Former Sag Harbor Mayor To Serve As Executive Director Of Fighting Chance

Former Sag Harbor Village Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy has been named the first executive director of Fighting Chance, the free cancer counseling and support service based in Sag Harbor.

The appointment was announced by Duncan Darrow, Fighting Chance’s founder, at the organization’s 20th anniversary gala at the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett on Saturday, June 4.

“While looking at long-term planning as part of our 20th anniversary, the board of Fighting Chance decided the organization would benefit from additional full-time leadership,” said Darrow. “Kathleen, who has been on our board for about a year, has both the qualifications and the passion that will help Fighting Chance prepare and grow in our next 20 years.”

Mulcahy served as village mayor from 2019 to 2021, establishing working relationships across the East End. A village resident since 2001, she has raised two children in Sag Harbor. In addition to her political career, she has worked with Guild Hall, and co-founded Main Street Conversations, a political action group in Sag Harbor.

Mulcahy’s professional background includes being a partner at Tracy-Locke advertising, where she was responsible for PepsiCo retail marketing, and at Omnicom, where she worked on Verizon FiOS and other major brands.

“I have known and respected Fighting Chance for many years and was delighted when Duncan first asked me to be on the board,” she said in a release. “We quickly found that there was a good chemistry with the staff and the board and the timing of my looking for my next challenge and the Fighting Chance opportunity was perfect.”

On Monday, Mulcahy said that while “Duncan is the face of the organization,” he had decided that he needed someone on staff to run the organization on a “day-to-day basis.”

As the East End emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, Mulcahy said both cancer screenings and treatments are on the rise. “Patient counts are back up,” she said, “and it’s time to put a new face on Fighting Chance.”

Coming on the heels of the organization’s 20th anniversary, Fighting Chance will hold its annual “Boaters Against Cancer” fundraising flotilla in Sag Harbor on Saturday, June 11.

Mulcahy said she planned to develop a legacy giving program this fall to allow donors to give to Fighting Chance through their wills or share other windfalls with the organization. She said she also plans to pursue more foundation grants to help the organization continue its mission of providing free help for cancer patients and their caregivers. Another goal, she said, is to get Fighting Chance’s name out in the world of charities to encourage more donors to pick the organization for their contributions.

Fighting Chance will also be looking for a bilingual counselor to help it better serve the East End’s growing Latino community, she said.

Finally, it will continue to search for volunteers to help provide the services its clients depend on such as helping patients find the right treatment for them. “There are many ways to cure cancer,” she said. “You just have to match the right treatment with the right person.”