September 30, 2012 | Read Time: 3 minutes
In his freshman year in college, Steven M. Derks took a psychology class in which students did some research on their projected future selves. He read What Color Is Your Parachute? He also took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a questionnaire that identifies personality traits. Leadership and management popped up as potentially strong career tracks for Mr. Derks, which prompted him to consider, at the ripe young age of 18, how he might pair those abilities with his desire to make a difference in the world.
He decided to pursue a career in health-care management. And on December 1, Mr. Derks, 48, will become president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a group dedicated to seeking better treatment and cures for 40 neuromuscular diseases, including ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), that affect more than a million people nationwide.
“My desire to not waste time and figure things out for myself led me down this path,” he says.
His mother, who battled multiple sclerosis for 40 years before she died, also played a role in his decision to work at health nonprofits. “Watching her and her disease progress certainly had an influence on me,” says Mr. Derks.
Early Lessons
He moves to the Muscular Dystrophy Association after a decade at the helm of the American Cancer Society’s Illinois division, which led an effort that resulted in passage of a state law in 2008 prohibiting smoking in public places to help protect people from the negative effects of secondhand smoke. Under his leadership, the group also created a program in 2004 that helps patients and families navigate the full range of challenges related to a cancer diagnosis, including treatment, transportation to medical appointments, and financial assistance. The program now serves 36,000 people annually.
In addition to those achievements, Mr. Derks is proud of a nonprofit he and several friends created in 1991, the scholarship and mentoring charity Horizons for Youth. It began with five Chicago students and now helps 175.
“Horizons is the little train that could,” says Mr. Derks, who now serves on its leadership council. “It started small years ago and kept growing and continued to attract donors while we proved our success along the way. You have to be good about planning and being strategic and thoughtful about how your organization will not only start well but finish well.”
With his leadership background, track record of completing long-range goals, and experience helping young people, Mr. Derks became a favorite to lead the Muscular Dystrophy Association, says R. Rodney Howell, chairman of the group’s board.
The association, which supports 300 research projects worldwide and 200 clinics nationwide, hopes to expand its work. “We have funded in our research program a number of compounds that look to be promising in treating our conditions,” says Dr. Howell. “We hope we will have increasing dollars to make those developments a reality for our patients.”
