Photo by Howard Owens
Everyone is positive about the growth and direction of GLOW YMCA as a search to replace CEO Rob Walker nears completion, Board President Dean Bellack says.
Walker retired on Jan. 31, and a search committee was formed shortly after to sift through an initial 40 applicants from throughout the country, Bellack said this week. Those were carved down a couple of times for the three finalists.
“We did a very large search. We had a large number of initial applicants, which we whittled down to a smaller number of applicants. Then we whittled it down again in terms of the people that we wanted to do preliminary interviews with, and a lot of those happened this week,” he said to The Batavian Wednesday. “And then we've narrowed that down to, again, a very small group of applicants that we're going to be doing personal interviews with here in about a week and a half, and then we'll be making an announcement.”
Applicants were from New York State and other areas, including Virginia, Indiana and Florida, he said. Two of the finalists are local, and one is from out of state. YMCA national assisted with the process and advertising the position, and Bellack is “confident in the candidates that we have,” he said
Membership at the Genesee YMCA began at 1,100 and is now around 2,400 to 2,500.
“It’s significant growth, but we still have growth to do,” he said. We’re planning to be at 3,000. We have some ways to go, and we’re confident we’re going to be there. Typically in the summer season, the amount of people searching for new memberships at YMCAs tend to level off a little bit. We're not predicting any decline in terms of where we are. The growth could slow a little bit during the summertime, and then I'm sure we'll be at the numbers that we need to be at once we get back into the fall.”
He acknowledged that “obviously, Rob was CEO during that time” of fundraising and planning for the new downtown Batavia facility, which was completed for a New Year’s opening. He also credited the strength and dedication of “a lot of volunteers” who supported the cause.
John Riter and Paul Battaglia were integral project leaders, he said. There are also high levels of expertise on staff, including treasurer Mike Grover and Chief Financial Officer Greg Watson, who is serving as interim CEO, he said.
“It was a tremendous effort; they deserve tremendous congratulations,” Bellack said. “We’re very positive on the growth of the new facility and where we’re going to be with the association. We’re planning big things ahead.”
Walker declined to comment. An email announcing his retirement was sent out to members in the GLOW region at the time, Bellack said.
