Julie Fleshman, President & CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

This episode of CEOs You Should Know features Julie Fleshman, President & CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I grew up in the Bay Areain Pleasanton, California. I went to
Amaor Valley High School. I wasa pro a proud member of the school
and a cheerleader and a champion forbeing with the community. And then I
went on to UCUS Santa Barbara forundergrad and to Santa Clara University for graduate

(00:24):
school, where I got a lawdegree in an MBA. So we're here,
obviously to talk about the Pancreatic CancerAction Network also known as pan CAN,
and that's what I'm going to referto because it's a lot easier to
say that it is a mouthful andall the wonderful work you've done almost over
a quarter of a century, andI don't mean to embarrass you about that,
but what I think is really coolis that after law school you got

(00:46):
right into this gig and with thisnonprofit. And maybe we can talk about
it if we have time a littlebit later. But when I see anybody
as CEO president that's at a placefor that long, it's indicative about how
they feel about the organization, butalso the organization and your people have treated
you. And I think that's reallyimportant. When you get into a gig
that you really enjoyed. But canyou tell me about the origin story about

(01:07):
how you joined pan can what happened, how did you get associated with them?
Yeah? Absolutely so. Actually,when I was in graduate school,
when I was getting my law degreein MBA, my father was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer. And he was onlyfifty two years old. He hadn't been
feeling well, couldn't figure out whatwas wrong with him. The doctors told
him, you know, maybe it'san ulcer. Take some times and you'll

(01:30):
feel better. And eventually he wasdiagnosed with pancretic cancer and he died four
months later. Wow, And Iwas mad. I just couldn't understand how
this had happened, Where did thiscome from? Had never heard of pancreatic
cancer, No one in our familyhad had cancer. And then suddenly,
you know, fifty two years oldand my dad is My dad's gone.
And so I wanted to understand whythere was nothing being done, why we

(01:52):
were given no options. And Iactually at that time, there was very
little research happening in pancredic caner acrossthe country. One of the few places
where there was a pink credit cancerresearch program was Johns Hopkins University, and
I reached out to them, andone of the leading researchers called me back

(02:14):
and I just, you know,ranted and raved at them as to why
nothing was what was happening, andwhy isn't more being done? And he
told me about this newly formed organizationthat had literally just been founded, called
the Pink Credit Cancer Action Network panCAN, and he put me in touch
with the founder, and so that'show it all came to be. You

(02:35):
know, you sometimes don't pick theroad, the road picks you. And
I feel like that's what happened,you know, Julie, it always amazes
me how things happen and they're notjust happens then all the time. I'll
give you an example. I've hadra since I've been twenty one and being
in the media. I've always beena spokesperson whatever city I've lived in,
and I happen to be living inAlbuquerque at the time. I became a
spokesperson for the Arthritis Society, metthe woman that was a president in the

(02:57):
CEO. Happened to meet her sisterwho I'm now married to the last quarter
of a century, and with youin this tragedy of losing your dead and
I'm sorry and listen to cancer touchall of us, including my wife's side
of the family, with pancreatic cancer. Something remarkable came out of it,
where you got driven to say whatcan we do better? And how can
I be involved in? Here youare almost twenty five years later running the

(03:19):
organization. It's truly extraordinary. ButI think things happen for reasons why I'm
telling this story. It's just amazinghow things do work out, which is
absolutely incredible. So let's do this. There's so much to talk about when
it comes to pan CAN and what'shappened and transpired over the last quarter century,
not only with medical science and themedical people you work with, your
staff, and all the things thatyou've created over the last couple plus decades.

(03:45):
But I do want to give peoplesome stats too, because I think
you know, as I was preparingfor this interview, it's a little alarming
when it comes to cancer, especiallya pancreatic cancer, how many the people
it's affecting. So I'll let youdive into that in a little bit,
Julie, but could you do mea favor and just tell us first what
the mission statement is a pancn absolutely. So our mission is to take bold
action to improve the lives of everyoneimpacted by this disease by advancing research,

(04:11):
building communities, sharing knowledge, andadvocating for patients. All right, if
we were to give everybody a thirtythousand foot view about what you actually you
and and your team do at pancan, what would you tell them that you
do? Yes, So we havea comprehensive approach to tackling this disease.
We fund research, we advocate,and Washington DC for increased federal resources.
We provide services to patients and familiesthat are currently dealing with this disease,

(04:38):
and reraise awareness and funds throughout thecountry through an amazing volunteer network. Why
don't we start with statistics and youcan be general if you like. I'm
not looking for any specificity, butright now in America and the United States,
how many people either have pancreated canceror to fix them in some shape
or form. Yep. So,this year, over sixty four thousand Americans

