Grand Universe CEO sued by chief operating officer over alleged non-payment of salary

A conceptual drawing of what a space and science center could look like at Grand Universe in Westfield. (Image courtesy city of Westfield)

An executive with the Westfield-based organization that plans to develop a $1.2 billion science and space exploration complex near Grand Park Sports Campus has sued the firm, alleging he hasn’t received a large portion of the compensation he is contractually owed.

Kurt Williams claims the nonprofit Grand Universe Space Science Institute Inc. has failed to pay him more than $2 million since he began working for the organization in 2015—first as deputy director and more recently as chief operating officer.

In the lawsuit, filed in Marion Superior Court on Nov. 21, Williams said was still employed by the organization at that time, although his name is not now listed on the Grand Universe website.

The lawsuit alleges the organization and its CEO, Gregory McCauley, have refused to pay Williams wages that were agreed to in a 2018 employment contract. It also alleges McCauley, who along with Grand Universe Inc. and the for-profit development sister company Grand Universe Development Partners LLC is named as a defendant, has unjustly enriched himself and the company and improperly removed Williams from the board of directors.

McCauley declined to comment when contacted by IBJ. McCauley is represented by attorneys Melissa Macchia and Tristan Fretwell of Indianapolis-based law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.

“Kurt Williams has been a valuable asset to Grand Universe, and he feels that he has been treated terribly,” Mark Waterfill, a Plainfield-based attorney representing Williams, said.

What the lawsuit says

According to the complaint, McCauley and Williams spoke in 2015 after McCauley made a presentation regarding his work at the Link Observatory and Space Science Center Corp., the original name of Grand Universe Inc. Williams told McCauley that “he wasn’t thinking big enough” and that the endeavor of providing educational initiatives based on space could be much larger.

McCauley and Williams met again later, and Williams became deputy director, a member of the board of directors and secretary of the board of directors of Grand Universe Inc. Williams was later named chief operating officer.

The complaint says that under an original oral agreement between McCauley and Williams that Williams would be paid $50 per hour and a portion of that amount would be delayed until Grand Universe Inc. could afford to pay him. It adds that Williams loaned Grand Universe Inc. $10,000 in May 2015 and was never repaid.

In 2016, the Grand Universe Inc. board of directors passed a resolution saying Williams would receive a salary of $120,000 per year and McCauley would make $150,000 per year, and the salaries would be partially delayed until the organization had more money. The board of directors met the next year and passed another resolution, which increased Williams and McCauley’s salaries to $250,000 each.

“The minutes reflect for both men that these salaries were ‘to be paid in full as funding became available’ and that these salaries were ‘to continue at this level until such time as deemed by the Board to adjust it,’” the complaint says.

In 2018, Williams signed an employment agreement with Grand Universe Inc. that said he would continue in the roles of chief operating officer and vice president “for the 2018 fiscal year and continuing thereafter until terminated in accordance with this Agreement.” The complaint says none of the terms of the employment agreement have been changed and no documents have been signed that changed any of the terms.

The complaint adds that from 2015 to 2020, Williams received some salary from Grand Universe Inc., but as of April 2020, he was owed $739,509. It says he “confronted McCauley with a demand to have these wages paid, but Mr. McCauley refused.”

At a Grand Universe Inc. board meeting in October 2023, McCauley announced the creation of Grand Universe LLC, a for-profit company, and that he had committed Grand Universe Inc., the nonprofit, to be its tenant. The complaint alleges McCauley created the for-profit company without board discussion or approval, in violation of Grand Universe Inc. bylaws. It claims McCauley did not provide Williams with an opportunity to participate in Grand Universe LLC.

“According to the Indiana Secretary of State, Grand Universe LLC was created on July 18, 2024,” the complaint says. “Obviously, Mr. McCauley hid this information from [Williams] and the Board of Grand Universe, Inc. for at least three months.”

Williams received a message on Dec. 8, 2023, from McCauley saying Williams had been removed from the nonprofit Grand Universe Inc. board of directors. Williams responded saying the move was illegal because removal of a board member requires 10 days’ notice to all board members, and McCauley did not respond.

The complaint notes that recently plans for the $1.2 billion Grand Universe project in Westfield were announced and says Williams has been “excluded … of any opportunity to participate in this new venture.” Williams alleges that he has been excluded from the development process, even as ideas he proposed have been incorporated into the project.

The complaint also says Grand Universe LLC has used “the name, goodwill and assets” of Grand Universe Inc. to create the new business opportunity in Westfield.

“[T]he name, assets and goodwill of the nonprofit organization Grand Universe, Inc., have been commingled with and misused by the for-profit entity Grand Universe, LLC in an illegal fashion,” the complaint says.

Williams claims to be entitled to a slew of damages, including treble, compensatory, liquidated, punitive and money damages, as well as his absent wages, declaratory judgement, attorney fees and costs and pre- and post-judgement interest.

Plans in Westfield

The Grand Universe project in Westfield is expected to comprise 66 acres between 186th and 191st streets, just east of the Grand Park Sports Campus. As proposed, the project would feature four districts, along with science, technology, engineering and math-related installations involving rockets, rocket boosters, engines and outer space.

The first two phases of the project—which the city of Westfield has so far not been asked to financially participate in—would include construction of a 170,000-square-foot Grand Universe Center for Science and Space Exploration featuring a full-dome planetarium and a hotel.

The second phase of construction would include a sports-focused district and a commercial and mixed-use development with multifamily housing. Each phase is expected to cost about $600 million.

The Grand Universe project is led by McCauley and the development group’s CEO, Arden Johnson. From 2012 to 2018, McCauley operated the Link Observatory Space Science Institute near Martinsville, also employing Williams during that period.