Little Red Door CEO to retire

The executive director and chief executive officer of the Little Red Door Cancer Agency in Indianapolis on Tuesday announced plans to retire. Fred Duncan, who has led the agency for 13 years, says he will step down in June 2023.

Duncan came to Little Red Door from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now Newfields, in 2009. During his tenure, the agency says it has grown from providing 4,000 trips to and from cancer treatments in 2009 to more than 31,000 trips in 2021.

Little Red Door has also seen a 150% increase in its endowed fund and an annual budget increase from $1.2 million to $2 million under Duncan’s leadership.

“I haven’t known Little Red Door without Fred’s leadership, so to me, and I’m sure many others, Fred is the Little Red Door,” Board Chair Whitney Melton said in written remarks. “He embodies the warmth of the building and the spirit of the service. Fred has given so much of himself to this organization that his legacy, the spirit and warmth he radiates, lives in all of those close to Little Red Door.”

The agency says Duncan will remain as executive director and CEO through June 2, 2023. The organization’s board of directors has created a committee to find his successor.