Gretchen Carlson to lead Miss America board of directors

Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson will chair the Miss America Organization board of directors after the organization’s previous CEO resigned, The Huffington Post reported Monday.

Carlson, who won the competition in 1989, will be the first former Miss America to lead the organization in its nearly 100 year history, HuffPost reported.

“In the end, we all want a strong, relevant Miss America and we appreciate the existing board taking the steps necessary to quickly begin stabilizing the organization for the future,” Carlson said in a statement to the news outlet.

Former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell resigned as chair in late December after Huffington Post published emails between him and other organization officials that referred to contestants in derogatory and crude terms.

After the emails were made public, Carlson joined two other former Miss Americas in calling for Haskell to resign.

The organization’s chairman Lynn Weidner also resigned amid the scandal.

Carlson worked at Fox News until July 2016, when she sued former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes over alleged sexual harassment.

Fox ultimately settled the lawsuit with Carlson and issued a public apology to her.