Keane falsely accused, mother says

The mother of Brian T. Keane, who resigned this week as president and chief executive of the Charlestown technology firm Keane Inc., defended her son yesterday, saying that he was wrongly accused of sexual harassment by a top female executive and that the board of directors should not have forced him to step down.

''My son is blameless," said Marilyn T. Keane, who is the company's largest shareholder. ''He didn't have a choice. It was so unfair."

In a statement issued Wednesday, the company said Keane was resigning from the company his father founded over a Hingham doughnut shop in 1965 following allegations of personal misconduct that had been made against him by an employee. It provided no details.

In a separate statement, Brian Keane called the allegations ''utterly baseless and false" but said he resigned because ''the mere existence of these untrue allegations presents a distraction that I wish to avoid for the company my father founded."

In a phone interview yesterday, Marilyn Keane said the firm's vice president of marketing, Georgina Fisk, had filed an internal complaint against Brian Keane after her job responsibilities were reduced following a company reorganization. ''She was demoted, and her position was to be diminished, and she was furious," Marilyn Keane said. ''She was an angry and insulted woman."

Fisk had previously filed a complaint alleging gender bias against another top executive, Richard S. Garnick, president of Keane's North American services and global business lines, Marilyn Keane said. Shortly after the complaint against Garnick was investigated and dismissed by the board, Fisk filed a complaint against Brian Keane, his mother said.

A similar version of events was provided by four additional people who have been briefed on the situation by Keane officials. Those four people would not speak for attribution because, they said, the company wants its official statement to be limited to the news release it issued Wednesday.

Fisk, of Charlestown, did not return calls. Fisk's lawyer, Nancy S. Shilepsky, also did not return several calls.

Shilepsky is also representing a former employee who came forward with Fisk and made unspecified complaints against Brian Keane, Marilyn Keane said. But Brian Keane has recent e-mails from the woman that show they were on good terms, Marilyn Keane said.

Brian Keane did not return a call to his Weston home. Garnick did not return a call left at his office. Brian Keane's lawyer, Michael S. Gardener, declined to comment.

In her letter to the board, Fisk's accusation included reports that Keane, a competitive sailboat racer, had asked her to accompany him on his boat and had shared with her frustrations about his marriage, Marilyn Keane and others said.

''Is that sexual harassment?" Marilyn Keane said.

Marilyn and others said Brian Keane and his father, John F. Keane, chairman of the board, were surprised to learn on Friday that the directors wanted Brian to resign. John F. Keane Jr., Brian's brother, also sits on the board.

''We were stunned, absolutely stunned," Marilyn Keane said. ''Keane wanted this off their backs, clearly, which is why they wanted Brian to leave. The Keane family is in total turmoil. Every one of us is 100 percent in support of Brian."

According to Bloomberg News, Marilyn Keane is the company's largest stockholder, with about 10 percent of the shares outstanding, currently worth approximately $83 million. Keane Inc. stock closed yesterday at $13.76, down 4.178 percent.

Louis Begley, a member of Keane's board, said Brian Keane made his decision to resign jointly with the board. ''We have an extraordinary board with deep experience; we're very well-qualified to be on the board of a billion-dollar New York Stock Exchange company, and we went through what we believe to be the appropriate prefaces in a situation like this," Begley said yesterday.

''This was very much a joint decision based on some very thoughtful investigation and deliberation, and Brian and we agreed that this was the right path," Begley added. ''As soon as we became aware of the issue we went through a very thoughtful process with counsel, both internally and externally, and jointly came to a decision with Brian that his resignation was in the best interest of our shareholders."

Asked whether Brian Keane's resignation had left a strain between the Keane family and the board, Begley said, ''I've never met Marilyn Keane so I don't want to comment on what she said."

Two other Keane board members, Winston Hindle, a former Digital Equipment Corp. executive, and John Rockart, a senior lecturer emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, did not return calls for comment.

Keane's chief financial officer and executive vice president of finance and administration, John J. Leahy, is serving as interim president and chief executive while the company conducts a search for Keane's successor.

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.