PROFILE
By Glenda Graves | Portrait photo by Keith Branch
Positioned for What Comes Next
The president and CEO of Hope Cancer Resources looks to the future
After 17 years of serving Northwest Arkansas, Hope Cancer Resources is preparing for a new era of growth under President and CEO Chuck Hyde, maintaining commitment to the personal, practical support at the heart of its mission.
Several years ago, Chuck heard a speaker challenge a group of executives, saying that people manage their vitality by pursuing things that both excite and intimidate them. For Chuck, leading Hope Cancer Resources does both. “One of the reasons I love coming to work here is that it excites me and intimidates me,” he said, laughing. “I have a ton of vitality in my day.”
That energy has helped define Chuck’s first two years at the Springdale-based nonprofit. He stepped into the role in August 2024, succeeding longtime leader Brian Holt and inheriting an organization with a strong reputation, committed staff, and 15-year record of meeting cancer patients and families in some of their most difficult moments.
Chuck’s task was not to reinvent the organization. It was to prepare it for what comes next. Established in 2009 from the merger of two organizations, Hope Cancer Resources has grown into a trusted community resource, giving hope through comprehensive cancer support to individuals and families. Its services are available at no cost to eligible patients in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties, and many services extend to caregivers and family members as well.
The scope is deliberately broad because the effects of cancer are broad. Hope Cancer Resources provides professional counseling, support groups, case management, transportation to cancer-related appointments and financial assistance for needs such as prescriptions, travel, dental care and essential household expenses. Through its Wellness Center for Hope, patients and caregivers can also access personal training, yoga, nutrition education, tobacco treatment and cancer-prevention resources.
For Chuck, Hope’s mission is personal. His wife is considered at high risk for breast cancer and sees someone on her care team every three months. Four years ago, Chuck’s sister’s husband and his wife’s sister’s husband both died within eight weeks of each other after prolonged cancer experiences. Neither family lived in Northwest Arkansas or had access to an organization like Hope Cancer Resources.
He watched his niece and nephews navigate the loss of their fathers and saw how cancer reaches beyond the person with the diagnosis. “If we can plug into someone else’s life and help them and those close to them, that matters,” Chuck said. “If I can get up and go to work every day and help that happen, it’s a big deal.”
Chuck approached his new role with the structure of a consultant and the curiosity of a newcomer. He reread The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins, spent an extended period working alongside Brian Holt and listened carefully to staff members, patients, volunteers and community partners.
His early conclusion was that Hope Cancer Resources was achieving meaningful outcomes and changing lives, but the organization was not yet equipped for the next 15 years of Northwest Arkansas growth. “We could not stay the same and meet what is coming,” Chuck said.
He sees a future built on sustainable expansion, broader education outreach, easier access to services, stronger partnerships and a continued willingness to question how the work can be done better.
His first year focused on getting the organization into position. For the team at Hope, that meant examining internal workflows, updating systems, refreshing events and completing a rebrand designed to make the organization and its purpose easier to recognize.
The changes were not a response to failure, Chuck emphasized. They reflected a natural point in the lifecycle of an organization, one that had built a solid foundation and now needed the capacity to serve a larger, faster-growing region.
Chuck brought experience from both the corporate and consulting worlds. He began his career with Kimberly-Clark Corp., where he learned the value of systems and processes, and later worked in leadership consulting and served as a CEO. Today, he draws on that background in everything from budgeting and hiring to organizational culture and long-term strategy.
One of the greatest surprises for Chuck has been how many people still do not know Hope Cancer Resources exists or assume its help is only for the patient. Cancer may begin as a physical disease, he said, but it quickly creates emotional, logistical and financial needs. A patient may need a ride to treatment. A spouse may need counseling. A family may struggle with rent or utility bills after missed work and mounting medical expenses. A survivor may finish treatment only to discover that life does not simply return to its pre-cancer version.
“Many times, people surrounding a patient who receives ‘no evidence of disease’ from their physician celebrate and say, ‘You’re back. You’re past it,’” Chuck said. “But we consistently hear people in survivorship that they are forever changed.”
Hope Cancer Resources helps fill the space between medical treatment and everyday life. Its transportation program removes one of the most common barriers to care, just getting to treatment. Licensed oncology social workers provide emotional support to patients and families. Financial assistance and the Care Closet meet practical needs while case managers connect people with additional community resources.
The organization also expanded its offerings recently by adding nutrition counseling services. The National Cancer Institute describes a registered dietitian as “an integral member of the oncology team.” NCI also reported malnutrition affects an estimated 30% to 85% of cancer patients and can increase treatment toxicity, reduce quality of life and even interfere with a patient's ability to complete treatment. Bringing this capacity to the people Hope serves can be game changing.
Hope Cancer Resources’ annual skin cancer screenings regularly draw more than 100 participants, with roughly 1 in 4 referred for follow-up care, according to Chuck. For him, that work points to an important part of the organization’s future, which is moving upstream.
Historically, many of the organization’s services have begun after a diagnosis. But Chuck wants Hope Cancer Resources to broaden its outreach in prevention, education, early detection and screening — which can help people lower their risks or find problems sooner — while continuing to care for those already facing cancer.
That emphasis has particular resonance during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. On Oct. 15, Hope Cancer Resources will host Wellness Lab: Breast Cancer. This free community event from 3 to 6 p.m. at its Springdale location will feature small businesses with nontoxic products and interactive stations centered on wellness. Guests can explore resources and experiences such as red-light therapy, a sound bath, chiropractic care and nutrition education.
Hope Cancer Resources’ outreach now also includes Hope Unscripted: A Podcast of Hope Cancer Resources, which brings expert insight and personal experience into on-demand conversations about prevention, survivorship, wellness and community care. Episodes can be shared with someone who may never attend an in-person program or know where to begin asking for help.
Equipping the organization to meet the region’s growing needs will require responsible stewardship, strong partnerships and continued investment from the Northwest Arkansas community, Chuck said.
Already, donors and in-kind gifts make direct assistance possible. Community partners help the organization reach people it might otherwise miss and connect patients to services Hope does not provide itself. Volunteers add crucial capacity in the office, clinics and events. “We couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers,” Chuck said.
Twice a year, Chuck rides along with Hope’s transportation drivers. The experience takes him out of strategy meetings and places him beside the people the organization exists to serve. He sees the relationships drivers build with patients and notices the faces in clinic hallways and elevators. The question that stays with him is this: How can we improve access to our services so Hope Cancer Resources can serve more of these people? Answering it will shape the organization’s next chapter.
Chuck remains hopeful. That hope comes from working with a team whose members care deeply about the mission and from a region with a history of rallying around its neighbors. “As hard as it is, and as much headwind as we have, I believe we’ve got the right people. If I’ve done anything right in two years, it’s been identifying our peoples’ strengths and releasing them to take us to the next level,” he said. “We have a generous history in Northwest Arkansas. When we have a need, this community figures out how to get behind it.”
As an organization built to provide hope, that may be the most important resource of all.
Learn more about Hope Cancer Resources at www.hopecancerresources.org and listen to Hope Unscripted atwww.hopeunscriptedpodcast.com.