Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - October 25, 2007
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com
His last day will be November 2. Instead of hiring an interim executive director, the agency's current management team will oversee operations during the transition. Former board member Becca Russell will lead the search for a new executive director and will assist with some administrative duties.
McMullin, 61, said he never intended to remain with the agency for more than four years, and with a new strategic plan nearly completed, he felt it was time to step down. He is already in talks with three potential employers, both in the nonprofit and for-profit sector.
"What I really like to do, and what I have done for the last 13 years, I have gone into agencies and looked at what currently exists, what needs to be changed, make the changes, and move on," said McMullin, who relocated from Los Angeles, where he was the development director for the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, to take the Stop AIDS job. "I plan to stay in San Francisco. I am really, really having a good time here."
McMullin's time as head of the agency was relatively controversy-free compared to that of his predecessors, who faced near constant scrutiny of Stop AIDS' programs from federal health officials and conservative lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and the loss of its federal funding in 2004.
Stop AIDS reported revenue of $1.6 million on its 2006 990 tax form, and paid McMullin $95,250 last year, plus $11,340 in benefits. He had been hired at a base pay of $93,000.
According to the agency, it has seen a 63 percent increase in funding from private sources since it hired McMullin. The rest comes from city funds.
"The city has been great to us. They have been really supportive," said McMullin.
This year McMullin said the agency's budget has climbed to $1.8 million. He also increased his staff's pay.
"The highest priority was increasing salaries for staff. The staff hung in through those lean years and really deserved to be rewarded for that," he said.
He also oversaw the agency's retooling of its programming to focus on core areas where gay men meet their sexual partners, from gyms to bars to the Internet. Stop AIDS is believed to be the first-in-the-nation to implement a sexual network approach for its HIV prevention efforts.
Not everything worked as planned, though, and McMullin said his replacement would need to fine-tune the agency's approach. While working in the bars and clubs - the genesis for launching its BAR AIDS fundraiser - has proven to be effective, sending staffers into gyms has not, said McMullin. He said Stop AIDS' work online also needs to be expanded in coming years.
"It probably will be reformatted in some ways," he said. "Parts of it work really well and some parts don't work as well."
McMullin's time at the agency was not without its hiccups. Some gay black leaders questioned the agency's commitment to the African American community due to the length of time it took to hire a manager of its Our Love black men's program. McMullin had said the delay in hiring was due to the position's low pay scale.
More recently Wells Fargo dropped its sponsorship of the agency's three-year-old Queens Are Wild Halloween fundraiser after the event was moved to the Porn Palace. Some individual donors to the agency also called to complain about the decision and said they would no longer support Stop AIDS.
McMullin said he understood the bank's concerns and that Wells Fargo did not pull back on its monetary donation. It is still giving the agency $25,000 this year and is in talks of becoming a lead sponsor of another Stop AIDS' fundraiser.
"They did not want to have their support visible through the event. That is always an issue with us. It is nothing new," he said. "Because we are edgy, certain people we do business with don't want to have as much visibility on this event. I have no problem with that. They are doing business with other people than just gay men in San Francisco."
McMullin said the decision to relocate the party, which takes place this Friday, October 26, was based on finding a sexier venue. The switch seems to have been prescient; he said ticket sales have already exceeded last year's.
"It didn't feel like a casino," he said of the previous year's location. "This is going to be fun and sexy. It is going to be a great party."
For more information about Stop AIDS programs or to buy tickets to Queens Are Wild, visit www.stopaids.org.
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