News

Napa tourism boss accused of mismanaging funds

24 July 2024 By Sarah Neish

Tourism body Visit Napa Valley has moved to squash rumours that its CEO kept staff and board members in the dark about the organisation’s spending.

In a four-page letter written by 10 current and former employees of Visit Napa Valley, concerns were raised about CEO Linsey Gallagher allegedly mismanaging funds.

The missive follows on from employees previously contacting the board with prior allegations of policy violations at Gallagher’s hand back in May.

The recent letter alleges that Gallagher fostered a toxic workplace and mismanaged funds. However, the Visit Napa Valley board has moved quickly to squash the rumours after hiring a “neutral third party” to carry out an investigation.

After interviewing the complainants for up to three hours each, the third party concluded “there is no evidence that in any way supports the workplace bullying or financial impropriety allegations,” Emma Swain, chair of the Visit Napa Valley board, told local publication The Press Democrat.

“Our board has complete faith in the team at Visit Napa Valley to carry out our mission and continue to build on Napa Valley’s reputation as a leader in the tourism industry,” Swain added.

As the letter was unsigned, and therefore anonymous, Swain said that the board would not act on it. However, she stressed that complaints had already been addressed during the previous investigation.

“I do want to note…that we have addressed all these issues by providing each employee complainant with a detailed summary of the investigator’s findings in addition to an opportunity to meet with a board member to discuss; only a few of the employees took us up on the opportunity,” she said.

The 10 anonymous contributors to the letter claim that after Gallagher was cleared by the third-party investigation (which, they say, was mishandled) she singled them out for revenge.

Pattern of deception

In the letter, the 10 concerned members of staff highlight an alleged ‘pattern of deception’ in Gallagher’s handling of public funds.

The CEO oversees an annual budget of around US$8 million, and the organisation is also partially publicly funded via a 2% tax applied on lodging in the Napa County ‘Tourism Improvement District’. This district was established in June, 2010, after members of the lodging industry (hotels, motels, B&Bs) in Napa County voted to adopt it, and is supported by the cities of American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa and St. Helena, the Town of Yountville, among others.

The letter raises concerns about Gallagher allocating funds away from the improvement district, and says that she kept staff and board members in the dark about her spending decisions. It is also alleged that she provided “false information” on a number of occasions.

According to Swain, the financial allegations were made “after the annual audit was completed, and the independent investigator has confirmed no evidence of wrongdoing.”

Tourism is Napa County’s second-largest industry, generating more than US$2.2 billion in annual spending. Around 35.5% of visiting tourists to Napa County stay overnight and would therefore potentially benefit from work facilitated by the Tourism Improvement District tax.