Miss America CEO Quits

For the second time in just over a year, a chief executive officer of the Miss America Pageant has left in the middle of his contract, ending a reign shrouded in controversy.

Robert M. Renneisen Jr., a former casino executive who raised eyebrows by threatening to move the pageant out of Atlantic City, resigned Friday.

It wasn't clear if Renneisen was forced out or quit on his own. He didn't return telephone calls seeking comment Friday.

Renneisen, 55, was named to the $250,000-a-year post two years ago.

The move was "negotiated on amicable terms and both regretted the necessity for the decision," Renneisen and the pageant said in a joint statement.

"Both the Board and I want only success for the Miss America Organization," Renneisen said. "However, it has become clear that we differ in our definition of success and on the means necessary to achieve it." George Bauer, 58, Renneisen's No. 2 man, will serve as interim CEO, the pageant said. Renneisen's predecessor, Robert L. Beck, was fired in October 2000 after proposing to eliminate the pageant's long-standing ban on contestants who had been married or had abortions.

The proposal infuriated pageant loyalists and former winners, who said the move would strike at the essence of the feminine ideal Miss America is supposed to represent.

Renneisen was hired to mend fences in the wake of Beck's dismissal, but he ruffled feathers when he went public with the pageant's dissatisfaction with Atlantic City.

He solicited proposals from other would-be venues and then asked the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority for $1 million in new public subsidies to underwrite the cost of staging the pageant at Boardwalk Hall.

In a compromise, Miss America officials agreed to keep the pageant in Atlantic City for this year while a panel of local leaders looks into boosting Miss America Organization revenues.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP