues, which have caused delays across the board in preparation for Anime Expo 2012.
- The SPJA Board of Directors’ lack of response to the CEO’s actions and to complaints filed by Anime Expo / SPJA staff against the CEO. This has been personally viewed as either ignorance of the problem at hand, or an unwillingness to address the issue before the 2012 convention.
- The removal of Michael Underwood as Director of EX.
- The instatement of Ann Marie Cano as Director of EX.
- The instatement of Greg Hignight as Director of Interactive Events.
- The new EX Director’s arbitrary and unilateral reinstatement of two staffers who were previously terminated with cause from EX without any consultation with the then Deputy Director (myself).

I won’t get into any more specifics here (mainly because I don’t want to deal with the SPJA’s lawyers), but there’s a LOT of questionable dealings behind the scenes at the SPJA. Before you start boycotting AX, let me say a few things:

1) EVERY. SINGLE. CON. has drama. Some are just more public about it than others.
2) This is not a bash against Anime Expo. I love AX. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have spent the past 7 years sacrificing time, money, jobs, and relationships trying to better this event. My specific issues are with the people whose actions, apparent ideals, and inaction have plunged this organization further into this downward spiral to the point where if it recovers, it will be a miracle.

Knowing all of this, there was no possible way for me in good conscience to represent the SPJA or AX in any of EX’s productions.

Last Friday, after thinking long and hard, I decided that I would have to leave the SPJA in order to protect my health and my sanity. I informed the current Director of EX of my intent to leave the organization. I promised that while I was still there, I would do all that I can to make the transition of my tasks to others as smooth as possible. The Director said she understood and I began working out the details of the transition, including the short statement I would give during my last broadcast.

While I may not believe in the current leadership or their goals for the SPJA or AX anymore, I STILL believe in AX Live and the service and benefit to the community as a whole that it was created to represent.

This morning, I was asked to come to the SPJA offices. I was informed by the CEO, Marc Perez, that I was being let go effective immediately. According to him, I had become a liability. The CEO, who has been my friend for many years and even lived together for a spell, no longer trusted me. Did he really think that I would air the SPJA’s dirty laundry on-air? (the show would run for hours if I intended to do such a thing) I shouldn’t feel too bad about this though; it seems he really doesn’t trust anybody lately, including other senior SPJA staff.

I will miss AX Live terribly, but I guess it’s for the best.

So that brings us to now. While this has hurt tremendously, it has allowed for me to re-focus my sights on my own endeavors. I have begun working on a new project, one that you will be able to thoroughly enjoy and interact with. I will post more info once certain aspects have been finalized. I will also be posting a LOT more on this site, so please keep coming back for more insights into all things Otaku.

If there’s one thing to be said about all this, it’s that although organizations may come and go, the fandom will ALWAYS survive."

Also, both the AX forums, and the SPJA website have been down for several weeks now. So right now, fan communication, comments & feedback has been cut off for the duration.