Coffee Break: Jeff Infusino, president of Camp One Step
Q: Describe your company.
A: Camp One Step provides free year-round camp experiences for kids with cancer and their families that foster joy, belonging, confidence, and lifelong friendships. Since 1978 Camp One Step has brought happiness, support, strength and hope to hundreds of campers and their families each year.
Our free in-person camps and connected digital programs serve kids with cancer (whether newly diagnosed, in-treatment or in remission), their siblings and even their parents. Inclusion, accessibility, connections and empowerment are core to our mission. At Camp One Step, kids make forever friendships, reclaim childhood, and families feel whole again.
Q: What will your company's main challenges be in the next year?
A: We were faced with a number of challenges as we navigated through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. As we were able to bring most of our camps back to an in-person format in 2022, they were abbreviated.
During that same period, we were not able to visit hospitals to introduce Camp One Step to families who had newly diagnosed children or meet with potential medical volunteers. As we look to normalize our camps to pre-pandemic levels, we will increase our efforts to bring more awareness to potential camper families, medical volunteers and program volunteers.
Q: What's the hottest trend in your industry?
A: While we are seeing fluctuations in the number of donors who give to our organization from year to year, we continue to see a steady rise in online donations and giving through social media platforms. Younger adults in particular tend to make their charitable gifts this way, and we have increased our efforts to connect with them through social media.
Q: If you had one tip to give to a rookie executive, what would it be?
A: Never think that you have or need to have all the answers. Your time in leadership will be fluid so you will need to adapt along your executive journey. My philosophy is to follow the three Es: Educate, Evaluate, Evolve.
Continue to educate yourself through discussions with internal and external constituents, reviewing market trends and competitive analysis. Evaluate what you have gathered and evaluate what is applicable to your business. John F. Kennedy said this: "For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only at the past or the present are sure to miss the future."
Use those words to continue to push yourself to evolve.
Q: Do you have a business mantra?
A: Perpetual evolution. I strongly believe that anyone in leadership must avoid standing still and should continue to influence sustainable change. Do not change just for the sake of changing because perpetual evolution is not about that. Perpetual evolution is about continuous improvement, leadership excellence and sustainable decision making.
Q: From a business outlook, whom do you look up to?
A: Theo Epstein. Theo Epstein came to two storied baseball franchises and turned both organizations into world champions. As that could be enough to look up to Theo, but world championships were the result of his leadership and those on his team.
He led with transparency and ensuring that the organization's strategy was communicated to and understood by every person in the organization. Everyone in the organization has to be clear on the vision and in sync for sustainable success to take place.
Theo also leaned into any situation and owned the results of his decisions, good or bad. He was very supportive and encouraging to everyone who worked for him.
Q: What is one interesting fact about you or your company that most people may not know?
A: One in five Camp One Step volunteers are former campers (cancer survivors). There is a number of former campers that are part of our volunteer medical team. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the child and family are forced to deal with something that most times is completely unknown to them.
Having a significant number of former campers as volunteers provides comfort to the families, as they know that a person who may have gone through the same thing as their child will now be their counselor or on the medical team.
Q: Was there a moment in your career that didn't go as you had planned? What lesson did you learn from it?
A: When you have had a long career as I have had, there are definitely times when things did not go as planned.
The most valuable lesson learned during those times was to stay balanced while leaning into difficult times, deliver a clear vision, communicate effectively and nurture/protect core relationships. This experience also taught me that when things have not gone well, self-reflection is key for a person to manage through a very difficult experience and to use that self-reflection as a foundation to be better as a person and leader moving forward.
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: Enjoy time with family/friends, cook and watch my favorite sports teams.
Q: What book is on your nightstand?
A: Start With Why - Simon Sinek and The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - John C. Maxwell.
Q: What keeps you up at night?
A: How can we do more for our current campers and families, and how can we bring more campers and families to a Camp One Step camp or program. We have heard from so many campers and families that coming to camp has changed their life. Kids feel like they belong and get their self-confidence back.
Families feel whole again as Camp One Step was able to repair what cancer took away. As doing more to serve current and new campers does keep me up at night, I am very grateful for my incredible staff, our wonderful board of directors and over 400 dedicated volunteers.
Q: If you were not doing this job, what do you think you would be doing?
A: Using my experience and expertise to communicate to others what I have learned via authoring a book or articles. Additionally, I would continue to serve others in some capacity.
Q: What was your first paying job?
A: Retail salesperson.
Q: If you could put your company name on a sports venue, which one would you choose?
A: I would choose Wrigley Field. Every baseball fan enjoys going to see their favorite team play in person but going to Wrigley is different. The history, the unique atmosphere and difference it has made in generations of families is magical. Camp One Step has those same traits. We have the history as we will be celebrating our 45th year this summer.
Camp One Step is unique with our camps and programs as we have 11 in-person camp experiences and four digital programs throughout the year. Those camps and programs serve not only the child who has been diagnosed, they serve that child's siblings and the entire family. The positive impact that Camp One Step makes, makes a sustaining difference for all the families that we serve.
Q: Two people to follow on Twitter and why. (besides your company)
A: John C. Maxwell and Brene Brown.
I believe that they present important perspectives that can be applied in the workplace and in your personal life.
Jeff Infusino
President
Camp One Step by Children's Oncology Services
(847) 738-8444
camponestep.org
Industry: Nonprofit
Annual revenue: $3 million.
Number of employees: 11
Age: 64
Hometown: Schaumburg