Kate Rogers, the ousted CEO of the Alamo Trust Inc., is accusing the chairman of the Alamo's fundraising arm of trying to jeopardize her chance to land consulting work with an unrelated nonprofit because of her lawsuit against her former employer and Texas officials.
The Alamo Trust denied the allegation, calling it "categorically false."
Rogers' lawyer, Lawrence Morales II, made the accusation in an Aug. 20 cease-and-desist letter emailed to a lawyer for the trust.
Morales contended that Mark M. Johnson, board chairman of the Remember the Alamo Foundation, asked local philanthropist Susan Naylor to "end" the Witte Museum's discussions about possibly hiring Rogers as a consultant.
Naylor chairs the museum's board of trustees. Until recently, she also served on the board of Remember the Alamo, which is raising private donations for the $700 million remake of the Alamo and its grounds. Johnson, a longtime San Antonio banker, serves on the board of the foundation and the Alamo Trust.
Naylor resigned this month from the foundation's board after a roughly four-year stint. But she said Rogers' allegation against Johnson "was absolutely not the reason" she resigned. She declined to comment on the letter.
Rogers was forced out at the trust in October for academic writings that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham viewed as conflicting with how they believe the history of the Alamo should be told. Buckingham also faulted Rogers for a social media post by the Alamo that celebrated Indigenous Peoples. Buckingham called it "woke."
Rogers is suing both officials as well as the foundation and the trust, which oversees day-to-day operations at the historic mission and battlefield. In her lawsuit, filed in federal court, she alleges Patrick, Buckingham and trust leaders violated her First Amendment rights by pushing her to resign and pulling her severance agreement after she gave an interview to the Texas Monthly about her departure.
In the cease-and-desist letter, Morales said Rogers "recently learned" that Johnson tried to interfere with an opportunity for Rogers to work for the Witte. Rogers has served on the museum's board, and the museum confirmed that it was recently in discussions with her about consulting
"Mr. Johnson attempted to persuade Ms. Naylor to end The Witte Museum's business relationship with Ms. Rogers because of her lawsuit against the Alamo Trust, Inc. (et al), which is unlawful retaliation in violation of the First Amendment's right to petition the government for redress," Morales wrote.
Morales demanded that Johnson stop "engaging in any further retaliation" and threatened to add him to Rogers' suit as a defendant if he didn't. Morales said he has not received a response to the letter, and he and Rogers declined to comment further.
In a statement, Alamo Trust attorney Soña Ramirez called the allegation "categorically false" and said the trust and foundation will "take all legal action available to us against anyone who suggests otherwise."
"Although Ms. Naylor has resigned from the Remember the Alamo Foundation to focus on other endeavors, she joined its Alamo Leadership Advisory Council," Ramirez said. "She has been a generous donor and will continue to support the Alamo and its mission, for which the Alamo is incredibly grateful."
Johnson did not respond to a request for comment.
Naylor said she left the foundation's board because she wanted to spend more time on her businesses, including a ranch and farms, and the Will Smith Foundation, a nonprofit named after her late son.
"It's a matter of taking time for myself and not being spread so thin," Naylor said.
She added that she'll continue contributing to the public-private project to make over the Alamo. She gave $2.5 million in January to build an outdoor classroom named after her late son at the $36.8 million Texas Cavaliers Education Center, which opened in May.
Naylor also serves on the board of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, which hired Rogers in mid-August as its chief development officer.
The Alamo Trust hired Roger in 2021. She's worked in public affairs, fundraising, marketing and communications. Her former employers include the Charles Butt Foundation and the Holdsworth Center, a education leadership nonprofit in Austin.
Last winter, three other Remember the Alamo Foundation board members - real estate developer Phillip P. Bakke, philanthropist Tracy Wolff and retired Air Force Gen. Donald G. Cook - quit to protest Rogers' forced resignation.
In his letter of resignation, Bakke said conflict between Rogers, state officials and the trust made it "impossible" for him to remain on the board. In a separate statement to the San Antonio Express-News, he called Rogers an "extraordinary" leader who fell victim to "a personal vendetta by one state official" that "metastasized into an outrageous campaign to disqualify her on the flimsiest of grounds."
Wolff, wife of former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, said in her resignation letter that Rogers was "an excellent CEO" and after her resignation Wolff could "no longer support the decisions currently being made regarding the future of the historic Alamo."
Cook, in a statement to the Express-News, said Rogers' "dismissal was the cause of my resignation." He said she "received excellent evaluations, was promoted to CEO and formed an excellent, cohesive team," and called officials' demands that she resign "an emotional reaction, not based upon sound judgment."
The trust declined to comment at the time on the resignations, and the General Land Office said in a statement that Remember the Alamo is a private foundation and the agency "does not play any role on its board."
The foundation had 13 board members after Bakke, Wolff and Cook resigned. The Alamo's website still listed Naylor as one of 13 board members as of Friday morning. The Alamo Trust's board is made up of 10 members, including one non-voting member who works for the General Land Office.
The board changes have come as the trust is seeking to raise about $53.5 million more to reach its $150 million goal for the Alamo's overhaul. Most of the $700 million price tag is coming from the state and the rest from the city of San Antonio and Bexar County.
The foundation reported $20.8 million in revenue for its 2025 fiscal year, down from $27 million the year prior, and provided $15.5 million to the trust, according to its most recent federal tax filing.
Construction is underway on the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, the centerpiece of the site's redevelopment. It's expected to open in 2028.
The site's redevelopment also encompasses outdoor exhibits, renovations to Plaza de Valero next to the Menger Hotel and the education center, which have been finished. Another component, replacing the roof of the Alamo Church, is expected to begin next year.
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This article originally published at Ousted Alamo CEO Kate Rogers accuses fundraiser of retaliation over lawsuit.