Last month, Gene Dooley officially stepped off the treadmill as CEO for the YMCA of Greater Kansas City, where he’d served for 23 years. Jumping on to replace him was David Byrd, a soft-spoken North Carolina native who most recently was chief operating officer for the YMCA’s Middle Tennessee chapter. He sat down with Ingram’s to reflect on his new duties, and on his vision for the Kansas City chapter in the coming years.
Q. What was it that resonated with you about Kansas City, and really attracted you to this job?
A. The Y for me, for 32 years, has been a calling. It’s been my ministry. I know it sounds a bit corny, but I felt called to Kansas City, to follow the great work that’s been taking place here for many years. The city was so well-positioned with the Y that a big part of my background—of outreach work and community development and philanthopic history—really lent itself to the next chapter of this organization, this Y.
Q. What has surprised you the most so far?
A. If anything, it is that the Y is so well-respected on so many fronts, I see opportunities everywhere to reach out and partner with other organizations. The Y is a huge not-for-profit, but has said that even though we’re a big, big fish, we have to be about partnering.
Q. Can you talk about some of the bigger initiatives that will be on your plate?
A. Vision planning. Over the next several months, we will be developing our vision council, made up of volunteers and staff, to look at what we really want to be about as an organization over the next decade or so. … That will be an opportunity to re-engage the community leadership, to really talk to key influencers, both corporately and with other non-profit groups, community groups, religious groups, to say, yeah, the Y has been serving for so many years, but how do we now go deeper and richer into the work?
Q. What can you tell us about the Y’s reach? Isn’t the overall mission extremely broad?
A. Yes, which is good and bad, when you think about how the public sees us. Some of our programs, as good as they are, also cloud the understanding to the public of what we’re all about. The vision plan will help to clarify some of that, and how we want to be seen.
Q. Being part of a national organization, with a very broad mission—and one with Christian underpinnings—does that present challenges with setting an agenda specific to Kansas City?
A. Not at all. Over the last three years, there has been very extensive work done about how the Y is seen around the country. As our work has changed over the last 150 years, the philosophy about helping people live the best life they can life, with the best values they can profess, really hasn’t changed much. Now we do it with bikes and Stairmasters and those kinds of things. This research is telling us that out of the top 10 not-for-profit social service charities in the country, we rated very low, because we were seen much more as a health and fitness center than as an overall charity and a charity of choice. So the national Y, mid-summer, will launch a new brand-revitalization program.
Q. What will that focus on?
A. Youth will be a centerpiece; we know every youth in this country is at risk at some level. The second piece will be about health, which, again, fits us perfectly. The third, around social responsibility. That all falls into giving something back, giving of time, talent or resources. The whole philanthropic need is great for programs and kids and families that can’t necessarily afford the Y. One of my fundamental philosophies is that no one should ever be turned away because of the inability to pay. No one. This Y has done a very good job of that. We need to do more.
