CEO - Cristen Gilbert - YMCA North Central Ohio

Cristen Gilbert is the CEO of the YMCA North Central Ohio, which has locations in Mansfield and Shelby. Cristen explains there will be a new sports facility in southern Richland County, which plans to open in 2025. Gilber was born in Indiana, but moved to Ohio when she was young and grew up in Lexington. She shares all of the services that YMCA offers and how she loves being a part of the organization. Learn more about the local YMCA, and Cristen Gilbert, on the podcast.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The CEO you should know. Broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO Kristin Gilbert, CEOof the YMCA of North Central Ohio.
Today in studio we shine the spotlighton the YMCA of North Central Ohio.

(00:21):
The CEO is in the house andthat is Kristin Gilbert. Good morning,
Good morning, Thank you for makingthe drive over. Great to see
you for having me. I appreciateit very much. You have a lot
going on. Yeah, we're goingto cover many, many things. How
are things going right now at theWhy wonderful. We have a lot of
things happening. Our childcare programs growing, we're actually relocating our Ontario childcare location,

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and we have now merged with theShelby WYS so we've been married for
two years, officially in November,so it's great. We have the Mansfield
branch, the Shelby branch, alarge childcare program. So we just don't
stop keep going. You got andyou course have that brand new sports complex
that I'm going to have you givethe details. It's groundbreaking soon opening in

(01:08):
the near future. What's the lateston that big complex? So we will
have a major announcement late November forthe community. But this will be the
third branch of r YMCA, Sowe will have the Shelby and Northern Richland
County, Mansfield and Centralized Richland Countyand then this new facility in Belleville,

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which is southern Richland County and itwill be a one hundred thousand square foot
facility with a nice, beautiful,brand new y. And in Louisverpool a
big indoor turf soccer field and sevenoutdoor fields as well. So we hope
to maximize the space and be ableto bring some programming. I think that's
growing around our community as it relatesto soccer and draw people into Richland County.

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We will break ground in June oftwenty twenty four and hope to open
our doors fall of twenty five.All right, that sounds really exciting.
And that is a long State Routeninety seven there real close to Eye seventy
one, so perfect place for peoplewho are traveling. You get off the
road the highway and boom there.It is the most ideal location. We
cannot thank the Gorman family and Jim, the late Jim Gorman for his gift

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to the why it is just perfect. If you go to our website,
we have a beautiful drone footage ofthe land that we will be building this
beautiful y on. So shout outto the Gorman family and their support for
this project because it is the mostideal location I think in this area to
do what we want to do.You want to look at that photo,

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go to YMCA NCO dot org.We are joined this morning by Kristin Gilbert,
who is the CEO of the YMCAof North Center of the Ohio.
How many years now in the role. It's been a while, but hot
eight fill us in eighteen years atthe why next year in March will be
my nineteenth year and eleven as CEO? All right, time is flying?

(03:05):
Time is flying? Yeah, wellyou keep doing stuff so you know it
goes quick. Time flies big,big projects. Now, in terms of
that sports complex that was on thewebsite, i'd encourage those listening to,
you know, to go look atthe photos and read because you know,
I interview a lot of coaches,whatever sport it is, but we're going
to focus in now on soccer.They're exciting. You think about the kids
and the soccer programs and I couldname how many schools in the area that

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it has been so successful in soccer. There has to be so much excitement
in the community for this to behere, because you were telling me people
are you know, for tournaments aretraveling out of this area. Now you're
going to draw people here. Yes, the intention is to bring people to
Richland County, let them see allthe beautiful things we have to offer,
including our facility, and soccer isgrowing. It's huge in this community.

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My son plays. He absolutely lovesthe sport it is. We have phenomenal
athletes and I think the one thingthat's most exciting about the why doing this
is not only drawing people to thearea, but providing a program that is
only growing and becoming more popular andgiving that experience to everybody in Richland County

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so they don't necessarily have to travel, they don't have to go far.
They can just come to the whyto participate in, whether it be club
soccer or rex soccer or any othersport. For instance, we plan on
having NFL flag football out, youknow, maximize the space and really utilize
the fields that we have. Soexciting as it is to bring people in

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to the area, it's just excitingto be able to provide such a unique
program opportunity for the youth in RichlandCounty. And was I reading I don't
know if anything, I don't ifI have all the details, some sort
of walking path trails. Well,yes, so the layout which will be
really nice, and it's thirty fiveacres, so like I said, we're

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maximizing the use of that land,and we will have a walking path so
we the property itself is right offthe bike trail, so we'll have a
nice path from the bike trail aroundthe facility so anybody can come and just
hang out. We're going to makethe property itself very family friendly, trees,

