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Komen\'s Leadership Changes Are Met With Skepticism

By JENNIFER PRESTON

Nancy G. Brinker explains how she began the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure in 1982.

Leadership changes at the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure six months after an online uproar over a decision to cut funds for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood was greeted with skepticism on Thursday among breast cancer advocates and longtime former supporters.

Nancy G. Brinker, the founder, is stepping aside as chief executive to take on a new management role focusing on fund-raising, strategy and global growth, as my colleague Michael Schwirtz reports.

The president, Liz Thompson, and two board members also announced on Wednesday they were leaving Komen, the nation's leading breast cancer advocacy organization, officials announced in a statement.

Ms. Brinker, who began the organization in 1982 after her sister died of breast cancer at 36, will serve as chairman of the board's executive committee, a powerful role that prompted some advocates to question the organization's commitment to new leadership.

“That makes me think this is a public relations stunt,” said Eve Ellis, a board member for the foundation's New York chapter from 2004 to 2010. “She will be in a position to fire and hire and politicize women's health care. I understand that she will no longer be chief executive officer. But she will be the decision maker on who the C.E.O. is. This is problematic.”

Although Komen reinstated funds to Planned Parenthood within three days of the public outcry, the organization was widely criticized for what many longtime supporters viewed as a decision made to appease anti-abortion rights supporters and politicize women's health care services.

Donations plummeted at varying levels across the country from 5 percent to 30 percent, Komen officials said . Events were canceled and volunteer participation at walks and runs declined. Several executives resigned in recent months. In response to the backlash, Karen Handel, the senior vice president of policy who had campaigned against Planned Parenthood as a former Republican gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, stepped down.

In a brief interview on Thursday, Ms. Handel said: “I wish nothing but the best for both Nancy and Liz. Komen is an organization that has done a tremendous amount of good. And they will continue to do so.”

Ms. Brink ignored calls for her to resign from the organization that has raised $2 billion since she started it. She tried to address concerns in a YouTube video and later in an interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell, but both efforts fell flat and she was criticized for not acknowledging the organization's missteps.

The controversy surfaced tension within the organization over the role of abortion politics and cast a light on dismay among some breast cancer advocates about the emphasis that Komen put on so-called “pink marketing.”

“Komen has done a lot of things that cancer survivors don't like,” said Mel Majoros, 42, a radio producer from Michigan who writes The Cancer Warrior blog. “The community has been upset for a long time about the pink ribbon being slapped on everything. They need to focus less on the pink ribbon and what the pink ribbon stands for.”


Brenda Coffee, a breast cancer survivor from Texas and veteran journalist and filmmaker behind the Survivorship Media Network's breastcancersisterhood.com, posted on Twitter.

“I am skeptical,” Ms. Coffee said in an interview. “They just don't get it. And there are r ipple effects because their missteps means a lot of other important and valuable breast cancer organizations are not getting as much in donations.”

Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for Komen, said that the leadership changes were unrelated to the Planned Parenthood controversy. She said that Ms. Thompson had told the board she wanted to leave in April, but she agreed to stay on to help get the organization through the recent turmoil. She said Ms. Brinker's new role suits what is needed for the organization, moving forward.

Ms. Rader said Komen did not see a decline in corporate sponsors, but she said participation from volunteers and individual donors fell. The organization's affiliates, however, were working hard to gain back respect and trust.

“We are on the mend,” Ms. Rader said. “We are spending our time reminding people of what we are doing in their communities and the tremendous impact we have had on low-income and uninsured women and funding more research than any other breast cancer organization.”

In California, where the affiliates joined together in February to denounce Komen's decision on Planned Parenthood, it has been a struggle but donations and volunteers are coming back.

Lisa Wolter, executive director for the last seven years at Susan G. Komen Foundation in Orange County, Calif., said her focus in recent months has been getting people to understand the impact of the foundation's work on providing services at the local level. “In a lot of ways, this whole spotlight on what do has motivated people who care about breast health,” she said.

Ms. Wolter said she was proud that she was among the affiliate directors who alerted Komen's top leaders about concerns over the decision and “the importance of meeting women's needs where they are getting their health care.”

“I am also proud they listened,” she said. “I am proud that the organization reversed the decision and made a be tter policy. Our ongoing work now has been making sure that the voices of the affiliates is heard so that we are always doing what is best for breast health for women.”

Ms. Wolter said that she was concerned about a major gala in May but that the organization brought in as much money as it had the year before. Looking ahead to the fall, she is working on getting people registered for races.

Ms. Rader said that Ms. Brinker was unavailable for an interview.

In May, Ms. Brinker received an honorary degree from Duke. In an interview with The Chronicle, the independent daily newspaper, she was asked, among other things, about the role that social media played in changing Komen's position.

TC: What role did responses on social media play in the Komen leadership changing their position on Planned Parenthood?
NB: We learned, and not just from social media, that people do care very deeply about issues like access to healthcare for vulnerabl e populations. They will speak up, and an organization like ours is wise to listen. We've always taken care of low-income and uninsured women through our community funding, and we would never have abandoned those women. Nevertheless, I've personally apologized for our decision and the misunderstanding that arose from it. And we are now moving forward with the work that we've done for three decades: funding research and taking care of people facing breast cancer.