(04:59):
will diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It'sthe third leading cause of cancer death in
the United States and expected to becomethe second leading cause of cancer death by
twenty thirty. Is it always adeath sentence, Julie, Or there is
there help out there is or medicationsare the therapies? I know there's different
stages of cancer, but where arewe with that? Yeah, I mean

(05:20):
there's always hope, there's always peoplethat beat the odds. And you know,
well, what we say, nopatient is statistic. Each patient is
an individual and we need to treatthem as such. But unfortunately, the
current five year survival rate is justthirteen percent. That is unacceptable, but

(05:42):
it has gone up a percentage pointeach year over the last three years,
the most you know, it's everincreased in a short period of time.
So while it is still unacceptable andwill while we still have a great deal
of work to do, we aremaking the progress. We're removing in the
right direction. And each of thoseyou know, thirteen percent versus twelve percent

(06:06):
means that many more people you knoware living longer and sharing moments with their
families. So there's a lot ofthings I want to address in the short
time that we have with you.When you learn about pancreatic cancer, you've
got a great navbar on your website, then we'll give that Folks at the
end of our interview if you alreadyhaving google the URL for PANCAM. But
you know, you do a greatjob of educating people on the website about

(06:27):
the overview and what it is andliving with it, symptoms and treatments and
everything. And I think the knowledge, especially when it comes to any kind
of disease, is power, right. You know, I can once again
use my examples. When I wastwenty one got what I got. There
was no internet, there was nosocial media, there was limited information to
read about it. But as lookingover the website, I mean, you
cover so many different areas when you'relearning about pancreatic cancer really is extraordinary.

(06:51):
But once again, knowledge is powerwhen it comes to people that have it,
their families and the doctors they workwith. So I want to give
you a pat on the back becauseI just think it's present how you've covered
all the different areas when it comesto that. Thank you so much,
And I think you know our patientservices program is the foundation of everything that
we do. That people can callin, talk to a trained case manager

(07:13):
and get comprehensive information about this diseaseso they can make informed decisions about their
care and also to further that there'sanother part of that is resources and services,
and that's a big list of differentthings that you can do as well
too. Absolutely absolutely, and Ithink you said it best. You know,
knowledge is power, and the moreinformation and resources people have, they
feel empowered to make the right decisions. I think one of the hardest things

(07:38):
when my dad was diagnosed. Atthat time, there really was no place
to go for information and resources,and we were powerless and we felt like
we couldn't do anything to help andsupport my dad. And so I think
I am proud that today that isnot the case. If somebody calls in
and utilizes our programs and services,we'll talk a little bit more about donating.

(08:00):
How you can do that, whetheryou're volunteering and advocating or being a
partner too, because there's really alot of different ways that you can do
that with pan CAN. But whenit comes to being funded, how are
you currently being funded right now?So we are one hundred percent funded through
philanthropy, so people making donations,through fundraising events, through sponsorships from companies,

(08:20):
but it is all philanthropic support.If somebody donates some money, I
always get this question. I'm sureyou do too about where their money goes.
Where does it go when they doa donation, Yes, it is
going to our programs and services,funding research, patient services, advocacy,
are education, cert programs, arevolunteer network, all that various things.
It is funding pancam's mission. Ialways warn people when we talk in this

(08:43):
series, Julie, when it comesto our leaders and CEOs and presidents,
that there's a lot of great thingsthat come out of company. And I'm
going to ask you about a greatstory coming up in second, but it's
also windyus at the top two.There's just a lot going on when you're
running a very large nonprofit. Withthat said, in the industry and US
president CEO, what kind of currentchallenges are you having right now? Yeah,
you know, I think fundraising isalways a challenge, right There is

(09:05):
always such important work that needs tobe done, and more work that needs
to be done than we have youknow, funding available to do so.
I think fundraising is always something thatwe're working on. How can we reach
more people so that we can raisemore funds to advance our mission. I
think the other part this is stilla challenging disease for patients being diagnosed today.

(09:30):
While we have resources and we haveinformation and it's certainly, you know,
ten times better than it was twodecades ago, this is still a
really challenging disease, and so advancingnew treatments and advancing the scientific progress is
something we continue to work on withthe entire scientific field across the country.

(09:50):
Julie, I realize that there area lot of cogs when it comes to
pan Can, with your researchers,your staff and what you do and everybody
else on the team. But whenit comes to maybe some really remarkable stories
that you've seen over the last quarterof a century, I know there's got
to be, you know, hundredsof great stories out there. And I
understand with as busy as you are, you're not always boots on the ground.
But whether you've experienced it or heardsecond nd with one of your staff

(10:13):
or one of the researchers or somebodythat's been living with as a family,
can you share a story with usthat was, you know, kind of
this is why we get up everydaykind of story. Yes, I mean,
as you said, I have somany, but I'll speak about one
actually that was very recent. SoPancan hosts a fundraising event called Purple Stride.

