This is greatly simplified, but here's basically how Mike was removed:
The GGRM's basic operating principle (*very similar to many other nonprofits) had a board of directors, elected by the membership. This board "employed" an "executive director", who basically ran the day-to-day museum operations -- the board decided on policy with the input of the executive director, and when a decision had been reached the ED made it reality. Mike was the ED. It was really the natural position for him to be in as the museum's founder and essentially its leader. The following is not intended to be a criticism but just a statement of reality: The board fulfilled a need mandated by the articles under which non-profits can incorporate, that's about it.
At a certain point, some members of the board became dissatisfied with this arrangement (trying to be as objective as possible here...). They sought to assert more board control over the day-to-day operations of the museum. Reasons for this ranged from the argument that as the Museum grew and operations became more complex, the museum would require more leadership and organization than one man could provide (a legitimate line of thought, I think, but it was the minority at the GGRM). On the other side was the unspoken reality that a lot of people for whatever reason (mostly greed and selfishness?) were just tired of Mike running the show.
The board couldn't exactly just fire Mike; for one thing, there was really no one who could replace him. So instead, the board voted to revamp the organizational structure of the Museum, and eliminated the ED position. If you can't fire someone, eliminate their job.
This new organizational structure revolved around the board, with a board president at the head, and a set of three vice-presidents under the board. On VP each for business, operations and pr/communications.
One board member who instrumental in Mike's ousting later tried to convince me that they had offered him one of the VP positions but he had refused, and so therefore it was all Mike's fault that he had been removed. Not so fast, buddy. Mike refused all right because the offer was a total insult. They made it knowing full well it was a slap in the face.
The board was now in total control of the museum. Problems cropped up immediately. Few of the board members were regular volunteers in the first place, and none of them had any idea of what it took to actually make the place tick from day to day. It was darn near a full-time job. For a period of better than six months, the museum was "run" almost exclusively by a few "junior" members and some old stalwarts who'd been plugging away for years. I think the board got struck by a major case of "now what?". Eventually, the three VP positions were filled. The fellow selected for the VP-Ops had been in and out of the place for years; He was a real firecracker (some of you know who I'm talking about) but I got along with him OK and overall, he did a good job of trying to keep the place together. He was a good guy, understood how to work with the "troops". As neutral as he tried to be, the board micromanaged him to death. Ostensibly, the operating goals and operations that the Board dictated were simply incompatible with what was best for the museum at the time and this generated a lot friction. The VP-ops eventually quit, couldn't take it anymore.
Back into the stone age again -- for another long while, no one was at the helm. Same group of stalwarts and young guns kept the place together, on life support, despite the board's best (but weak) efforts.
Eventually the board called for new applicants for VP-ops. Two guys applied, the younger one was rejected for "lack of experience" though he was clearly the more qualified candidate. Oh well. The guy they selected had apparently made it abundantly clear that he would do WHATEVER the board wanted and as all they really wanted was a pawn-slave, he was I guess the perfect guy for the job. First couple months were like nothing had ever happened; the new guy had no clue what to do at all (I mean, not even in a general sense; damn near had to walk this guy through fueling a forklift a half-dozen times, never mind ordering the fuel or any of the 2,000 other tasks that needed to happen.) and so therefore the same old group kept things ticking. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. Summer 2005 as I remember we were told that HP had to be vacated, that was about the time this guy started to really assert himself. Dare I say this guy got real pleasure out of telling everyone he could that the GGRM was getting kicked out and that he ran the place. I mean he was genuinely happy about it (Hell, so was half the board!). Sh!t really hit the fan the week after the 2467 got moved the CSRM in the fall, what a fustercluck. Ugly stuff. The rest, as they say, is history.
Smoke and mirrors -- not one of the board's actions was ever voted on by the general membership. The whole thing was literally shoved down the throats of the very people who ran the place with their time, effort and money.