Marc Cardin | Boy Scouts of America Narragansett Council, director of support services and chief financial officer
Marc Cardin started working for the Boy Scouts at Camp Yawgoog in Hopkinton one summer when he was 15. He’s been working for the Boy Scouts ever since.
“When I started full time with the Narragansett Council, I handled purchasing, food service and retail operations,” said Cardin, now director of support services and chief financial officer for the Boy Scouts of America Narragansett Council in East Providence, where he oversees the council’s $6.7 million operating budget and $24 million in assets. “Our CEO at the time, the late David Anderson, really took me under his wing and mentored me. Over the years I got quite a bit of on-the-job training.”
According to Cardin, the Boy Scouts’ success is measured by youth served. To that end, as a manager he says it is important for him to set clear expectations, empower people to achieve their part of the project, hold them accountable to do so, and do so in a timely manner.
“Generally, I try to focus on the big-picture items with the most impact and delegate what I can,” Cardin said. “I try to focus on the most important or pressing tasks early in the morning while I have some quiet time, and let the less important, or less impactful tasks wait until later in the day. Goal-setting is key. I set goals for myself each day and make sure I complete them. They help keep me on task, and help me keep others on task.”
Cardin says good leadership is marked by a few key elements, including setting clear expectations, managerial courage and giving people the tools and coaching they need to achieve their potential and the organization’s goals.
“I try to be laissez faire to the extent possible with my leadership style, and not micromanage. I try to give people the tools needed and put them in a position to be successful,” he said.
This past year, the Narragansett Council marked the centennial celebration of Camp Yawgoog with a gala homecoming weekend that helped raise $1.5 million for a special endowed fund, exceeding the group’s goal by $500,000.
In 2016, a merger with the neighboring Boy Scouts council in the Attleboro/Taunton area increased the youth served by several thousand and net assets by about $5 million. Although combining both operations and boards was a significant undertaking, Cardin says the result was the significant strengthening of both organizations.
“These are large, demanding, complex processes to merge financials, inventories, properties, legal processes, staff and administrative operations,” said Tim McCandless, Narragansett Council CEO. “The merger was a model of conducting a smooth merger. Mergers can often be contentious and messy. In my 30 years of working for the Boy Scouts across the country, this was the smoothest, cleanest merger I have seen. It required many late hours and weekends to merge the financials, documents, software and other details.”
The council now serves more than 13,000 youth annually via programs in Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts.
McCandless said it is during major projects like these that Cardin’s all-hands-on-deck leadership style shines.
“He will be found working with his staff to unload trucks, clean out old offices and help install the new memorial brickway honoring donors at Camp Yawgoog,” McCandless said. “He’ll then shower, change, and moments later be meeting and greeting significant donors to the organization, taking donors on camp tours and building relationships with our supporters.”
In 2015, the council secured a $5 million endowment gift – the largest single gift in its history – to provide financial support so at-risk and underprivileged youth can attend summer-camp programs.
“Those gifts will help secure our financial future for generations to come,” Cardin said. “On an almost daily basis we get to see the impact of the work we do, whether it be in our inner-city urban outreach programs, or the stories of service projects our youth complete in the community.
“Our values-driven programs build character, foster citizenship and develop physical fitness while teaching youth to be leaders and to make ethical decisions,” he said.
