Finances

Published by The National Herald, March 11, 2005

J. Payiavlas: L100 is Not Meant to Fix Archdiocese Finances

BOSTON – The Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Endowment Fund, the permanent endowment instituted two decades ago during Archbishop Iakovos’ archpastoral ministry, is holding its annual conference this weekend in Phoenix, Arizona.

Leadership 100 became an independent organization a few years ago, although its main office still operates at Archdiocesan headquarters in Manhattan and its executive director is a priest (currently Rev. Demetrios Antokas), who is officially appointed by the Archbishop.

John Payiavlas, a highly successful businessman from Warren, Ohio, is now Chairman of the organization.

In an interview by telephone from Phoenix, Mr. Payiavlas discussed various aspects of Leadership 100. According to Mr. Payiavlas, the organization has $51 million in its coffers today and, over the last 20 years, has donated $19 million to various Church ministries. Only the interest earned can be used, he pointed out. The principle remains inviolate. The text of the interview follows.

PAYIAVLAS: I think we are doing very well. We started to be accepted around the country. In our own little way, we’re trying to help Hellenism and Orthodoxy; to help our Church. I think we are spreading the right message that we here to help as much as we can.

PAYIAVLAS: One of my main objectives is to thank the many members who have taken the time to attend these conferences. It is expensive and time-consuming, but all our members have one thing in mind: to try to do the best they can for our Church, our faith, and also our Hellenism. I want to assure and emphasize to them that it is a very important cause.

PAYIAVLAS: Approximately $51 million. The money is irrevocable; in other words, we never touch the principle.

TNH: But Leadership 100 does give 5 percent from the interest earned annually, right?

PAYIAVLAS: Yes, which amounts to about $2.5 million. To date, we have given at least $19 million in grants over 20 years for ministries and programs that have to do with Orthodoxy and Hellenism.

TNH: The Archdiocese presently has a debt between nine and ten million dollars. Do you think Leadership 100 could help to retire this debt?

PAYIAVLAS: I don’t think we can do it. Our charter states that we can not pay debts. We are completely separate from the Archdiocese. We are here to help advance the ministries of the Church, not to erase debt incurred from operational costs. Personally, I think the biggest challenge in our Church and Hellenism is the school of Theology in Brookline (Massachusetts), and I am going to try as hard as I can to do as much as we can, because the school is going through difficult times. We have more and more retired priests with each passing year, and less and less goes into the Church. Our scholarship program also helps seminarians pay for their education. I think that our future is really in our priests. We have given out $10 million dollars in scholarships. We are trying to get some numbers from the School. We do feel that the enrollment, because of our scholarship program, is higher that ever, but are we paying off the debt of present priest.

PAYIAVLAS: We have a grant committee which consists of six to eight people, and the entire membership is free to write proposals and send them to the grant committee. The grant committee looks them over; they go to the Archbishop and go over it together; and then they go to the executive board. We do not necessarily have to approve them. The executive committee makes the final decision on all grants.

TNH: If Archbishop Demetrios makes a recommendation, would the executive committee consider it?

PAYIAVLAS: We consider his recommendation very highly, but do not necessarily approve it.

TNH: You mentioned the word Hellenism a few times during this interview. Why has Leadership100 not given a single dollar for Elliniki Paideia (Hellenic Education), or for Hellenism? Why have you not supported the Greek day and afternoon schools? What kind of Hellenism does Leadership 100 support?

PAYIAVLAS: I could be wrong, but I do not think that no school has asked for a grant.

PAYIAVLAS: Well, I have only been chairman for just one year. Probably my strongest supporter, who I work closely together with, is George Behrakis, and the Greek schools are number one on his list. Maybe we are going to look really seriously into doing something.

TNH: What is Leadership 100’s annual budget for operating expenses – office, salaries, trips?

PAYIAVLAS: Approximately $800 thousand a year. Almost half of it is for salaries. The other half is for annual conference expenses – mailing, communications, consultants that we pay.

TNH: Is (Archdiocesan Chief Administrator) Jerry Demetriou one of the consultants?

PAYIAVLAS: Yes. Jerry helps us to make sure the funds come in; he gives us some auditing reports.

TNH: He is a high-ranking employee of the Archdiocese. Does he also receive a second salary from the Leadership 100?

PAYIAVLAS: Well, he works as a consultant because we are totally separate from the Archdiocese, and we asked for his services.

TNH: Is he doing it while he is working for the Archdiocese or is he putting extra hours?

PAYIAVLAS: I don’t know. His work isn’t that much. I think he gives us our annual report.

TNH: Can you tell us how much the consultant fee is that Jerry Demetriou is getting from Leadership 100?

TNH: The Herald has learned that, two years ago, the budget was $400 thousand, and suddenly, it jumped to $800 hundred. What happened?

PAYIAVLAS: I’m almost positive the last four years it was between $750-850 thousand. What happened before that, I do not know.

TNH: Members of the leadership committee have requested an audit. Are you going to have it done?

PAYIAVLAS: We have a certified audit done every year, and we actually give everybody the audit. Tomorrow, in the general assembly, everybody will get a certified audit, and they will approve the budget for the following year.

TNH: Why was a separate faith endowment fund formed? Was Leadership 100 not enough?

PAYIAVLAS: I am terribly preoccupied with Leadership 100, and I would not want to address the new faith endowment.

PAYIAVLAS: That is a very good question. I really don’t know. I do feel that our interfaith marriages are a challenge. I think it’s a positive thing, and it should be able to be handled. I really kind of stay out of (the political side of) Church affairs. I don’t know where it’s going. We are a little island in a vast ocean in this country.

TNH: How come our Archdiocese is again facing such a huge debt, to the tune of $10 million? What is going on? Is it due to mismanagement, overstuffing, lack of funding, lack of leadership, a combination of all that together?

PAYIAVLAS: I would not know that. I would not to comment on that. I’m spending all my efforts on Leadership 100.

TNH: But at the same time, you are a member of the executive committee of the Archdiocesan Council. Don’t you feel that you have a fiduciary responsibility to know what is going on?

TNH: Why has (former L100 Executive Director) Father Alex Karloutsos left Leadership 100? What happened?

PAYIAVLAS: I’m 99 percent sure that he left on his own. He accomplished what he wanted to accomplish, and he moved on.



Volume 7 Number 11 - Tuesday, March 15th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY