Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way (7 page)

Mortenson had heard the criticism of the woman
…
. He
’
d read her defense of her practice of taking donations from unsavory sources, like drug dealers, corporate criminals, and corrupt politicians hoping to purchase their own path to salvation. After his own struggle to raise funds for the children of Pakistan, he felt he understood what had driven her to famously dismiss her critics by saying,
“
I don
’
t care where the money comes from. It
’
s all washed clean in the service of God.
”

Mortenson
’
s 1993 trip to K2 had ignited in him a powerful ambition to improve the lives of villagers in the mountains of northeastern Pakistan, an ambition inspired in part by Mother Teresa.
⁴
Hoerni
’
s generosity granted Mortenson an extraordinary opportunity to realize this dream. By the end of 2000, he had built more than twenty schools, with dozens more in the pipeline, an impressive feat by any measure.
“
We can construct and maintain a school for a generation that will educate thousands of children for less than $20
,000
,
”
he asserted in interviews and public presentations. But in truth, CAI was spending $50,000 or more
—
sometimes a lot more
—
just to build a single
school,
and the funds coming in were significantly less than the funds going out. Four years after Hoerni
’
s death, Mortenson had already burned through most of Hoerni
’
s money, and CAI teetered on the brink of insolvency.

“
Greg had no sense of what it takes to run a business,
”
says Jennifer Wilson, who joined CAI
’
s board of directors shortly after Hoerni passed away.
“
Jean was able to make Greg do things and hold him accountable, but after Jean was gone, Greg wouldn
’
t answer to anyone
…
. Tom Vaughan was a sweetheart, but Greg could always find his way around him.
”

Vaughan, a genial San Francisco pulmonologist and mountaineer who died in 2009, served as chairman of the CAI board.
“
Even when he was home, we often wouldn
’
t hear from Greg for weeks,
”
Vaughan laments in
Three Cups,
in one of the rare criticisms of Mortenson that appears in the book.
“
And he wouldn
’
t return phone calls or emails. The board had a discussion about trying to make Greg account for how he spent his time, but we realized that would never work. Greg just does whatever he wants.
”
Most of the directors, like Vaughan, were frustrated by Mortenson
’
s passive-aggressive disposition, and his disdain for routine business practices.

In late 1999, with Mortenson
’
s encouragement, Tom Hornbein had been asked to join CAI
’
s board to boost fundraising and provide the organization with some badly needed discipline. Thirty-six years earlier, Hornbein had made the first ascent of the formidable West Ridge of Mount Everest, still widely considered one of the greatest accomplishments in mountaineering history. President John F. Kennedy awarded the Hubbard Medal to Hornbein and his Everest teammates (one of whom was Mortenson
’
s future father-in-law, Barry Bishop). In a distinguished career after Everest, Hornbein served as chairman of the anesthesiology department at the University
of Washington School of
Medicine, where he earned a reputation as a demanding but compassionate
jefe
.

“
Tom Hornbein was really fun to work with,
”
Jennifer Wilson remembers of their years together on the CAI board.
“
He and I agreed on so many levels, especially about the need to hold Greg accountable and somehow get him to be more businesslike.
”

But the harder Hornbein, Wilson, and other CAI directors tried to persuade Mortenson to heed their edicts about providing receipts, documenting expenses, and conforming to IRS regulations, the more intransigent he became. By 2001, when Hornbein succeeded Tom Vaughan as chairman of the CAI board, relations between Mortenson and the rest of the board were nearing the flash point. In an email to Mortenson dated September 20, 2001, Hornbein warned,

I write to share with you my continuing concerns about our relationship in our roles as Director and Board chair
…
. The underlying issues are ones of communication between the two of us, and trust
…
. Whatever the stigma, if you and I are not able to work out a more facile, productive communication, I doubt my ability to fulfill my responsibility to you and the CAI Board
…
. We exist, whether you consider us a pain-in-the-ass at times or not. Unless you would wish to and are capable of being a one man show (as it was in the beginning), then you are stuck with and need us.

When he sent this email, Hornbein was feverishly organizing a major fundraiser for CAI, to be held twelve days hence at Seattle
’
s Town Hall, and he asked me to serve as Mortenson
’
s opening act. I
’
d met Greg four or five times by then, and I was enormously impressed by what he
’
d done in Pakistan. When Greg explained to me that it had all begun with a promise he
’
d made to the people of Korphe in 1993, after he
’
d accidentally wandered into their village and they
’
d nursed him back to health, I was profoundly moved. Over the previous three years I
’
d donated more than $55,000 to CAI, and I
’
d committed to donating another $20,000 in 2002. I told Hornbein I would be honored to introduce Greg at the fundraiser.

The event did not begin well. Mortenson arrived an hour late. When Hornbein admonished him for keeping the packed house waiting, Greg sulked and threatened to fly home without speaking. Only after much inveigling did Greg eventually consent to go on stage. When things finally got under way, I concluded my introduction by telling the audience,
“
What Greg has accomplished, with very little money, verges on the miraculous.
”
As he shambled up to the podium and gave me a hug, the auditorium filled with thunderous applause. Greg
’
s presentation knocked the crowd
’
s socks off, and the fundraiser turned out to be a notable success.

Relations between Mortenson and the CAI board, however, continued to deteriorate.
“
I would talk to people who expressed interest in making a sizable contribution,
”
says Jennifer Wilson,
“
but when they tried to contact Greg he wouldn
’
t get back to them. Other people who actually made big contributions never got follow-ups from Greg. We kept trying to persuade Greg to hire an administrator who would do all the stuff he wasn
’
t good at, but he refused
…
. At the time, I didn
’
t understand. Now that I know about the things he was hiding, I realize he didn
’
t want anyone looking over his shoulder. That would have been tremendously threatening to him.
”

By early 2002, Mortenson pretty much stopped communicating with the board altogether. Exasperated, Wilson quit. At the conclusion of a contentious board meeting on September 7, 2002, Hornbein and two other hard-working directors, Gordon Wiltsie and Sally Uhlmann, left the board as well. In a letter to the other directors explaining his resignation, Hornbein wrote,

I am devastated by what has happened
…
. While my belief in CAI
’
s mission is undiminished, I can no longer believe that Greg, in spite of his unswerving commitment, has the attributes demanded to lead CAI into its next phase
…
. Communication is essential to trust. Accountability with transparency underpins trust
…
. Many of the Board
’
s efforts to achieve this accountability have been thwarted by Greg, simply by his not responding. It was Greg
’
s vision and courage that created CAI and caused us to commit our energies. He is a unique individual with many precious attributes. Now, sadly, it is other aspects of Greg, ones I don
’
t understand, that leave me doubting the future viability of his dream.

For his part, Mortenson was elated by the departure of Wilson, Hornbein, Wiltsie, and Uhlmann, and simply swept the issues they
’
d raised under the rug. His stonewalling had achieved its desired end, leaving him essentially unaccountable to anyone. In an email to CAI board members and staffers, Mortenson disingenuously gushed,

I want to express my personal gratitude and thanks to Tom Hornbein, Sally and Gordon for their tremendous effort as Board Directors. Your assistance was a catalyst at a crucial time in CAI
’
s evolution. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I would also like to extend a belated thanks to Jennifer Wilson for your many years of support that provided continuity and stability from the inception of our efforts
…
. Despite unrest and uncertainty, this past year has been CAI
’
s most successful year ever in Pakistan
…
.
Onward ho.

Despite this public effusion of gratitude, in private Mortenson told anyone who would listen that Hornbein
’
s criticisms of him were motivated by self-regard and envy. Hornbein, Greg explained, simply wanted to take control of CAI in order to create a legacy for himself. Other board members who witnessed Hornbein and Mortenson interacting during this period have dismissed Mortenson
’
s interpretation as preposterous.

Dealing with Mortenson
’
s idiosyncrasies was stressful for the entire board. Nonetheless, Jennifer Wilson insists,
“
No matter how many problems I had working with Greg, I never, ever thought of him as evil. And believe
me,
I
’
ve had opportunities where I could have felt that way.
”
It
’
s hard for her to be angry with Mortenson, she says, because
“
he isn
’
t a normal person. It
’
s almost like he
’
s from another planet
…
. For years, he struggled to find a place in our Western culture. Then, thanks to Jean
’
s money, Greg figured out how to be extraordinarily successful working in a very different culture.
”
She believes it would be an exercise in futility to expect Mortenson ever to conform to Western norms of doing business
—
or anything else.