CEO shelters patients’ families in Delaware
Rockland, Delaware’s Ronald McDonald House is quiet on Friday afternoon. The 50-room “home away from home” and its countless amenities lay nearly empty. Most of its residents are across the street at Nemours Children’s Hospital.
The Ronald McDonald House provides refuge and relief for families whose children are in the hospital. Families are treated to home-cooked meals, access to free laundry facilities and activities for parents and kids to enjoy.
Pam Cornforth has been with the Ronald McDonald House before the house was ever built. And after over three decades, she’s kicking it into even higher gear.
As president and CEO of the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware, Cornforth oversees dozens of full-time staffers and volunteers. Under her leadership, the charity has expanded twice.
In 2023, she led the charity’s rebranding and status change effort to become the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Delaware, setting the organization up to expand its reach. She also completed a two-year term as a member of the charity’s Global Advisory Board.
The charity isn’t the only expansion Cornforth is overseeing. Just days after accepting her nomination, her newest grandchild was born.
“You can be a mom, you can be a wife and you can be a grandmother,” Conforth said. “But it’s also important to be strong yourself.”
On top of her responsibilities as CEO and president, Cornforth is active with other statewide nonprofits.
Her leadership and service led to her being named Delaware’s 2024 USA TODAY Woman of the Year honoree.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Who paved the way for you?
Answer: There are two board chairs that stick out. One was a senior leader at Nemours. She’s just so bright, so articulate and so thoughtful. She helped me learn how to tell the stories, not just using data and stats. The other helped as a sounding board, too. We restructured the board, the way we operate, our development team, and he was always so positive encouraging. He would always ask me the hard questions.
What is your definition of courage? Courage is the willingness to step up and make hard decisions when needed.
Do you have a guiding principle or mantra?
Lead by example. If I’m asking anyone on the team to do something, I have to be willing to do it, too. My role is no better than anyone else’s. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything here at the House that I’m not willing to do myself.
Who’s your role model?
I have so many strong women in my life. Particularly my mom and grandmother. My mom was a huge volunteer, so from a young age I always volunteered for different things. She went out and got a job in Venezuela, working in an environment where everyone spoke Spanish and she was the only female there, and she was very successful.
My grandmother went to college to be a physical education teacher. That really didn’t happen. Her ability to go in and do those things in a time when that wasn’t really common for women, it’s a really powerful message.
How do you overcome adversity? I’m a very positive person. I see the glass half full. If there’s ever an adverse situation, I kind of take a step back and say, “OK, what are we going to do to solve it?’
I like to be able to say yes, but set up conditions so that the things can happen. Keeping that in mind and having the confidence that I can make hard decisions. I have a great team here that supports it and also a team that questions what I do, which is important. Any advice for your younger self ? Don’t take it so seriously. It’s OK to make a mistake. Take it one step at a time. You don’t have to have the full answer, just take one small step forward and it becomes easier.