A popular members-only club aimed toward Black professionals is under fire by its members and social media users after the club sent an email to notify members that a white man would be their new chief financial officer.
The Gathering Spot’s membership services reportedly announced that Mike McCloskey would replace co-founder and that CFO T’Keel ‘TK’ Petersen had been fired. The popular social club didn’t release any details on why Petersen was replaced, but the move created confusion and anger because a Black co-founder was seemingly pushed out and then replaced by a white man.
“Mike comes to Greenwood and TGS after a wealth of experience from other organizations. All local club general managers will report directly to him and work together to continue to drive value for members of the community,” an email reportedly from membership services read.
McCloskey, the new CFO, was the former CFO of Trella Health, an Atlanta-based healthcare company. He will directly report to the co-founder and CEO of Greenwood, Ryan Glover. Greenwood is a digital banking services platform that was founded for Black and Latino communities. The brand acquired The Gathering Spot in 2022 after its original co-founders sold it.
The original co-founders are rapper Killer Mike, Glover, Petersen, tech entrepreneur Paul Judge and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. They started the popular all-Black club in 2020 and put its first location in Atlanta. Now they have locations in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, California.
Membership cost includes a $300 initiation fee and a $2,000 annual fee, or $200 per month. Each membership includes exclusive access to one of three private venues that has a full bar, restaurant and workspace. They also provide members with networking opportunities with investors, investment opportunities to extend their portfolio, business partnerships and exclusive rights to their other locations outside of the city where a member is located.
Many people took to social media to voice their frustrations after hearing of the leadership change.
“The Gathering Spot is now The Gentrified Spot,” wrote one Twitter user.
Many members threatened to cancel their membership or already canceled it.
“I’m a member and this is really disturbing to hear that this is happening…Smh,” wrote @Prince_Akeem17.
“I definitely canceled my membership. I didn’t go for a whileeee but I still supported because it was black company with black leaders. I snatched my membership back when I saw that email,” wrote another Twitter user.
“I could join any social or co-working space in Los Angeles I want to. I joined this one because it was Blackowned, Black run, and Black Black,” former TMZ personality Van Lathan, who identified himself as a founding member of the Los Angeles location, wrote in an Instagram post.
Other comments suggested that Greenwood was not a Black-owned bank.
“Just wait til y’all find out Greenwood, the company that bought TGS, isn’t a Black owned bank,” wrote @GVGojo on Twitter.
The Gathering Spot released an official statement on its Instagram account.
“We apologize for this disgruntled message with inaccurate information, which became a source of further media reporting. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this incident and are working on improving our security and controls to ensure this does not occur in the future,” read the statement in part.
The social club also confirmed the exit of Petersen and the introduction of McCloskey in the statement, along with other role changes within the organization.