(10:35):
These are our walk events. Thereare fifty seven walk purple Stride events
across the country and they all happenon one day. And this was recently
on April twenty seventh, a coupleof months ago, and I went to
the Purple Stride in New York Cityand there was a family there that we're
all rallying around the father who hadpancreatic cancer. They had rallied our friends

(11:00):
and colleagues and everyone they knew toraise over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
just for their team alone at thisevent. They all came out to support
the father and the daughter said tome, she said, I haven't seen
my dad's sparkle like he has todaysince he was diagnosed with this disease.

(11:26):
And that just, you know,that says it all that when someone's diagnosed
with a challenging disease, you know, you need the information and then you
need the resources, but you needthe support of your family and your friends
and to know you're not alone andthat there's this whole community of people fighting
for you. And so that tome sort of summed up what pancan is

(11:46):
all. About we are about communityand creating this family of people that have
all been impacted by this very challengingdisease. So I know, as a
leader and a CEO president, you'realways thinking about the future once again,
how to partner up when it comesto bringing funds in about what can we
do next. We're obviously going tolet the funds, let the research do
what it does. But as youplan for the future, what things are

(12:09):
you either looking at that you wantto do or that is coming, or
that it's something special over the nextcouple two to five years that you're looking
forward to. Yeah, I meanone of the challenges of pan ground cancer
is there is no early detection test, so by the time the disease is
diagnosed, it's usually late stage,which makes it much more difficult to treat.
And we were able to diagnose itearlier that five year survival, we

(12:31):
would be able to drive it muchfaster, much much further. So one
of the areas that's really important topan CAN is to find an early detection
strategy. So we are funding researchin that area and in particular have an
initiative that we are facilitating called theEarly Detection Initiative So that's just one example.

(12:52):
I think the other area besides earlydetection is we need more therapeutics and
treatment options for patients, and soCAN is doing a lot around that area
to advance and accelerate the rate ofnew treatments for patients. Hey, if
you could do me a favor andindulge me. I just thinking about this.
You know, you've been there foralmost a quarter of a century,

(13:13):
and I'm sure you've seen such amazingthings happen over the last couple of plus
decades of well what you do andthe people coming through in the research for
the actual pancreatic you know what happensto people when they get cancer. But
as you move forward in this joband you've grown in it, we have
a lot of future entrepreneurs that listento this program, I mean current ones
too. About just maybe some advice. I mean, you're you're a woman

(13:37):
that is running a very large nonprofitand you've been doing this for a very
long time, and I understand yourjourney is very specific to you, Julie,
but maybe just when it comes toadvice and maybe a couple of things
to tell people out there about yourjourney, what to expect what you went
through and how you succeeded so longin the opportunity of getting this job.
Yeah, well, thank you.You know, I think being passionate about

(14:01):
what you do can make all thedifference in the world. I mean,
clearly, I'm extremely passionate about ourmission and I'm here, you know,
in my dad's honor. But evensince then, you know, over twenty
five years, I've met so manymore people in lives that this organization impacts.
I think, you know, runningthe non the nonprofit organization like a

(14:22):
business, I think sometimes people don'tthink about that hand Can is run like
a business. We make business decisions, you know, so that to ensure
that we are driving the right programsforward and using our donors' you know,
dollars in the very best way possible. Being bold, I think that's being
bold and entrepreneurial is something that Ithink is the spirit of pan Can and

(14:46):
why we've been successful. You know, sort of the brick wall is in
front of us. This is areally challenging disease, and there's a really
high brick wall, and we're notscared of the brick wall. It's not
you know, we're figuring out howto break through it, how to get
over it, how to change thestatus quo. We're told quite often,
you know, that's not the wayyou do it, that's not the way

(15:09):
it's been done, and it's ourjob to say exactly, and that's why
we're going to do it differently.And I think just sort of having that
attitude and being confident that it's notalways going to work just the way you
want because you're working on a reallyhard challenge, but to keep persevering and
building this amazing community of supporters,volunteers, patients, researchers who all are

(15:35):
standing behind handcan making our voice,you know, even stronger. Well that's
really well, said Julian. Iappreciate you sharing all that. I have
a wife and a daughter, andI always look for them to have female
mentors, especially for my twenty twoyear old to just graduated college. And
while we're making a lot of stridesand areas for women to getting prominent jobs
and executives and CEOs and presidents likeyourself, you've been doing for a long

