As the American Cancer Society (ACS) advances an ambitious mission and creates and delivers a new strategic plan to scale impact, a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) will play a pivotal role in executing a complex enterprise strategy and operations. The COO will serve as a critical integrator, operator, and strategic partner to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Team, and will strengthen execution, increase organizational alignment, facilitate collaboration, and ensure that enterprise investments deliver measurable outcomes.

Reporting to the new CEO, Shane Jacobson, the COO will serve as a key member of the Executive Team with clear line authority over enterprise operations and responsibility for delivering the annual operating plan. This role is intentionally designed to complement the CEO’s span of control, enabling the CEO to focus on mission leadership, external relations, fundraising, partnership engagement and creation, and board relations. Therefore, the COO will translate the organization’s strategic plan into a coherent, sequenced, and resourced operating agenda, with clear goals, milestones, and performance measures. Additionally, they will be expected to build trust quickly with leaders and teams, listen deeply, diagnose root causes, and then act decisively to simplify, integrate, and improve how the organization operates.

With a focus on aligning resources to priorities, simplifying how work gets done, and building a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement, the COO will be charged with collaborating with and through members of the Executive Team to enhance mission delivery. They will oversee core capabilities that enable ACS, and its advocacy affiliate, the ACS Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), to operate at scale, including Enterprise Strategy, Human Resources, Information Technology, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Enterprise Communications (internal and external, with executive communications matrixed to the CEO), and an Operations Team.

Serving as a “silo buster” who drives cross-pillar execution, the COO, in partnership with Executive Team colleagues, will coordinate complex initiatives that span mission, development, and operations, ensuring that design, implementation, and change management are coordinated rather than fragmented. They will also work closely with the CFO to ensure that operational plans and financial strategies are aligned for disciplined pillar execution.

The COO also serves as the executive leader of enterprise data strategy, positioning data as a core strategic asset that drives decision-making, operational performance, and mission outcomes. In partnership with Technology leadership, they will advance modern platforms, analytics, and digital capabilities that convert data into actionable insight. Further, they will champion artificial intelligence as a core capability, guiding its ethical adoption and scaled application to accelerate innovation, productivity, and organizational impact.

Above all, the COO will be a catalyst for collaboration and performance. This role is both highly strategic and deeply operational, requiring a leader who can move seamlessly between vision-setting and hands-on execution. The successful leader must be comfortable leading through ambiguity while modeling inclusion, positivity, and shared ownership of results. This is an exceptional opportunity to leave a lasting mark on ACS’s ability to scale its mission by building an operating model, culture, and infrastructure equal to its ambition.

The American Cancer Society exists because the burden of cancer is unacceptably high. We are committed to ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. Through our mission pillar work in advocacy, research, and patient support, along with our development efforts, we are working to reduce these cancer disparities and advance health equity. We leverage our more than 110 years of expertise to invest in groundbreaking cancer research, sustain and grow vital patients, caregivers, and clinician support programs, and advocate for legislative priorities that help reduce the impact of cancer for people in every community. We challenge ourselves to expand our reach, better amplify the many ways our work impacts the people we serve and find new ways to help ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.

ACS and ACS CAN rely on the strength of 1.3 million dedicated volunteers. From volunteers who impact national and local policies, to community volunteers who organize patient support programs and fundraising activities, the Society’s volunteers, supported by our workforce, drive every part of the mission.

Discovery: Since 1946, the American Cancer Society has invested more than $5 billion in research grants to the best scientists across the country to find more – and better – treatments for cancer, uncover factors that may cause cancer, and improve the quality of life for every person facing cancer, with over 50 of these researchers having gone on to win the Nobel Prize. No single nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in the US has invested more to find the causes and cures of cancer than the American Cancer Society.

Advocacy: The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) advocates for evidence-based public policies to reduce the cancer burden for everyone. We engage volunteers across the country to make their voices heard by policymakers at every level of government. Since 2001, as the American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, ACS CAN has successfully advocated for billions of dollars in cancer research funding, expanded access to quality affordable health care, and advanced proven tobacco control measures. We stand with our volunteers, working to make cancer a top priority for policymakers in cities, states, territories and our nation’s capital.   We’re the only cancer organization in all 50 states, working at every level of government (local, state, federal) and in every branch of government (legislative, executive, judicial). We engage thousands of dedicated individuals in every congressional district across the country to share their time, skills and stories to advance ACS CAN’s mission to advocate for evidence-based public policies to reduce the cancer burden for everyone.

