After termination, Newfields HR executive makes discrimination claim

A Newfields executive hired as vice president of human resources in 2022 says the art museum and gardens fired him after he repeatedly told CEOs things about discriminatory business practices within the organization they didn’t want to hear.

Ernest Gause said he believes he was wrongfully terminated on Jan. 7, and he subsequently filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“My termination was a directed and targeted act of retaliation against me because after three CEOs in a 3-year period, I would not stop reporting discriminatory or financial mismanagement to the current CEO, Le Monte Booker,” Gause told the IBJ.

Gause’s complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, initially reported on Friday by The Indianapolis Star, includes claims that he was subjected to race- and age-based discrimination.

Gause, who established a Cincinnati chapter of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources in 2018, said he was denied a financial bonus for more than a year while white colleagues at Newfields received theirs.

“There’s always been a difference in the way that I was being treated compared to the way that my colleagues had been treated,” Gause said.

Gause, 57, told IBJ he believed he was the oldest member of Newfields’ eight-member executive team. That is not the case, however. Jonathan Berger, vice president of marketing and external affairs, is 59. Gause is one year older than Booker, who began his tenure as CEO in October.

Newfields shared with IBJ the following response to Gause’s claims of discrimination:

“Since the recent arrival of Le Monte Booker as the Newfields president and CEO, our diverse senior management team has initiated efforts to conduct an institution-wide evaluation of operations. As part of this review, Ernest Gause is no longer employed by Newfields. His departure is in no way related to discrimination including race, gender or age. Newfields will continue its inside-out review of the organization, including its processes and procedures, to chart the strategic direction envisioned by its new leadership to ensure we achieve our mission to enrich lives through exceptional experiences with art and nature.”

Gause’s role at Newfields was one created as part of a 2021 action plan focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and access. His title upon being hired three years ago was vice president of human resources and chief people officer.

At the time, Newfields Chief Financial Officer Jerry Wise was serving as interim CEO.

Colette Pierce Burnette was hired as CEO in August 2022. Burnette, the organization’s first Black top executive, was on the job until November 2023—when her departure was abrupt and unexplained. Newfields provided no comment on Burnette’s exit, citing a policy of not discussing details of internal employment matters.

Michael Kubacki, a former Newfields board member and former chair of Lake City Bank, served as interim CEO until Booker’s arrival in October. Booker is the second Black top executive in the history of Newfields, which originated in 1883 as the Art Association of Indianapolis.

Gause said he received a top rating of “5” during a September job performance review. His responsibilities expanded in 2024, with his role defined as chief people, diversity and technology officer at the time of his dismissal.

Gause said his firing occurred during a brief meeting with Booker.

“I asked if it was based on my performance or if we were making an organizational shift or recalibration,” Gause said. “Organizations shift and they move. You have adjustments that take place all the time. I said, ‘Maybe I’m misunderstanding something.’ … At that point I was told nothing. He said, ‘I’m not talking to you about this.’”

Despite positive job performance reviews, Gause said, his standing at Newfields likely was hurt by his opposition to Burnette’s practices when she served as CEO. Gause said he filed an eight-page complaint with the organization’s board. The document, he said, detailed Burnette’s “systematic targeting of staff.”

When asked if the document factored in Burnette’s departure, Gause said he did not know.

Although Gause worked under two CEOs and two interim CEOs, one constant of Newfields oversight has been Darrianne Christian, the board chair since May 2021.

Gause declined to say if he believed Christian—the first Black woman to serve as chair—shared his concerns about accusations of discriminatory business practices on the part of Burnette and Booker.

“I don’t try to speak on other people’s behalf,” Gause said. “I just speak from my own truth.”

Regarding his interactions with Burnette and Booker, Gause said relationships became increasingly strained with each red flag he raised about mismanagement of funds and the mishandling of contracts.

“You say, ‘I want some structure, I want some guidance,’” said Gause, characterizing his perception of why he was hired. “But when it’s time to put in that structure and guidance, you say, ‘I don’t want to necessarily follow the structure and guidance.’”

Gause said he advised Booker against giving an “executive level” bonus of $15,000 to a staff member who’s not an executive. Gause said the appropriate bonus, according to Newfields’ compensation policy, would have been $2,000.

According to Gause, he was told by Booker to ignore the policy.

“This pay inequity could be viewed as a discriminatory pay practice with the Department of Labor and the EEOC,” Gause said. “After having to defend the organization from similar claims in the past from both the Department of Labor and the EEOC for Newfields’ business practices, I remained committed to protecting the organization from future claims by reporting these instances to the CEO and board of trustees.”

Gause also cited an incident of theft that caused friction with Booker.

“I caught an employee stealing and I reported it to the CEO,” Gause said. “I said, ‘This is a problem.’ In turn, the CEO said, ‘I’ll take over the investigation for the employee theft.’ That’s actually improper. Why would CEOs take over HR investigations?”

On Friday, the IBJ published an interview with Booker in which he talked about his first two months as Newfields CEO.

“My role is focused on what it takes to run a high-functioning, very effective institution,” Booker said during a December conversation.

Booker manages an executive team made up of CFO Wise, marketing leader Berger and:

• Belinda Tate, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
• Jonathan Wright, director of The Garden and of the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park
• Grace Meils, vice president of advancement
• Monica Richardson, chief of staff

A chief operating officer role has been unfilled since 2023, when Kathryn Haigh left Newfields to become CEO of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

In December, Booker told the IBJ it was too early to say if he would hire a COO.

Gause’s claims of discrimination add another controversial chapter for Newfields, which has spent the early part of the decade mired in turmoil.

Associate Curator of American Art Kelli Morgan, who was hired to organize culturally diverse galleries at the museum, resigned in 2020 and cited a toxic and discriminatory work environment when announcing her exit.

CEO Charles Venable resigned in 2021, following a job posting (for the new role of Indianapolis Museum of Art director ultimately filled by Tate in November 2023) that referenced a need to maintain “the museum’s traditional, core, white art audience” while attempting to attract guests from all backgrounds.

And in 2023, six board members stepped down in the weeks before and after the announcement of Burnette’s exit.