Chris Grundner was a Senior Vice President in JP Morgan Chase’s credit card division when his life changed in September 2002. After a business trip, he landed in Philadelphia and called his wife Kelly, who had undergone an MRI earlier for headaches, dizziness, and blurry vision. She finally answered, her voice breaking as she said, “I have a brain tumor.” Two years later, Kelly died.
The tumor was detected late because neither they nor her doctor recognized the symptoms. Grundner met many others with similar delays in diagnosis. Determined to raise awareness, he left JP Morgan Chase and founded the Kelly Heinz-Grundner Brain Tumor Foundation. He launched the “Get Your Head in the Game” campaign to educate both the public and physicians.
His work introduced him to nonprofit board governance. Unlike corporate boards, nonprofit boards rely on unpaid volunteers, which can lead to accepting anyone with interest. Grundner warns against this “beggars can’t be choosers” approach. Passion is necessary but not enough.
He describes a four-level pyramid for board excellence. At the base is passion for the mission. Next come standards, including understanding fiduciary duties, using job descriptions, applying term limits, conducting annual reviews, and enforcing accountability equally. Above that is diversity of skills and perspectives, which encourages constructive conflict and prevents groupthink. At the top is transcendent leadership, which means succession planning, mentoring future leaders, and preparing for unexpected transitions without losing momentum.
Grundner’s advice is to raise the bar for board members, remove those who are unproductive or disruptive, and commit fully to one or two causes rather than spreading yourself thin. Serving on a board is serious work that requires time, focus, and readiness to meet expectations.
He calls this path Kelly’s final gift, one that gave him purpose in serving the nonprofit sector and making a lasting impact.