Patient Support: When a cancer diagnosis upends a person’s life, having somewhere to turn for support means everything. Our Patient Support Pillar is the largest non-governmental provider of education and patient and caregiver services to people with cancer in the United States. ACS Patient Support programs are there for people in every community, working to ease the burdens people face throughout the cancer experience. Collaborating with health care providers, health systems, and public health organizations, we continue our work to eliminate barriers for all people and improve accessibility to treatments and support services.

Access to Care: For too many people facing cancer, their health outcomes are often determined by their ability to access care. Each barrier of care can decrease a person’s chance of survival. Lack of transportation is the number one barrier to people accessing timely, high-quality cancer care. Road To Recovery’s provides more people with free rides to their important cancer-related appointments, ultimately improving outcomes and helping save lives.

Hope Lodges: Our Hope Lodges enable us to support our guests throughout their cancer journey. Thousands of people and their caregivers call a Hope Lodge facility their home away from home during treatment each year. Hope Lodge communities go beyond a place to stay; they offer healing spaces and create communities where patients and caregivers can find strength in themselves and in one another.

Reducing Cancer Health Disparities: ACS and ACS CAN work to end cancer as we know it, for everyone, by reducing disparities across the entire cancer continuum. To improve cancer outcomes, the team uses evidence-based decision-making and actions by employing scientific research, data, and quantifiable results to inform and optimize our practices and interventions. With a focus on measurable cancer outcomes, ACS and ACS CAN deliver tailored interventions with the goal of giving everyone a fair and just opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. Our guiding principles are further grounded in accountability, transparency, and flexibility, which build capacity to advance our mission, and create active engagement with shared ownership.

Acting as a Partner and Convener: ACS and ACS CAN convene roundtables bringing together allied organizations to work collaboratively and achieve an even greater impact. We work to unite organizations in collaborative partnerships through six national roundtables focusing on breast, colorectal, lung, and cervical cancers, as well as HPV vaccination and navigation. We bring together thought leaders from different organizations who are committed to taking collective action to help improve cancer outcomes through targeted and strategic solutions.

The American Cancer Society, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation governed by a single fiduciary Board of Directors that is responsible for setting policy, establishing long-term goals, monitoring general operations, assessing organizational outcomes, and reviewing and approving the annual budget. The Board is comprised entirely of volunteers from the medical and lay communities. Our system of organizational governance ensures the input of appropriate experts on decision making and strategic oversight of comprehensive nationwide operations.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is a separate 501(c)(4) nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. Led by Lisa Lacasse, MBA, ACS CAN is governed by a separate Board of Directors, all of whom are dedicated to leveraging the power of government to end suffering and death from cancer.

ACS is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with our workforce and volunteers throughout the country supporting five geographic regions and Puerto Rico. The organization has approximately 3,130 employees. ACS CAN is based in Washington, DC, with team members and volunteers across the country supporting federal, local, and state advocacy initiatives.

The American Cancer Society is proud to hold top ratings from Charity Navigator, the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, and Candid, all widely recognized and respected charity rating and watchdog groups, demonstrating our continuing commitment to accountability, transparency, and ethical practices. Every year, at least 80% of our expenses go directly to fund our mission to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support.

Responsibilities, duties, and critical tasks of the COO include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategy-to-Execution Leadership:

Enterprise Operations and Infrastructure:

Executive Team and CEO Enablement:

Cross-Pillar Integration and Change Management:

Program and Project Management:

Technology, Data and Innovation Enablement:

People:

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Enterprise Communications:

Experience and professional qualifications required for the COO include:

A bachelor’s degree is required. An advanced degree is preferred.

A competitive compensation package will be provided to outstanding candidates. The anticipated salary range for this position is $500,000 – $600,000 along with a highly competitive incentive plan. Salary will be dependent on several factors, including previous work experience, specific industry experience, qualifications, and skill set.

ACS is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and ACS CAN is based in Washington, DC. The organization has a presence in communities nationwide. The COO’s home base is flexible with a regular presence in ATL, DC, and nationally. 

Lorraine Lavet

Sector Leader, Association Practice

Phone: (703) 919-6540

Lorraine.Lavet@KornFerry.com

Divina Gamble

Sector Leader, Nonprofit Practice

Phone: (202) 355-3834

Divina.Gamble@KornFerry.com

Tara Vittese

Senior Associate

Phone: (609) 969-8070

Tara.Vittese@KornFerry.com