Chief People Officer

The American Cancer Society

Chief People Officer
THE OPPORTUNITYThe American Cancer Society (ACS) seeks a Chief People Officer (CPO) to serve as the enterprise leader responsible for aligning talent, leadership, and organizational effectiveness with the organization’s mission and strategy. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer and serving as a member of the CEO’s Executive Team, the CPO translates enterprise priorities into an integrated people agenda that strengthens performance, culture, and accountability across the organization.
At a moment of continued transformation and scale, the CPO will position workforce strategy, leadership capability, and culture as core drivers of organizational effectiveness and mission delivery. The role builds on an existing cultural foundation while raising standards, sharpening service delivery, and expanding the strategic value of the People function. Working in close partnership with executive leadership, the CPO serves as a trusted advisor and problem-solver across all teams and functions.
The CPO prioritizes measurable organizational and talent outcomes enterprise wide. Early focus areas include strengthening leadership effectiveness, employee experience, and organizational health while supporting targeted transformation initiatives. The role balances continuity with innovation – preserving what works while introducing disciplined improvements that prepare the organization for future demands.

A central responsibility is building a forward-looking talent system that ensures leadership continuity and workforce readiness, including succession pipelines, leadership development, and scalable talent practices. The CPO also oversees role clarity, job frameworks, rewards strategy, and organizational design to align with enterprise priorities and market realities.

Success in this role requires an enterprise-minded leader who can operate as both strategist and operator – guiding executive conversations while ensuring disciplined execution – and who helps build a high-trust, high-performance culture that enables ACS to deliver greater impact at scale.

ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND

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.

Organizational Structure

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.

Other Information

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.

CORE PURPOSE & SCOPE OF THE CPO ROLE

• The CPO will serve as the enterprise leader responsible for translating organizational strategy into an integrated people and workforce agenda.
• Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO, COO, and Executive Team on talent, culture, workforce planning, and organizational health.
• Build and sustain a People function that delivers measurable organizational and talent outcomes across all teams and functions.
• Strengthen leadership capability, employee experience, and organizational effectiveness to support mission delivery and long-term sustainability.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES

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

Strategy-to-Execution Leadership:

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO, COO, and Executive Team, shaping workforce strategies aligned to ACS’ mission and long-term priorities.
• Partner with executive leadership to support team cohesion, effectiveness, and collective leadership performance.
• Provide data-driven insights to inform decisions related to talent, workforce planning, organizational health, and resource allocation.
• Collaborate with the Board of Directors through the Human Capital Committee.

Leadership of the People Function:

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing People Team, ensuring clarity, alignment, accountability, and collaboration.
• Improve the People Team operating model to deliver proactive, customer-centered partnership, and high-quality execution.
• Foster a team culture grounded in service excellence, trust, and best practices.

Talent Strategy, Leadership Development, and Succession Planning:

• Ensure ACS assesses, attracts, develops, retains, and engages top talent at all levels.
• Strengthens leadership capability through targeted (repeatable and customized) development programs, coaching, and role preparation.
• Build leadership pipelines and high-potential development pathways to ensure continuity and readiness of a well thought out and orchestrated succession process at all levels of the organization.

Compensation, Job Architecture, and Organizational Clarity:

• Lead modernization of the compensation framework including leveling, market alignment, transparency, and career pathways.
• Ensure compensation decisions are equitable, fiscally responsible, and aligned with governance standards.
• Build scalable systems that enhance clarity in roles, expectations, and advancement.

Organizational Design, Effectiveness, and Change Management:

• Lead organizational design efforts that improve effectiveness and support strategy execution.
• In partnership with Chief Communications Officer, architect and drive disciplined, people-centered change management plans that promote clarity, engagement, and adoption across the enterprise.
• Simplify decision-making, strengthen collaboration, and improve execution across the enterprise.
• Equip leaders to navigate change, manage uncertainty, and build organizational resilience.

Culture, Engagement, and People Experience:

• Serve as a cultural-steward, enforcing values, behaviors, and leadership expectations aligned to mission and performance.
• Advance engagement strategies including leadership capability building, manager development, recognition, and listening systems.
• In partnership with the Chief Diversity Officer, strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion across all levels.

People Operations & HR Infrastructure:

• Oversee the Enterprise People operations ensuring consistent, compliant, and efficient HR processes.
• Continue modernization of HR technology, analytics, and data capabilities.
• Ensure HRIS platforms are optimized and effectively deployed.
• Partner closely with Legal, Finance, Strategy, IT, and other functions to support integrated execution.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS

Experience and professional qualifications required for the CPO include:

• 15+ years of progressive HR leadership experience in complex, multi-site and virtual organizations.
• Demonstrated success leading high-performing HR teams and elevating organizational capability.
• Experience advancing talent management, succession planning, and leadership development frameworks.
• Expertise in rewards and recognition, compensation modernization, job leveling, organizational design, and culture transformation.
• Experience partnering with executives, boards, and governance committees.
• Background in nonprofit, health care, professional services or mission-driven organizations preferred.
• Proven senior executive leader able to partner across an executive team to deliver shared outcomes.

Ideal Leadership Style and Characteristics:

• Enterprise-minded leader who can connect people strategy to organizational priorities.
• Effective change leader able to guide complex organizations with empathy and structure.
• Builder of high-performing teams and inclusive culture.
• Collaborative, low-ego partner able to navigate diverse viewpoints.
• Strong communicator with clarity, warmth, and credibility.
• High integrity and sound judgment with commitment to the ACS mission.
• Ability to comfortably operate in a dynamic and complex environment. This leader will have an optimistic, positive outlook and will build trust quickly and celebrate team success.

EDUCATION

A bachelor’s degree is required. An advanced degree in HR or an MBA is preferred.

COMPENSATION

A competitive compensation package will be provided to outstanding candidates. The anticipated salary range for this position is $325,000 – $425,000 with a highly competitive incentive plan. Total compensation will depend on several factors, including previous work experience, specific industry experience, qualifications, and skill set.

LOCATION

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

KORN FERRY CONTACTS

Greg Hessel

Senior Client Partner, Human Resources Practice

Phone: 214-683-4500

Gegory.Hessel@kornferry.com

Emily Kimak

Senior Associate, Human Resources Practice

Phone: 914-330-7214

Emily.Kimak@kornferry.com

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Korn Ferry shall provide equal employment opportunity to all qualified candidates, and will refer candidates without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected basis. Artificial Intelligence tools may be used in connection with the recruitment process for this position.