New YMCA chief reflects on past two months

FOSTORIA --- Heading up the Geary Family YMCA wasn't anything Kristen Tiell envisioned when she took on a part-time job there upon her return to northwest Ohio from the Pittsburgh area in early 2019. But a funny thing happened on her way to wherever. "I kept getting bumped up when they needed someone," she said. Now, having graduated from working at the front desk to health and wellness director and then program director -- all of that on top of prior experience at three other YMCAs -- she's nearing the two-month mark as president and chief executive officer at the Fostoria facility. She's replaced Tim Yenrick, who served in the top position for about three and a half years before moving into retirement in January. He's still on staff as "special projects coordinator," which also entails transitioning Tiell into the job. That will last about a year. "My official title now is 'Papa'" he said. "I'm spending more and more time with my grandchildren." During the "couple of times a week" that Yenrick still makes the trek from his Rossford home to the YMCA, he's helping Tiell learn the ropes. "I think she's going to do a great job," he said. "She's a talented young lady. She's done a really good job with our fitness programs and building up our classes and attracting new members. I think she has the skills and the leadership abilities to do the job. "I think one of the other things is she is from the community, her family's from the community and she wants to raise her children in the community. ... I think that's always an advantage for a director." But Tiell, a graduate of New Riegel High School and the University of Findlay, said despite his commute from Rossford, Yenrick left her in a place that has benefited from his abilities to collaborate with other Fostoria entities, to seek out grants and to generally utilize his experience of working with non-profit agencies for 42 years. "It's just amazing, the things he knows how to do," Tiell said. "Big shoes to fill. Sometimes it's a little intimidating. But it's just been one step at a time and I have to remember that he's been doing this for 40-plus years. "I wish he'd stick around for about three more years to make sure I'm doing everything," she said with a laugh. "I'm going to utilize him a lot in the next year." Yenrick said about 90 percent of the building at 154 W. Center St. has been renovated during his time at the YMCA, which has also included bringing in upgraded fitness equipment, the introduction of new programs such as youth camps for golf and theater, a boost in membership to about 4,000 and improvements at Foundation Park. "I think the thing I'm most proud of is that the Y works in collaboration with a number of groups in Fostoria," he said. "I'm really happy with the health and wellness programs that we do with (ProMedica) Fostoria (Community) Hospital, the school-age childcare being out at the (Fostoria) Elementary (School). "But I can't take credit for all that stuff. It was a group effort. Nothing happened at the Y while I was there that a lot of people weren't involved in. We've got a great working board; they do a great job of helping raise the money that we need. The committees are functioning and I can't say enough about the work that they've done." While Tiell has experience from working at the YMCAs in Tiffin, Findlay and Pittsburgh as well as Fostoria, Yenrick's continuing presence helps with the day-to-day operations of the facility while Tiell delves into both on-the-job training with him and learning from others. "She has experience working at other Y's, and I think that's always a plus when you have those experiences behind you, to know how other Y's work," Yenrick said. "Part of the transition this year and part of the reason I'm coming in a couple of days is she's in a leadership cohort with the state YMCAs. In that leadership cohort, they graduate in June. She's got that opportunity, and then it's not like drinking out of a firehose coming into a job. She's got the ability to do that and do her job, and I'm just helping her out with the projects that she's asking me to do and helping coach her with a few things here and there. But she's really done a good job already." Tiell said she's fortunate to have a solid board of directors and management team in place to help her along. "I'm not trying to do anything giant in my first year," she said. "Basically, I'm just getting my feet wet and making sure that I at least maintain for the first year before we start to build any new programs. We're just working on our wish list, updates we need to do from there and continuing to build our relationships with the surrounding community."