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playground, you know, nice inbetween tournaments, people can just kind
of relax, have picnics. Wejust want to create a nice experience and
environment, I think to families whoare coming in and hanging out for the
day. All right, So youhave to be real excited as people are
hearing the news about that beautiful sportscomplex coming again twenty twenty five, but

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they'll break ground next year in twentyfour. We're joined this morning by the
CEO of the YMCA of North CentralOhio, that is Christian Gilbert. This
week's CEO. You should know,all right, we talked about programs childcare.
What else are we missing? Iknow there are tons of programs at
the Why. Do you want tolist some of those because you go to

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the website and there are just somany things you offer. There are a
lot Shelby. Let's start with Shelby. Shelby has some amazing programs. Swim
team is huge in Shelby, andgymnastics phenomenal gymnastics program at the Shelby Why,
and their dance program outstanding. Thoseprograms have been long lasting. There

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are kids who are probably parents nowwho take their kids to those programs and
they've just been around for a verylong time. And the community is so
supportive of the programs and offerings atthat Why. Mansfield again, you name
it. Basketball's great, Live Strongis huge right now, and that's our

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cancer survivor program. We're really expandingthat. We have yoga for cancer.
We have crocheting for cancer, sowe have our survivors knit and crochet these
blankets that we will soon be droppingoff to some local agencies. And you
know, Mansfield's just it's great.We've got the pool. This time of
year, it will get very busy. You know, when it's cold outside,

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people certainly come in. So theylove that space and can't believe it
will be twenty three years old thatfacility this year, so why not build
a new one? You know,I just looked good though for twenty three
years. It does. It's holdingits own most certainly. So we do.
We have a lot our childcare program, Like I said, we serve
over six hundred kids here in RichlandCounty and growing. We just started a

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before and after school program at theShelby Elementary School, which is beautiful by
the way, and then we alsohave before and after school care in the
Lexington School District, along with ourpreschool and early learning centers throughout Richland County.
So we stay busy, we havefun, and we are here to
meet the needs and fill any voidswe see in the community. Awesome,

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all right again. Ymcanco dot orgis the website. Chatting again with the
CEO locally of the YMCA of NorthCentral Ohio, christin Gilbert Areas you serve.
You think of Richland County, butI'm sure people come from outside of
the county. How how far todo people come from? Absolutely? So
Shelby as it relates draws in alot Ashland and Willard. We actually utilize

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the pool there for the Willard SwimTeam. Plymouth is another community that comes
into Richland County utilize that facility.We draw everyone and Mansfield so centralized that
Lexington, Ontario Madison. It's theperfect fit there. And I think what
excites me about the new facility andits location is we're right on the cusp

(08:28):
of Marrow County there and to beable to have that outreach and to provide
youth programming for a community that Ithink doesn't really have a lot right now.
We'll be right there accessible to themas well as the village of Belleville
as well. So I didn't bringup the question, you know, before
you came in, but you know, I was thinking how many people you
serve in a year? But youprobably I know you don't have an exact

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number, but you just say thousands. I wad thousands. Well we have.
We have over twelve thousand members currentlybetween the locations and again over six
hundred kids we serve in our childcareprogram. So and growing more excited for
that. I should also say too, if I can do a quick plug
both YMCA locations are doing a Veteransbreakfast. We provide that free to veterans

(09:13):
in active military to come and havea nice breakfast and you know, appreciate
their service and what they've done forthe country. And that'll be November tenth.
Check the website to get the exactdate, time and all of that
for the Veterans breakfast. All right, Well, let's step away from work
real quick and find out if peopledon't know a little bit more about Kristin
Gilbert. So again, CEO YMCANorth Central Ohio. Let's step back to

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the beginning. If you would tellus where was Kristin Gilbert born. I
was born in Warsaw, Indiana,right, Yes, I am a Buckeye
at heart, though I moved toOhio when I was nine, so I've
lived here my whole most of mylife and grew up in Lexington, graduated
from Lexington in ninety nine, wentto the University of Toledo, came back

(10:00):
to Lexington and married my high schoolsweetheart, and we have two beautiful children.
My daughter DM is a seventh graderin Lexington Junior High and my son
is a sixth grader Caid. Heis at Eastern finishing out his last year
of elementary school. Kind of bittersweet. So busy with work, kids with

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work. What do you do whenyou're not working? Does Kristin Gilbert have
Do you have any spare time?Any hobbies you like? My hobby is
watching my kids participate in their recreationalactivities. So my son plays football,
loves loves loves football. There isn'tI think. The only time there's not
a football in his hand is whenhe's sleeping. He will walk around the

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house, he'll throw the football around. So football is his number one close
Number two is soccer and he playsfor Saving Gray Soccer Club in Lexington.
We travel and his coach is phenomenal, probably the best athletic experience I would
say he's ever had. So watchinghim on the field is certainly one of

(11:07):
my most favorite things to do.My daughter DM loves cheer, so she
does a local cheer program here andwe do competitions, and I think just
watching them grow and watching them lovethe experiences that they have at this age,
this is when it's fun. Youknow, they're at the perfect age,
and that would be my hobby,I think, other than when I

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have a moment to just relax.Awesome. Well, I wanted to ask
you quickly. So you mentioned bornin Indiana but moved to this area at
a young age growing up. Whatwere the aspirations? You're the CEO of
the WY, You've been involved fora long time, where there are other
aspirations, How just talk about howyou eventually landed at the WY. Yeah,
it's an interesting story. Well,my why story is actually my first

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day of work was March seventh,two thousand and five. I started working
at the welcome desk full time.So within that time I really learned a
lot about the why, what weoffer, kind of the ins and outs
of the facility. And I didnot see this being my career move,
but I am so happy it was. From starting at the welcome desk and

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I still have members to this daywho just pop in to say hi because
I was the first face they sawwhen they came in in the morning,
to becoming the Membership Director and thenMembership Aquatics Director of Operations to CEO within
a quick period of time. Imean that all happened within seven years,
So I absolutely love what I do. You know, they say you don't

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work a day in your life ifyou love what you do, and I
absolutely love it. I love thewhy. Everything that the why provides is
important. I believe that whys area foundation in communities and I'm just so
honored to be a part of anorganization like that. That's great to hear
your story. Kristin Gilbert's joining usfor just a moment longer, and she

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is the CEO of the YMCA ofNorth Central Ohio and this week's CEO.
You should know how many employees doesthe y have? And I know you
mentioned you're going into a third youknow, building with it with you sports
complex. Does it vary depending onthe season and the programs. Yeah,
it does, I mean it varies. We have approximately three hundred employees currently.

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Seasonally we always add more with lifeguardsand childcare because we do our summer
enrichment program. And then the newfacility will add another one hundred. You're
talking leadership executive staff down to coachesand Group X instructors. We're planning on
hiring a lot of people when thisfacility opens, so it'll be a lot

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Yeah right, great, all right, I know you got a lot of
planning to do or already you know, working on that last thing. If
somebody wants more information, they wantto become a member of the YMCA.
I want to talk to somebody andfind out more about these great programs.
How do they get the ball rolling? How do they reach out? So
multiple ways. Obviously, our websiteis great YMCA nco dot org. There's

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tabs you can look at memberships,different program opportunities specific to each branch.
Even you could call in, callthe Shelby Y, call the Mansfield Why.
Someone would be more than happy towalk you through your first time visit,
giving you a pass to try itout, and as well as just
coming in, we offer tours.We're happy to walk people around. You

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know, sometimes, especially if you'recoming into workout for the first time,
it can be very intimidating. Wehave staff here to help and we want
you to have a great comfortable experiencewhen you're walking into the Why and yeah,
just reach us out. Oh,we have social media too. We
have Facebook and Instagram YMC of NorthCentral Ohio and then you can see the

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different pages we have for each specificWHY branch and our childcare program. We
update that all the time. AndI know we're in November, but splash
pad as well. We didn't touchon that. Yes, it's just phenomenal.
It's amazing. It is so coolto have that in our community.
I love it. You know,it's safe for the kids, it's fun

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for the kids. And that's atthe Mansfield location. It is fairly easy
to maintain when you look at youknow, the facility as a whole.
That's that's something pretty easy that wecan provide and kids and families alike just
have the best time in the summer. It's closed up though, we're we're
getting that thing shut down. It'llbe coming back, deck ya. It'll

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be coming back in hopefully late May. All right, sounds good. A
lot of great things happening, andeven more on the way with that great
sports complex. We're chatting this morningwith Christin Gilbert again, CEO of the
YMCA of North Central Ohio. Formore information, as you mentioned, go
to y m C A NCO dotRG. Well, it was great to

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see you this morning. Thank youfor having me, Thank you so much
for coming in and continued success foryou guys. Thank you so much.
Kristin Gilbert, CEO of the YMCAof North Central Ohio. The CEO you
should know, riad a bio cea photo and here the extended interview at
w m A n FM dot com. Leading means having a vision and sharing

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it with others. I'm John Robyof RFI Insurance. We're excited to bring
you this program featuring CEOs from ourarea who will share the thoughts and what
it means to work and live innorth central Ohio.