Emmy Nutting posted an online petition seeking the resignation of Neil Stamps as CEO of Girl Scouts of R.I. Credit: EG News
Emmy Nutting, 11, said she doesn’t have anything against men, but she doesn’t think a man should lead the Girl Scouts of Rhode Island. That’s why she posted an online petition last week asking GSRI CEO Neil Stamps to resign. As of Tuesday evening, the petition had gotten 69 signatures.
Stamps was named CEO two weeks ago, after serving as interim since September.
Neil Stamps is CEO of the Girl Scouts of Rhode Island. Credit: GSRI
“I feel like a man shouldn’t be running the Girl Scouts,” said Emmy over the weekend. “I don’t have anything against men – men are good leaders. Women are good leaders too and there are so few women CEOs. Especially for an organization to help girls, i just don’t think that’s right.”
Emmy is in the fifth grade at Eldredge Elementary School. She has been in Girl Scouts for two years, joining it because her friends were in it.
“It’s fun. We get to go to different places, do crafts and I get to know people from other schools,” she said. She learned about Stamps’ appointment from her mother, Odessa Cozzolino.
“The gap between women and men in top leadership positions is so huge that organizations like GSRI have an obligation to try to remedy that,” said Cozzolino. “Children learn by example and what the GSRI is
teaching with this appointment is that men, even if they are a small minority of an organization, can still take the top paid position and manage all the women and girls working under them. It is unconscionable for the GSRI to have made this decision.”
Stamps is GSRI’s fourth CEO. The three previous CEOs have been women. According to GSRI communications director Nicole Kelly, while having a man head a Girl Scout “council” isn’t common, it does happen. She cited there’d been a male CEO at another council as recently as five years ago.
Stamp spent 30 years in the jewelry industry, most recently at LDC, Inc., where he served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Board Chair Lisa DeCubellis noted his “vast experience in finance operations and new technology” in the press release that was issued after his appointment.
Stamps said he was “truly honored” to head GSRI, noting his daughter had been a Girl Scout a decade ago. And, in a statement Tuesday, he said he saw Emmy’s petition as an example of the “courage, confidence and character” Girl Scouts looks to instill.
“We applaud the initiative taken by Emmy Nutting, one of our own young Girl Scouts from East Greenwich, to start a petition to get her point of view across,” said Stamps. “I look forward to having her come in so we can listen to her concerns in person. The mission of Girl Scouting is to build girls of courage, confidence and character and, clearly, Emmy is just such a girl!”
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You can sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/dear-mr-stamps-i-think-you-should-resign-and-let-a-woman-take-over-the-job-as-ceo-of-gsri?utm_medium=email&utm_source=notification&utm_campaign=new_petition_recruit#share
I have been a registered Girl Scout for fifty-years in Rhode Island. Having a male CEO is totally contrary to everything that the Girl Scouts promote. The message that it is being sent today is that Girl Scouts of Rhode Island was either completely unable to find a qualified woman executive or else merely took the easy way out and hired the nearest person.
I am so mad!!! How many times is the Girl Scout office going to lose paperwork for camp!!!! After ALL the work these girls did in the freezing cold!!! You are acting like a bunch of losers not standing up for what is right for our girls!! If this male CEO cannot figure it out then he should get out!!! So much for showing our girls empowerment and honor! If you as an organization cannot get your act together there will be a worse attendance than there is now. I will not stand up for or be part of an organization that is not there for there members! Where is your loyalty?!? If you haven’t guessed yet I am very pissed and I know a lot of people. Word of mouth is the best form of publicity! I will be watching. I can put my efforts elsewhere just as easily as I put them here. Call me 401-793-1896. I will be passing on what u did to is at Troop 388. Not the first time you have lost our paperwork it is every time and we are sick of it! Find some competent people for yourain office. Seems like monkeys could do better! Thanks a bunch Cranston RI office. You ruined this experience for my kid!
Hello, Barbara, I understand that you have some issues and anger. In this forum there is only have one issue. It might have been more helpful if you had stayed calm and on topic. I hope that while you are dealing in person with your girls that only girl related issues are presented to them. They do not need to get sucked into adult issues and anger. I love Scouting and have a trefoil tattoo to show for it. If you love Scouting, too, maybe your finger might remain away from the “send” key a little longer than it did this time.
As one person said there was a lack of qualified woman. No surprise there judging by the remarks made by the ones comments on this page, very few East Greenwich women to say the least will ever be qualified.