An Open Letter to JSI’s Board of Directors
Note: This open letter was emailed to Sandro Galea, the Chair of JSI’s Board of Directors. Muka Chikuba-McLeod, JSI’s CEO, was also copied.
To Chair Galea and the JSI Board of Directors,
I am a former JSI employee who was terminated last September under circumstances that I believe involved whistleblower retaliation. I recently began publicly sharing details about my termination in a series of posts on my website (https://www.mixhel.com/blog/category/JSI).
Today, I am reaching out to share concerns about how whistleblowers are protected at JSI; about whether transparency and due process are appropriately prioritized within JSI’s HR and Compliance departments; and whether appropriate governance and oversight mechanisms exist at JSI to ensure that actions by senior leaders reflect the organization’s values. These concerns stem from my experience as a whistleblower at JSI and include the following:
I was not offered whistleblower protection, or even the opportunity to follow up with an investigator, after submitting a retaliation complaint via JSI’s EthicsPoint portal.
Despite being named in my complaint, JSI’s Director of HR was assigned to lead the investigation, accepted that assignment, and denied having a conflict of interest.
JSI’s VP of Contracts and Compliance, who eventually took over the investigation, also denied the existence of a conflict of interest and completed his investigation without ever offering me a meaningful opportunity to share my concerns.
Although a member of the C-suite who oversaw both Compliance and HR was informed of my concerns as they were being reported, it does not appear that they intervened to prevent what I believe were substantial breakdowns in transparency and due process.
Ultimately, I was terminated less than six hours after JSI concluded its investigation.
In your capacity as the Board of Directors, I write in the hope that you will exercise your fiduciary responsibility and initiate a thorough and independent investigation into the concerns I have raised. I am not asking or expecting you to take my claims at face value, but I believe the following documents will be helpful in understanding my concerns:
Case JSI Finance - 2024-7-666-Retaliation.pdf (4 pages): my EthicsPoint complaint, submitted on July 1 and included in my personnel file.
Final Human Resources Investigation Report – Case #666 - Retaliation.pdf (8 pages): JSI’s final report, included in my personnel file.
mich240826e.pdf (116 pages): a narrative description of my complaint, emailed to the VP of Contracts and Compliance on August 26.
Jimi Michel Separation Agreement.pdf (6 pages): emailed by the Director of HR on September 5.
Jimi Documentation.docx(5281013).pdf (42 pages): documentation from a JSI senior leader, in the possession of JSI’s outside counsel.
John Snow Inc. Mail - Confidential Workplace Investigation - [redacted name] - Interview Transcript Notes(5282586).pdf (2 pages): emails between a JSI investigator and a senior leader who was named in my complaint, in the possession of JSI’s outside counsel.
I believe that you have access to these documents, but I am also willing to provide assistance if you have trouble locating or accessing them.
I am not asking the Board to adjudicate the validity of my claims, but rather to review the information I have provided and identified in order to determine whether my experience reflects broader systemic issues at JSI. I do, however, have two requests:
That I be given the opportunity to meet with a member of the Board, or a representative of the Board, to present additional information that I was not able to describe publicly.
That the Board review what I have written and notify me of any factual errors; opinions or commentary they believe to be harmful or unfair; and/or any other concerns so that I can review, consider, and, where appropriate, make changes and corrections.
I will conclude by sharing my motivation for writing: I am proud that teaching and mentorship occupy a central role in my professional life and, simply put, I don’t want the students and young professionals I work with to go through what I went through.
Best wishes,
Jimi Michel