While that was apparently all Warren had to add — at least until we check e-mail again — the NBAA had yet to formally respond. That changed on April 16, when association Chairman Don Baldwin wrote a letter to the membership. It changed again two days later when former NBAA President Jack Olcott wrote his own letter. Baldwins letter started out, in part, by noting that, “Until now, the Board had tried to remain generous in its comments regarding the separation. However, we must now set the record straight.” The Baldwin letter went on to say that Warrens “version of events contains wholesale misrepresentations of role, fact and emphasis.” Specifically, according to Baldwin, “Ms. Longmuir and Mr. Warren failed to follow through on a whole host of issues they raised, despite receiving the Board’s complete approval and repeated urging to implement approved changes over many months.” Perhaps in response to Warrens charges — perhaps by coincidence — Baldwins letter also announced the hiring of a new director of security and said that the NBAA had “instituted improvements in our financial controls, including changing investment counsel.”
But the NBAA didnt stop there. Perhaps the association figured that, if Warren got two bites at the apple — his letter and his interview — so should the association. So, in further response, Olcott sent his own letter to NBAA members, referencing both the Warren letter that started it all as well as the National Journal article. Olcotts letter on April 18 — Olcott retired from the NBAA in 2003, as Longmuir came aboard, and now is president of his own firm, General Aero Company Inc. — was a much more detailed refutation of Warrens accusations than Baldwin had written — or could have written. Instead, Olcott — from his perspective as Longmuirs predecessor and, perhaps, from his need to perfect and protect his own legacy as the NBAAs prez — responded to many of the opinions in Warrens letter and interview with opinions of his own. Those included his belief that “‘business as usual’ at NBAA was characterized by a high level of Staff productivity.” Olcott closed his letter, in part, by noting that Warren had been a “key member of an Office of the President that never seemed to find its stride.”
