Statement by 

Roger Sant, Chairman, Executive Committee 

Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents 

The Board of Regents welcomes and accepts the report of the Independent Review Committee (IRC) 

and thanks the IRC for its work. Coupled with our own Governance Committee’s recommendations 

for new policies, which were adopted on June 18, we are confident the work of these two committees 

will improve governance at the Smithsonian. 

Many of the IRC’s findings are blunt and call for further review by the Regents. The gravity of the 

conclusions highlighted a number of deficiencies in our oversight of the Institution. We are sobered 

by the findings on executive compensation, financial controls and ineffective policies. We take all the 

findings very seriously. 

At the same time, we are gratified that, despite some troubles at the top, the IRC’s exhaustive review 

confirmed the Smithsonian is ethical and professional. It is a tribute to the dedicated Smithsonian 

staff that the committee concluded there was “no evidence to indicate that the strong ethical 

principles that have characterized the Smithsonian over the years have been compromised.” 

In March, the Regents commissioned the IRC to provide a completely independent assessment of 

recent concerns surrounding executive compensation and expenses. We established the permanent 

Governance Committee at the same time with a mandate to comprehensively review the 

Smithsonian’s policies and practices, and how the Board conducts its oversight. 

We are pleased to note that the IRC's recommendations substantially track those of the Governance 

Committee. Reaching similar conclusions from such dissimilar approaches gives us strong 

confidence that the critical weaknesses and policy gaps prompting these reviews have been 

addressed. 

While the IRC's comprehensive report will prove valuable as we move forward, we are disappointed 

that the Committee may have overlooked the remarkable successes of the Smithsonian leadership and 

staff over the past seven years: the National Museum of the American Indian opened; the National 

Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened; the Donald W. Reynolds Center for 

American Art and Portraiture was created in a renovated Patent Office Building; and the Institution's 

trust budget was balanced. 

These achievements do not excuse the findings in the IRC's report, but they do underscore the 

vibrancy and incredible resiliency of the Smithsonian Institution. 

We are grateful to the IRC for this important report and thank the committee's chairman, Charles A. 

Bowsher, former Comptroller General of the United States, and its members, Stephen D. Potts, and 

A.W. "Pete" Smith, Jr., for their hard work and commitment to improving the Smithsonian. 

It has been a difficult four months. The Smithsonian has completed a thorough internal and external 

review of our governance policies and procedures. We have identified and are learning from our 

mistakes. We are now turning the corner. We’re focused on the future—a smarter and stronger 

Institution energized by a renewed commitment to our mission, “the increase and diffusion of 

knowledge.” 

6/20/07 

Smithsonian Institution