Komen Foundation Redo

by Gary Snyder

With the Susan G. Komen decline in revenue and Race for the Cure participation, including a 32 percent drop in revenue from its signature 3-Day Race for the Cure, its cut of seven of its 14 3-Day races next year, Nancy Brinker's 64% increase in compensation to over $600,000, its public relations debacle regarding funding eligibility criteria for Planned Parenthood, its virtual total turnover of executives (with large donor-paid severances), as well as executive turnover among its 120 affiliates, massive turnover at the board level,  Brinker's protracted stay as CEO even after promising to leave, Susan G. Komen for the Cure in Dallas, Texas announced today that its 10-member Board of Directors has appointed Judith A. Salerno, M.D., M.S., as the new CEO. Salerno is executive director and chief operating officer of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Salerno joins Komen with impressive credentials. She is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health and has served in executive, operational, research and public policy roles at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and with community health and research organizations. She will be based at Komen’s global headquarters in Dallas.

We have seen this picture before. Since all employees serve at the behest of Brinker (the board is hand-picked by Brinker), the union may be short. 

The organization has a very steep hill to climb to reach any where near its former status. The problem with the latest news is that the focus is on the failures of Brinker rather than on the new leader.

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