CNY CEO: An interview with the leader of the Food Bank of CNY

Editors Note: CNY CEO is a new feature appearing regularly (about every month) in The Central New York Business Journal, authored by guest writer Jeff Knauss who is president of his own digital marketing firm. In each edition of CNY CEO, Jeff will chat with a different top executive of a Central New York business or nonprofit, with the interview transcript appearing in a conversational Q&A format.

In this edition of CNY CEO, I speak with Kathleen Stress, executive director of the Food Bank of Central New York. The Food Bank (www.foodbankcny.org) serves 11 counties and provides 36,000 meals a day. Stress lives in Camillus with her husband Marc and son Orion.

JEFF: Tell me a little bit about your career and how you became involved with the Food Bank.

KATHLEEN: Well, my career was not in food banking. It started out in child development. After I graduated school with an art degree and could not find a job in art, I went back to childcare and worked my way up to a director position. I moved to Syracuse and worked at The Salvation Army. I ran its three after-school programs working with low-income household families and their children. It was an opportunity to interface with kids who needed a little extra and an opportunity. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it was a bridge to my next career at the Food Bank.

During my daycare days, I had children come to me who were hungry. Being an after-school program, I was unable to feed them a full meal like the one they should be getting from home. I could, however, give them some snacks like Oreo cookies, Lorna Doone packets, or a couple of extra apples to take home. I didn’t know at the time that God had a plan set for me to use my skills at Food Bank of Central New York, where I am now able to feed a lot more kids healthy, nutritious meals through our Kids Café programs and summer feeding programs where they get a breakfast or lunch.

JEFF: What was your role when you first moved to the Food Bank?

KATHLEEN: When I first came to the Food Bank, I was recruited to manage the agency’s strategic plan, as well as creating, formalizing, and implementing policies and procedures. I was focused on interdepartmental communication and managing that. After my first year, I moved into the chief operating officer position and managed the organization; both day-to-day operations, as well as continuing to manage the strategic plan.

JEFF: Was it your aspiration when you started with the Food Bank to become the executive director?

KATHLEEN: No, never. Tom Slater was my mentor as the previous executive director. I’m blessed and humbled that he recognized enough potential in me to put the succession plan into place with a person’s name. He used to kid that I had the keys to the kingdom and I think it’s because I integrated myself in every department and knew what was happening inside the organization and then was able to take information and globally plan.

JEFF: How do you recruit and hire top talent?

KATHLEEN: We’ve been fortunate to maintain some of our top talent. We have a great longevity of staff. Our longest staff person has been here 24 years and we have folks who are 10 years or more. The opportunity for some of our newer positions is the fact that we have such a great culture and work environment, and people really recognize that. We have an exceptional compensation-benefit package, particularly for a small, not-for-profit, and how can anyone debate helping to feed people? That’s a basic human need, and I think those who are very passionate about not-for-profit work become ingrained in the mission.

JEFF: Talk a little bit about the culture at the Food Bank and about the steps that you have taken to grow the culture you have today.

KATHLEEN: Well, I was fortunate when I came in 2007; we had a good culture set. However, I think through the leadership team and myself, we have been able to enhance that. Human capital is the most important piece of an organization. You cannot just have a body fill a role. You have to have the right people on the bus, as Jim Collins would say, and I believe we have been able to do that. We have created open lines of communication, which is not just a yearly performance evaluation. It is the coffee chats we have monthly or informal chats that allow us to share information. Plus, we know how to have fun with fun staff events, barbecues, and a staff holiday party. We give everyone an opportunity to share or submit an idea about how we remain innovative. We cannot act on every idea, but we give everyone the opportunity, at any level, to submit ideas and be part of moving the Food Bank forward.

JEFF: Were you attracted to leadership roles from a young age?

KATHLEEN: You know, I don’t know that I ever woke up and said, “I’m going to be a leader someday,” or “I’m going to run the world” or run the Food Bank for that matter. I think two things contributed to learning to be a leader. As a middle child, you have to assert yourself on some level and I was always fairly confident doing that with humor. That was my way in. Also, I have something innate in me that if I see something that needs to be fixed, I am going to step forward and try to fix it. I’m not going to wait for someone else to do it. I think that ability shined through, no matter if I was in art or childcare, or when I came to the Food Bank. The Food Bank staff joke that I’m a “5’1” force to be reckoned with,” so somehow I have managed to be assertive enough to show that I am willing to take action to get things done.

JEFF: How would you describe your leadership style?

KATHLEEN: At times, I am certainly going to be very assertive and outline expectations. There are certain things that have to be done, so I am not afraid to address that. At the same time, with human capital and particularly the staff we have here, I want to be a coach and a mentor. I consider myself working alongside them, not above them, because we all are in this together. I also have a mantra of surrounding myself with people smarter than me so I can empower folks who are guiding the organization to engage, have input and suggestions because I really couldn’t do it without them.

JEFF: How has the Internet affected the day-to-day operations of the Food Bank? What do you guys do to stay ahead of the curve?

KATHLEEN: To stay ahead of the curve, I think we do a couple of things well. From a donor side, we try to keep our website fluid. We have hired a communications associate who will update our site with events and activities. Also, the opportunity to give online is extremely important. We work with PayPal for people to be able to donate online. From a member program or agency side, which is our food pantries and soup kitchens, the opportunity to access the inventory in real time and order online is a huge component for us.

From a media and public-relations standpoint, we are one of Central New York’s best-kept secrets and are constantly asking ourselves, “How do we continue to deploy our story and our message?” Not only through our website, but also through social media, and through our campaigns, we really want people to realize what we are doing. The takeaway is hunger exists right here in our local community and I want people to know what the Food Bank is doing about it.

JEFF: How do you balance your work and life?

KATHLEEN: I have always been pretty good at balancing things. There are going to be times when you are entrenched in paperwork, but at the end of the day, you have to know you have done the job of making sure that 36,000 meals went out across 11 counties each day. Through our drivers and fleet of vehicles, and the warehouse capacity, I know that is being accomplished so that I can sleep at night.

However, when you have a little boy at home, you want to go home. You want to go home to him and see what his day has been like. Orion is going on 10 years old, so the years fly by and I don’t want to miss those opportunities of a game or a school event.

The culture at the Food Bank supports work and life-family balance. If you have something during the day, like a picnic at school or event, we encourage our employees to take the time to go and do it. I try to do that, as well. You’ve got to walk the walk. You’ve got to talk the talk. If I’m not doing it, no one else is going to do it.

JEFF: In your first year as executive director, what is the number one accomplishment you’re most proud of?

KATHLEEN: I would say it’s enhancing the board of directors’ capacity. We’ve always had a very engaged board but this is the first year that we held a board retreat and the feedback from it was excellent, even though some existing board members had been with us long term, they didn’t know all the intricacies of the Food Bank and all the nutrition programs. It was a great opportunity for educating our board so that they can be our ambassadors in the community. Now they feel even more comfortable sharing information to the community at large; I need them to say, “Here’s what Food Bank does and here’s why I’m on the board.” Having the board retreat was a significant part of my transition plan that I have worked out and I’m proud that it came to fruition and that it was successful.

About the author: Jeff Knauss is president and partner of a digital-marketing firm called CNY Marketer www.cnymarketer.com. He lives in Camillus with his wife Heta and son Max. For more, check out his blog at www.CnyCeo.org