AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Susan G. Komen for the Cure founder Nancy G. Brinker plans to leave her CEO position as part of a number of leadership changes, but will stay on in a management role, the organization said on Wednesday.
It also said that President Liz Thompson would leave Komen in September and board members Brenda Lauderback and Linda Law were leaving the board.
The shakeup comes after the world's biggest breast cancer charity provoked uproar earlier this year over its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, a provider of birth control, abortion and other women's health services. It later reversed that decision and said it would restore the funding.
Komen supports Planned Parenthood's efforts to provide access to breast-cancer screening.
The initial move to cut Planned Parenthood's funding became public in late January, and some Komen supporters thought the group was bowing to political pressure from anti-abortion groups. Within a few days, the charity reversed course.
"Our mission is clear and consistent, and will never change, regardless of the controversy earlier this year," Brinker said. "We are doing everything in our power to ensure that women have access to quality cancer care and the support that they need, as we seek answers through cutting-edge research."
Brinker, who founded the organization in 1982, two years after her sister, Susan G. Komen, died of breast cancer, will "move to a new management role focusing on revenue creation, strategy and global growth," the group said in a statement. It said she would assume that role once a search for a new senior executive was completed.
"Three years into that role, and 32 years after my promise to my sister to end breast cancer, I want now to focus on Susan G. Komen's global mission and raising resources to bring our promise to women all around the world," Brinker said. She will be chairwoman of the Komen Board Executive Committee.
Thompson joined Komen in 2008 and has been president since 2010. Lauderback has been on the board since 2008 and Law has been on the board since 2009, according to Komen.
(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
