The state-appointed board of the 22nd District Agricultural Association that runs the Del Mar Fairgrounds emerged from a four-hour, closed-session meeting Tuesday to announce it had voted 8-1 to fire CEO Carlene Moore.
No reason was given for the decision. Board member Phil Blair voted no. Board Chair Sam Nejabat said he would serve as a temporary interim CEO effective immediately. The board plans to re-evaluate the interim position in 10 days, an official said.
Nejabat, a San Diego businessman, was appointed to the fair board in 2019 and was elected chair in September 2025. He has a law degree from the UC Berkeley, and was the assistant deputy director of external affairs at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development from 2020-2023.
The fairgrounds has seen a number of lawsuits and controversial issues under Moore’s leadership.
A lawsuit filed last year in San Diego Superior Court by fairgrounds human resources employee Melinda Carmichael alleges that she faced retaliation after she told Moore that there had been “specific instances of discriminatory remarks and violations of employment regulations.”
Fairgrounds spokesperson Tristan Hallman said in November that the 22nd DAA disputes the allegations and would defend against them in court.
In 2024, the association agreed to pay the federal government $5.5 million to settle allegations that it had received funds from the pandemic-related Paycheck Protection Program even though it was not eligible.
Another lawsuit filed in 2021 by the carnival company Talley Amusements alleged that it lost out on a potentially lucrative contract to run the midway because Moore ordered changes to the scoring of proposals from Talley and a competitor, RCS, that ended up making RCS the contract winner.
Russ Penniman, who served on the board for 16 years ending in 2018, spoke during a public comment period before the closed session Tuesday. He said it was time for the board to do something about the “toxic culture” in the fairgrounds administration.
“The financial toll is already significant and mounting,” Penniman said.
Also, some board members have been unhappy with the way other important issues have been handled by the administration.
One of those issues is the 22nd DAA’s ongoing negotiations with Del Mar officials over the city’s proposal to build some of its state-mandated affordable housing on the state-owned fairgrounds.
Moore joined the 22nd DAA as deputy general manager in February 2019 after nine years as CEO of the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga. She became the interim CEO upon the retirement of longtime fairgrounds manager and CEO Timothy Fennell in 2020, and later was appointed CEO.
The ag association is responsible for 324 acres in three distinct properties.
The largest of those is the 212-acre main campus, which includes the fairgrounds and its administrative offices. There’s also the 48-acre Surf & Turf park for RVs and recreational facilities just east of the fairgrounds, and a 64-acre equestrian center farther east at Via de la Valle and El Camino Real.
At present, the association has roughly 80 year-round, full-time employees, although the number varies and part-time jobs can swell into the thousands during the fair in June and early July.
Moore’s arrival coincided with one of the toughest financial times in the history of the fairground. The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 San Diego County fair and widespread layoffs within the district.
Layoffs that year shrunk the payroll to just 62 of the formerly 158 employees and threw the future of fairgrounds into question.
Most of the events have since returned or been replaced, but the number of employees remains well below the pre-COVID peak.