MIM Still in Flux Sponsors meet; MIM board circles its wagons; five director candidates now known. by Bruce VanWyngarden ast Wednesday morning a group of Memphis in May sponsors and financial supporters got together to air their concerns and discuss their future commitment to the festival. The meeting was convened by John Pontius of PittCo Management, who’s a member of the Pitt Hyde III Foundation board. Pontius says he was interested in getting an assessment of support for the festival from various sponsors, as well as hearing from Memphis in May about how the festival’s staff was going to “solve their problems.” Those problems include hiring a replacement for former director Wes Brustad, who resigned after nine months on the job, and a reported $400,000 loss from the 1998 festival. Attending the sponsors’ meeting were representatives from WREG-TV Channel 3, the Hyde Foundation, the Plough Foundation, D. Canale Beverages, and AutoZone, as well as Rick Masson from the city of Memphis, and Tom Jones, who represented Shelby County. “It was a positive meeting,” says Pontius. “We’re all basically committed to seeing Memphis in May continue. We believe it’s very important for the city to have a healthy festival.” Pontius says he then called MIM board member Lyman Aldrich to inform him of the sponsors’ views. Coincidentally, the MIM board was having its annual dinner meeting that night to honor departing members and vote in new board members. At that meeting the executive board of MIM voted to keep itself in office, postponing the induction of all new board members. The move initially came as a surprise even to MIM president-elect Kenneth Cole. Cole, vice president of public affairs for Memphis Light, Gas and Water, says he was not aware before the meeting that his term in office was about to be postponed. He concurred with the board’s decision, however. “We [the MIM executive board] discussed the situation and decided this was the best course,” he said. MIM board president Sally Shy says the length of her term’s extension is uncertain. “All of our sponsors wanted to find out what our vision was for the future, and what happened this year,” she says. “There were so many different factors that went into the deficit, and we’re trying to piece together what happened. It’s made more difficult because the finance director has also left.” Rick Pond, the finance director hired by former MIM director Brustad, resigned in May. Shy says the board expected to have an audit in hand by the end of August. “We also hope to have a new director by then,” she adds. Pontius says that the sponsors did not request that the MIM board extend their terms. “That decision came from the MIM board,” he says. “We didn’t make any suggestions along those lines.” In other MIM news: The Flyer has obtained a list of five potential candidates for the vacant director’s job. All have Memphis ties. They are: David Less, former director of the Blues Foundation; Dr. Mose Yvonne Hooks, former vice president in charge of fund-raising at Shelby State Community College (and a member of the MIM executive board); Bo Overlock, a former VH-1 promoter and director of Northwest Airlines entertainment division, who put together the B.B. King 70th Birthday tribute concert at The Orpheum in 1995; Jim Holt, a former employee of Mid-South Concerts; and Carla Peyton, a former merchandising manager at Graceland.