Keith Warren, the contracted executive director for more than a dozen state occupational boards, is no longer CEO of the Smith Warren Management Co.
The change was effective Thursday, according to a letter Warren sent his employees and obtained by Alabama Daily News.
“I am pleased to announce that Brannon Littleton will be assuming the roles of CEO and CFO,” Warren wrote. “Mr. Littleton will be responsible for leading the company on a daily basis and establishing and enforcing all operational policies, including employment decisions and compensation.
“While I will remain president and owner of the company, I will immediately withdraw from daily business activities.”
The letter said Warren will now only be available for communications with Littleton, board members and legislative personnel.
Warren said he will remain executive director of the boards the company manages. He’ll also participate in contract planning and requests for proposals and interact with “board members to ensure their needs are heard and met, serving as a liaison between the company and the board.”
Warren said he will no longer be available for phone calls or emails from employees or licensees.
“My primary communication will be with board members and legislative personnel,” he wrote.
Occupational boards regulate and license dozens of professions in the state and collect fees and fines from those they license. Though the board members are appointed by the governor and other elected officials, they can contract with third parties for administrative services.
In 2022, 15 boards paid Smith Warren a combined $1.6 million for management services, including providing licensing exams and services.
Warren’s management of some of the professional licensing boards has come under criticism in the last year. Lawmakers made the rare move to dissolve the state massage board last year after an audit by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, which regularly audits all state government agencies, found 13 issues with the massage board.
Those included Warren being paid his monthly fee before services were provided, noncompliance with open meeting rules, waiting two months before notifying the Secretary of State of a board member resignation, and issuing a license to someone who hadn’t met requirements.
Separately, last year lawmakers questioned why the Board of Electrical Contractors, managed by Warren’s company, was collecting fees not authorized under law.
In a statement Thursday evening to ADN, Warren said the change will allow him to focus on high-level strategic and crisis-related matters boards face. He said the leaking of the letter to employees was unfortunate.
“We regret that this internal communication was shared, without authorization, which may have caused misunderstandings,” the statement said. “I would have preferred to inform the boards directly about our internal restructuring, as I believed there would have been ample time to do so. Unfortunately, the leak deprived us of that opportunity.
“… The only significant change is that our capable licensing managers and staff will now handle minor issues, freeing me to address higher-priority concerns. Historically, I have been occupied with simple licensing inquiries, which has prevented me from performing other crucial duties expected of a board director. My goal is to utilize our staff more efficiently, creating a hierarchy of duties that aligns with everyone’s roles.”
Warren’s announcement has at least some lawmakers questioning his existing contracts to manage boards. Those contracts are with Smith Warren Management, not Warren directly, but he has long been the face of the company.
“If you look at his letter and the things that he says he’s not doing anymore you have to wonder what he is doing,” Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, said. “He’s not taking phone calls or emails from employees, who are essentially doing the work for the board, and his licensees. That is the job of the executive director.
“And so I have to wonder, you know, what these boards that have hired him through the RFP process, where he outlined his responsibilities and duties and his experience … are these RFPs still valid or these contracts with these boards still valid?”
Elliott for the last two legislative sessions has sponsored bills to put many of the privately run boards under an umbrella state agency, saying it would improve efficiency and save licensees money.
Smith speaks up
Kevin Smith, the Smith in Smith Warren, spoke out Thursday defending the company, his actions and those of his business partner and husband, Warren.
He also said he hired an attorney to defend himself if needed.
“I can assure you that I have done nothing wrong, and the audits show that, and when it comes to Keith, I don’t think he’s done anything wrong,” Smith told Alabama Daily News Thursday afternoon.
“… I back up everything Keith’s done.”
Smith, a certified internal auditor, has been married to Warren for 13 years, and they’ve worked together for seven, though Warren has owned the company longer than that. Together, Warren and Smith went from managing seven state occupational licensing boards – state-appointed bodies that regulate dozens of trades in the state – to 15 last year. Smith provided accounting and financial support for the boards that contracted with the company, he said. But last fall, he had a nervous breakdown and lessened his hours at the company.
“I could see some things coming,” he said.
It was about that time the company hired Littleton, he said.
Smith left the company in June, he said.
“It became clear to me that I needed to step away,” he said. “It was just too much politics.”
He is now a caretaker for two grandchildren and was at a hospital Thursday awaiting the birth of a third.
On Facebook Thursday, Smith said he has not embezzled money from any state agency. He told ADN that some associated with the Alabama Electrical Contractors Board had accused him of embezzlement because it was low on funds.
“There is no missing money, there never has been,” Smith said. “… I was thrown under the bus and I’m not sure why.”
Smith said he hired an attorney on Thursday.
Smith said he knows the company’s contract amounts have caught lawmakers’ attention in recent years. Combined, they were recently just shy of $2 million per year, he said.
“We’re not sitting over here and our house was $2 million counting our cash,” Smith said. “Blue Shield alone is $120,000 per year. Payroll is $100,000 a month. So there’s this misconception that we’ve got all this $2 million when really we have the mortgage on the Zelda Road (office) property. We have 15 employees.”
Asked what’s next, Smith said he’d like to see his name cleared on any allegations from the electrical contractors’ board.
“I’m not going to be dragged through this anymore,” he said.