The chief operating officer of the Smithsonian has resigned, and its board has adopted new governance guidelines to avoid scandals such as the one that engulfed the Institution earlier this year.

Sheila Burke, COO and deputy secretary of the Smithsonian, is stepping down because she felt a leadership change was needed, acting Secretary Cristian Samper said at a news conference Monday. She will remain in her position until Sept. 30.

The Smithsonian has been plagued by controversy since it discovered that secretary Lawrence Small had made $90,000 in unauthorized expenses and charged the institution more than $1 million to use his mansion for official functions. Small resigned in March.

The Board of Regents voted to accept 25 governance changes after studying the best practices of 13 other nonprofit organizations, said Patty Stonesifer, chair of the governance committee.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Among other things, executives would be forbidden from serving on corporate boards. Roger Sant, chair of the Regents’ executive committee, said the change may have played a role in the resignation of Burke, who sat on two corporate boards, although it was not the deciding factor. Sant also said it would be “overstating” to suggest that the Regents urged Burke to resign.

The Smithsonian’s chancellor and chairman now will become separate positions.

The chancellor historically has been the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Separating the positions will make the chairman responsible for day-to-day operations and for any problems that might arise, Sant said.

The board changed the leadership of its committees and will be required to meet at least four times a year, up from the current three. Sant said the meetings will still be closed to the public. Compensation for staff will also be brought more in line with federal levels.

Sant said the board looked at a wide range of reforms and even considered having the entire board resign.

More changes could be on the way. An independent committee is scheduled to report to the board later this week.

Stonesifer said the problems with Small occurred because of leadership issues.

“In many cases we did not get the information we needed to understand what was going on, but at times we didn’t ask for that additional information,” Stonesifer said.

The board has enlisted search firm Isaacson, Miller to find a new secretary and hopes to announce Small’s replacement early next year.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com