CEO Today Magazine June 2019 Edition

www.ceotodaymagazine.com feature of the month 38 Gemma Holding has been the CEO of Cancer Support UK since 2015, following a career in the charity sector spanning over a decade. In her first year as CEO of Cancer Support UK, Gemma received a Judges Recognition Award from ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations), acknowledging the significant contribution she made to the organisation and was a finalist for ‘Rising CEO Star’ at the Charity Times Awards 2017. Matthew Doyle is Chair of Cancer Support UK. After a career in professional and financial services, he currently holds a number of non-executive director appointments and consults on responsible investment and stewardship to pension schemes. What are the unique challenges that come with running and ensuring the success of a charity in the UK? How do you overcome these? Gemma: Cancer Support UK is a small charity of just five staff and limited financial resources. When I arrived, my challenge was to ensure we remained relevant when the organisation had not changed materially in over a decade. In response to thischallenge, in 2016, we undertook a comprehensive review of our own services, as well as those on offer elsewhere across the national cancer sector. The review analysed services provided by every other cancer charity in the UK and public bodies. This review demonstrated that the areas of cancer research and cancer prevention were already delivered well by other charities and public bodies, so it was decided we would no longer continue to invest in these areas. As a charity with limited resources, I wanted to focus on where we could make the most impact - and not duplicate work already being delivered elsewhere. This led to us embarking on an ambitious turnaround programme for the charity, the biggest change to the organisation since its inception in 2004. It was certainly not without its challenges, but I was delighted that just sixmonths into the change programme, Cancer Support UK was named as a finalist at the Charity Times Awards in the ‘Change Project of the Year’ category. What has been your proudest moment so far at Cancer Support UK? Gemma: I am probably most proud of developing two unique services that people with cancer actually want and find useful. The feedback from our Cancer Kits is overwhelming – they really do lift people’s spirits during cancer treatment. I like the fact they are tangible and practical. I am really proud that we identified mental health as an area of significant unmet need within cancer care – and we were able to design a unique service to directly address it. We developed Cancer Coach as a response to our findings that more emotional support for people with cancer is urgently needed, particularly post-treatment. Designing services alongside people living with cancer has been invaluable, as they know best what they need, and I am always immensely proud when we get lovely feedback from the people we support with our services. How important is emotional support in the treatment of cancer, in addition to practical support? Gemma: Emotional help for people with cancer is hugely important. Cancer patients often find that their emotional well-being begins to decline just as their physical well-being begins to improve. Depression is three times more likely in cancer patients than in the general public, and almost half of people with cancer report that the emotional effects are more difficult to cope with than the physical effects. Once physical treatment ends, cancer patients are broadly discharged from healthcare without ongoing support to deal with cancer’s profound mental and emotional consequences. So how does Cancer Coach help? Matthew: Cancer Coach will offer a lifeline at exactly this vital point of need: when medical treatment—and the access and support that accompanies it—stops. Moreover, since Cancer Coach can be accessed at any time after physical cancer treatment has ended, each individual can apply and enrol at the time they most feel in need of support. Delivering Cancer Coach by phone means there are no ‘postcode lottery’ barriers to accessing the service, and it’s less intrusive when people are trying to get back to ‘normal life’ as people can fit the course around work and other commitments. What are the benefits of a commercial CEO undertaking a Chair of the Board position in the not- for-profit sector? Matthew: Cancer Support UK was going through a financial and operational transformation when I joined the Board in 2018. Shortly after she had joined, Gemma had identified that the charity was not sustainable, and the governance structure not fit “The feedback from our Cancer Kits is overwhelming – they really do lift people’s spirits during cancer treatment. I like the fact they are tangible and practical.”