The Apopka Area Chamber of Commerce has fired its president and CEO without cause, according to the dismissed president who says two members of the chamber’s executive committee made the decision alone.

Dr. Nick Grounds learned about his termination as president/CEO without cause via email from the chamber on Friday. Aug. 15. However, he says legal counsel informed him that, by law, the chamber can’t fire Grounds since that would require the majority vote of the full board of directors, rather than the executive board.

Grounds was not present at the executive board meeting where the termination decision was purportedly made.

“They said they had a quorum with three people, and therefore to get any decision through an executive board of three people, they only need two votes,” Grounds told The Apopka Chief on Monday, Aug. 18. “Two votes out of a full board in deciding what happens with my position at the chamber without even discussing it with the full board. The full board has no knowledge of any of these discussions, anything’s going on for the last two and a half months.”

When The Apopka Chief asked Grounds if he could forward that email, he declined.

Grounds said this was the first time anyone at the chamber had attempted to terminate him.

“It’s only Matt DiSalvatore, who’s the chamber chairman,” he said. “For some reason, he decided to fire me.”

DiSalvatore did not respond to multiple requests for comment Monday afternoon and evening.

The other four members of the executive committee include: Gerald Rooks of Duke Energy, Kimberly Dewar of Dewar Nursery, Angela Scott of Scott & Associates Accounting Firm, and Parker Pridgen of AdventHealth Apopka.

Grounds expressed concern about the lack of full board knowledge of discussions over the past two months. An executive board meeting takes place every month, but a full chamber board meeting occurs every quarter, something Grounds said he doesn’t agree with.

“They’ve had so many, like, secret meetings,” he said. “I have no idea if they’ve been – had minutes taken, have they been advised meetings. I don’t know.”

Grounds took the job as chamber president/CEO in July 2024 with the organization near bankruptcy and has overseen a turnaround, including resurgent membership numbers. Under his leadership, the chamber re-introduced the Leadership Apopka program for professionals and entrepreneurs and added more programs and events for members, including new member orientation events.