After spending 10 years in public health in North Carolina, Shaina Gross packed up, put her dog in the car and followed her brother who was headed to San Diego for the surfing That journey ultimately brought her to her current position as CEO of Susan G. Komen Foundation San Diego, an advocacy and service organization for women dealing with breast cancer.
She became involved with the town council in Ocean Beach and landed a job at United Way, where she stayed for 11 years and moved up to the position of senior vice president and chief impact officer. It turned out that the CEO of Komen San Diego, which had an office in the United Way building, was planning to leave. And that’s when Gross stepped in as President and CEO in 2017.
“I was interested in getting back into the health arena,” said Gross, who earned a master’s degree in public health and a bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Susan G. Komen San Diego, one of six affiliates in California, has an annual budget of $1.93 million and focuses on advocacy to increase coverage for those at the low end of the income scale who still make too much to qualify for state-paid health care, covering the cost of screening and diagnostic services and providing emergency financial aid for things like rent and utilities for woman – and men – fighting breast cancer. It was founded in 1982 in memory of Susan Goodman Komen, who died two years earlier of breast cancer at age 36.
As a non-profit Sage member, Gross said the monthly forum meetings with business CEOs have been “a really good discipline of thinking.” A non-profit like Komen San Diego, she said, “still needs to be run like a business” addressing issues such as “retention, hiring, managing a team, managing clients and customers.” At the end of the day, she said, “it’s all about relationships.”