The former chief marketing officer of the Omaha-based Carson Group, a major asset management and investment advisory company, claims she was fired for raising concerns about the continued employment of a man accused of sexual assault.
Mary Kate Glick, a marketing executive who started working at Carson Group in June 2022, filed a federal lawsuit against the company in April, alleging she suffered retaliation and discrimination when she was fired last summer.
According to the lawsuit, a Carson Group employee was allowed to continue working for the company after assaulting a customer at an industry conference. Glick repeatedly raised concerns about his continued employment and the lack of retaliation the alleged perpetrator faced, but was ignored and ultimately fired, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges a broader toxic culture within Carson Group, concerns that Glick said were shared by others within the company.
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A Carson Group spokesman said in a statement that the company is aware of the lawsuit and is committed to its employees.
“While our ability to comment on ongoing litigation is limited, we unequivocally dispute these allegations and will vigorously defend against these assertions,” the spokesperson said.
The Carson Group and its founder, Ron Carson, are a business success story born in Omaha and a household name in the investment world.
Carson, who grew up in Tekamah, Nebraska, north of Omaha, started the business in his dorm room at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1983 and later moved it to Omaha.
In addition to serving its own investment clients in over a dozen offices across the country, Carson launched its Coaching division in 1993 to provide consulting services to other financial advisors, and in 2012 launched its Partner Network to provide back-end technology services to other investment firms.
The company announced earlier this year that overall it manages $35 billion in assets and serves more than 50,000 homes. In recent years, Carson Group also moved into a new $80 million headquarters at 144th Street and West Dodge Road. As of 2022, the company reports having 315 employees, 275 of which work in Omaha.
Employee accused of sexual assault
The dispute revolves around the conference, which is due to be held at a location yet to be determined in late 2022.
There, one of the attendees “alleged unwanted/non-consensual sexual activity with a non-management employee of Carson,” the company said in its response to Glick’s complaint. The employee denied the allegations.
Mr. Glick, who was attending the meeting as a representative of the Carson Group, was informed of the alleged assault by another executive who told him that “they needed a female executive to provide emotional support” when speaking with the victim, according to Mr. Glick’s lawsuit.
Omaha-based Carson Group, whose headquarters are at 144th Street and West Dodge Road, is being sued by a former marketing executive.
Chris MacIan, The World-Herald
Glick said that after he informed the company’s human resources director of the alleged assault, he was repeatedly assured that the incident would be investigated and “addressed appropriately.”
Ms. Glick considered quitting when it became clear the suspect planned to continue working for Carson Group, and she said in her lawsuit that she already had concerns about the company before the assault but was persuaded by executives to stay.
Instead of resigning, Glick accepted a position as senior vice president with the same salary but reduced responsibilities in late 2022, according to the lawsuit. The main reason he decided to stay on was because “he felt an obligation to the women on his team to drive change and accountability and to protect them,” the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Glick met with multiple individuals to raise concerns about the handling of the allegations between late 2022 and early 2023. During one of those meetings, Glick said, he was told that company founder and then-CEO Ron Carson was the person who made the decision not to fire the suspects.
According to the lawsuit, in early 2023, Glick began experiencing serious mental illness. She lost weight, was barely able to sleep and was diagnosed with severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Glick was given medical leave to seek medical attention to address her mental health concerns, according to the lawsuit.
Allegations of a toxic culture within the company
Throughout the lawsuit, Glick references the company’s broader toxic culture, and in a message exchange with Bert White, then a managing partner at Carson Group, shortly after the assault, White seemed to echo Glick’s concerns about the company’s culture.
“This is a company that seems to be saying everything is fine while discontent is simmering beneath the surface,” the partners wrote, according to screenshots of the conversation included in the complaint. “Life is too short to be stuck in the metaphorical ditch that we drove our car into and I want no part in what this company does or represents.”
White was named CEO of Carson Group after Ron Carson resigned on April 9, about a month after Glick filed his initial complaint.
The Carson Group said in a statement that the leadership change will allow Mr Carson, who will remain chairman and majority shareholder, to shift his focus to the company’s long-term future and his family’s philanthropic efforts.
According to the lawsuit, Glick reported hearing “multiple concerning revelations” about the company from both inside and outside the company. He said he met with Carson Group President Teri Sheppard in May 2023 and that Sheppard agreed with his criticisms of the company’s culture.
“[Gulick]informed Shepherd that he had heard unpleasant internal and external stories about Carson Group and that in order for Carson to recover, rebuild its reputation and achieve its business objectives, management needed to restructure Carson Group’s culture,” the lawsuit states. “Shepherd agreed.”
According to the complaint and Carson’s response, on June 6, 2023, Ms. Glick and Mr. White met to discuss Ms. Glick’s “future with Carson.” The following day, her employment was terminated.
Glick’s lawsuit makes three main claims against Carson Group: that her firing was in retaliation for her continued questioning of the handling of the assault allegation and her failure to “move past” the incident, and that her firing constituted discrimination on the basis of both sex and disability.
Glick’s lawsuit was originally filed in Douglas County District Court but was moved to federal court in April.
According to the progress order, the parties engaged in mediation in an attempt to reach a settlement before the lawsuit was filed, but those efforts were unsuccessful. The parties remain interested in settling the case, according to the order.
Mr. Glick’s lawyer, Tom Freeman of Omaha, declined to discuss details of the case, citing the ongoing trial, but praised Mr. Glick in a statement.
“She has a proven track record of advocating on behalf of women in the financial services industry and we are honored to champion her,” he said.
