Likely "the board" are investors to whom he ceded a level of control. This was a privately held company that did not appear to have a board. Looks like they are out of money and unable to make payroll. They had some good ideas but the execution wasn't there.
Had they brought their vision to life it could have been a great game but when the decision was made to bring it to early access, I knew they were in trouble. I played it in alpha long before the Steam release and it was not even close to ready.
More talented developers losing their jobs in the games industry is nothing to celebrate. I think the leadership team made some key mistakes along the way not the least of which was basically starting over with a new game engine but not here to dwell on that. I hope the core talent are able to find new positions soon.