Operation Underground Railroad is overhauling its board of directors, replacing several longtime members — many of them hand-picked and in some cases family members of OUR founder Tim Ballard — with members with fewer ties to the embattled Ballard.
The move comes as OUR faces civil lawsuits from multiple women alleging that Ballard engaged in sexual misconduct and sexual assault and the board was complicit in his acts by failing to take appropriate action to warn them or distance themselves from Ballard.
Among the new board’s first job will be choosing a chief executive officer to replace Ballard, who was ousted last June from the organization he started in 2013.
Board members who are no longer with the nonprofit include — according to OUR’s 2020 tax filing — Mark Blake, who is Ballard’s brother-in-law, and Marc Reynolds, who is the brother of another Ballard brother-in-law.
Others no longer on the board are Steven Fairbanks, Wes Mortensen and Craig Andersen. All five of the previous members of the board are listed as individual co-defendants in two of the four civil lawsuits filed against Ballard and OUR.
The new board is made up of three men and three women.
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