Curtis Riskey, who has served as president of the CBA since 2010, has resigned as part of a general overhaul of the organization being conducted by Edward Roush.
Earlier this year, the Dallas-based entrepreneur invested $1 million dollars in the CBA, giving him 75% ownership of its for-profit arm, CBA Service Corporation. The news of his investment was announced at the CBA annual trade show, UNITE, in July. Now, Roush is drastically reorganizing the CBA’s staff and services in order to “build a trade association that is strong enough to meaningfully help the industry,” according to Deborah Mash, president of CBA Media, a subsidiary of CBA Service Corporation.
"CBA has been a poorly managed debt machine for many years, so Mr. Roush’s efforts to restructure the organization were imperative and unfortunately indicative of many of the problems in the industry as a whole," Mash said in an email to PW.
In addition to the departure of Riskey, several other staff members have been terminated, while others were given reduced duties, which led them to leave, according to Mash.
While still in circulation, CBA’s magazine, Christian MARKET, is also undergoing changes. For one thing, after an internal audit, it will no longer pay for unsolicited or unpublished articles.
CBA had promised more information on what is occurring at the association in a statement on its website Friday, but nothing has yet been released.
UNITE 2019 is still scheduled for June 25-28, 2019 at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland with help from events manager for the CBA Tricia Jones.