(15:58):
time, there's still a lot ofroom to grow in that area. But
I wonder for you, when itcomes to mentors, did you have to
rely on a female mentor or somebodythat you looked up to. You know,
one thing you said that really struckme that I've it is not going
to surprise you. In this series, passion is usually the number one driver,
especially when you're running a nonprofit,because it is a tough role to
run an organization when it's nonprofit,small, medium, or large. With

(16:22):
that said, when it comes tomentorship, did you have any I've had
amazing mentors over the years. Ifeel very lucky that I've had some incredible
board members, you know, sincethe beginning, and then you know,
as that board has evolved over theyears who have supported me, provided input
and advice and really encouraged me tokeep at it. So yes, I

(16:45):
mean, I think having those kindof people around you that when you put
out a big, ambitious goal,they help you figure out how to achieve
it, not tell you that it'snot possible. Yeah, I think that's
also good advice. And I thinkalso just to expand on what you were
talking about, I'm getting the messageof that if you're talking to somebody that's

(17:08):
saying no, you're talking to thewrong person. I tell my daughter that
all the time, there's going tobe a ton of peaks and valleys out
there. But also the other thingI'm gaining from you too is that you've
been relentless in your quest to tryand not only grow PANCN, but what
you do as a CEO and president. I think that you know, as
I talk to most leaders, youhave an extra gene that you're grinding all
the time twenty fourth seven, threesixty five, and it's what you have

(17:30):
to do to be the best.Would I be correcting that, yes,
absolutely absolutely, And I think youknow a positive positivity and being in a
positive environment is also really important,right And you could look at this and
say, wow, that is atough disease. It's sad, you know,
it's depressing, But that's not theway it is a PANCN. If

(17:55):
you walk into our office, itis it's positive and there's energy and we're
inspired by the patients and the familiesthat we serve. You go to one
of our events and you feel thisjust positive momentum and energy, and I
think that's part of we create theenvironments that we want to be a part
of. Well, that makes senseto you, and if it wasn't for
you and other organizations, we wouldn'thave millions of dollars pouring in for pancreatic

(18:18):
cancer and that's a good thing.And also, I think, once again
further your point of people in staffand environment having a non toxic the atmosphere,
but also acts of kindness. It'shard in twenty twenty four to get
all those things, but it soundslike you know, you lead by those
qualities, and I imagine you shuffleit down to your managers and then the
staff, and it sounds like that'sreally important to you. Absolutely, we

(18:40):
start every one of our all teammeetings with a we call it a mission
moment, where somebody shares, youknow, a story of something that's happened
recently with a volunteer out in thefield, or a patient story or something
that just shows this is why wedo the work that we do. And
I think just always kind of leadingwith that, here's why we are here,

(19:02):
and this is what we're all workingtowards. I love that. Well,
listen, Julie, as we wrapup our conversation, I always love
to give the floor to our guestand just maybe a couple of takeaways for
our listener, kind of recapping whatwe had talked about But yeah, the
floor is yours. Just to giveus a few things and then we'll get
the website and then we'll let yougo. But what have you got in
your mind that you can tell ourlisteners that we wrap up our conversation.

(19:23):
Well, I think you know.We are making advances in pancreatic cancer.
We have much more to offer patientstoday, but we still have a tremendous
amount of work to do and whenwe need more people to raise their hands,
to volunteer, to donate, toget involved and engaged, and we
would love to have more people joinour movement and help us change outcomes for

(19:45):
patients. All right, And withall that that, Julie said, there
is a website and it's beautiful andby the way, we ever designed it.
While there's a lot of information onthere, and I think that's really
cool. It's easy to navigate andthat's what I like when I get on
the website, especially something when itcomes to this, So what's the website
for everybody? Julie and can dotorg nice and easy and there's a big

(20:07):
kind of I don't know, Idon't Is it blue, is it green?
Is it turquoise? What's the donatebutton color I'm trying to make.
I was looking at it. Iguess it's like a chilly blue. Okay,
that's fine. What's a big giant, fat one with a heart next
to it? And that's where youneed to go to start the donation process
and all the other cool things areon there. Julie listen. It's so
great to talk to you. Youknow, your energy, your enthusiasm,

(20:29):
your kindness. It comes true onvideo as we talk, and I think
that's extraordinary. That's probably one ofthe great things about you having longevity in
one place, your enjoyment of thejob, but also what you're doing and
the people around you. So thankyou for your valuable time and continue success
at PAN. Can we just reallyappreciate you joining us on CEOs You should
know, well, thank you somuch for having me.