Roger McClean, Finding Fulfillment in Work
MSK Celebrates Black History Month 2021
Each year during the month of February, our country takes time to intentionally highlight and celebrate Black History Month. This year, through a collaboration with the BLAM ERN, we are privileged to highlight MSK staff and the personal significance that Black History Month has for each of them.
Roger McClean grew up in a rough neighborhood in the Bronx. At home, he had a loving and supportive family. Both worlds taught him a lot at a young age and prepared him for the future.
Image of Roger McClean
Appreciating the Early Lessons
“I faced many challenges in my neighborhood, dealing with peer pressure to do the wrong things,” remembers Mr. McClean, who learned very quickly how to manage difficult situations on a daily basis. “I fought to not be part of that crowd, and while it was a grind to walk in the other direction and not engage, I gained respect from those people.”
It was a different environment at home where he lived with his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Barbados in the 1960s, and his twin sisters. He learned by his parents’ example, recalling having to get up early to be dropped off at his aunt’s house because his parents had to work the early shift, and remembering how they were always there to pick him up from school. “My parents showed me the importance of hard work, dedication, and education,” he explains. “It was very rare for me to ever see my father just sitting on the couch. He was constantly working and doing things, and it rubbed off on me.”
Mr. McClean remembers helping his father study for his high school equivalency certificate when he was in the seventh grade. “He made sure I read every chapter with him before he took any exams and then we reviewed the multiplication tables before I was allowed to go outside with my friends,” says Mr. McClean, whose teachers were astonished at how knowledgeable he was about American history for someone so young. “It was a painful education because at the time I just wanted to play video games but looking back as an adult it’s a totally different mindset. Now, I appreciate the attention to detail and the discipline he was instilling in me at such an early age,” he says.
Joining the MSK Family
Mr. McClean’s family boasts more than 100 combined years of dedicated service to MSK. Both of his parents, Cyril McClean and Diana Peters, worked for more than 45 years in Perioperative Services before retiring. His sisters, Lisa and Linda McClean, have each worked for 30 years in various roles at MSK and currently work in Patient Access Services.“I think it was the MSK culture and atmosphere that really resonated and drew them to MSK,” says Mr. McClean. Understanding the range of opportunities available at MSK, his mother encouraged him to apply for a job after he graduated from the University of Hartford in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in Strategy and Marketing. Mr. McClean resisted, though — he had never aspired to a career in healthcare. He was a young man intent on making his own path in the world of business and finance, but life had something else in mind for him. After many fruitless searches post-graduation, and still unable to find a job in his preferred field, Mr. McClean took a gamble on MSK. He applied for an entry-level job in Patient Accounts and became part of a second family — the MSK family. That first year was an opportunity to get the lay of the land. Although Mr. McClean didn’t have a strong sense of the direction he wanted to pursue at MSK, he knew what appealed to him and went with his gut when he applied for a facilities coordinator position in the Department of Surgery. “When I interviewed with the finance manager at the time, I spoke with her about all these plans I had for the position,” he said, adding that it surprised her because he went above and beyond the scope of the job description. “The funny thing about it is that four years later I turned the position into exactly what I was discussing in the interview and transformed it to what it is today.”Mr. McClean continued to work hard and excel. Eventually, he landed a position as an operations manager at the Kimmel Center, where he gained experience in managing frontline staff, including the environmental services team, guest services, concierge, facilities, and the supply chain group. This led to an opportunity as a project manager in Design and Construction. It was there that he began his construction career, working on laboratory renovations and a pharmacy project in the radiation oncology building.
Old photo of a man with two women
Image of twins smiling at an event
Paying it Forward
In Design and Construction, Mr. McClean focused on his career as never before and gave serious consideration to graduate school. He had always intended to earn an MBA after college but never thought much about what exactly he’d do with it. A conversation with the chief architect in the department at the time, Andrew Thompson, was eye-opening. Mr. Thompson asked him some thought-provoking questions that led him to realize an MBA was probably not necessary for the career he was already building in Design and Construction.
“I was surrounded by lots of people in the industry who were currently working in Design and Construction and teaching me about the process and skills needed to succeed in this industry,” says Mr. McClean, who realized the valuable resources he already had at his disposal. He researched the master’s program in construction management at New York University (NYU) and decided to leave his MBA dreams behind in favor of a different graduate degree. He earned his master’s degree in construction management at NYU in 2012.
Leading by example, Mr. McClean has helped inspire two of his current employees to pursue their own graduate degrees, which they earned through the same NYU program as he did. “I try to pass on the same encouragement and guidance that I received, and to help others think about what is really beneficial to their future, especially if they have an interest in this industry,” he says.
Finding Fulfillment in His Work
Mr. McClean accepted a project manager position at the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care in 2012. It was very early in the planning stage of the new outpatient facility on 74th Street. “We didn’t even have the site yet — we were just working with architects and engineers to plan it,” he recalled. That position allowed him to be involved with the facility from the initial site acquisition to the official opening for patient care in January 2020. Having been an integral part of the creation of the center was a milestone for Mr. McClean.
“I love that you can take all of these ideas, put them on paper, and then walk into a physical building after it’s constructed,” he says. “It’s the most fulfilling aspect about this industry and about being part of the MSK mission: to watch that first patient walk into a new building that becomes a resource for people touched by cancer.”
Mr. McClean worked his way up to become Director of Design and Construction in the Facilities Management Department, where he currently manages a team of project managers in charge of construction initiatives at MSK.
Managing the Challenges of the Pandemic
Mr. McLean’s family continues to be an important part of his life. They helped support one another to navigate the challenges of the pandemic in 2020 and they have all made it through together.
It was one thing for Mr. McClean to see people losing their lives to COVID-19 on the news, but it was a different story when his own family was impacted. “The scariest thing that we experienced was when one of my relatives and her entire household tested positive, but we did everything we could to help them and thankfully they all recovered,” he says.
“Through the roughest times growing up or during the current pandemic, our foundation of unwavering support for one another has made these difficult situations endurable,” he adds.
Collage of photos of children
Highlighting Black History Month
Black History Month has always been important to Mr. McClean. “Learning about the accomplishments of people who look like me and my family motivated me growing up and helped me understand that Black people have always played an important role in the world,” he says.
Mr. McClean distinctly remembers hearing about Garrett Morgan, a Black inventor who helped develop the stop light. “It stuck with me as a kid because everywhere you looked there was a stop light, and it resonated with me that someone of color was instrumental in the development of something utilized so much in daily life,” he explains.
“It was a powerful message growing up because, in my old neighborhood, true accomplishment wasn’t necessarily rewarded. The star of the show wasn’t the inventor, or the physician, or the hard-working business person. It was the people in the neighborhood who were the flashiest, but who weren’t necessarily doing the right things.”
These are lessons he wants to pass on to his children, Chloe (12 years old) and Carter (8 years old). “Their births were defining moments in my life, and they motivate me to be the best person I can be every single day,” he says, adding that because his children are of mixed race, he wants them to understand their full heritage and where they come from.
“There is power in customs and family and traditions, and they shape us as people and as a society. But it doesn’t matter what race or religion you are, it’s all about treating people with the same respect you want to receive,” explains Mr. McClean. “I want to make sure that my children are raised with that mindset of, ‘I’m proud of who I am, but I don’t hold it against anyone else if they’re different.’”