The YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce has hired a new Chief Executive Officer.
The organization’s board of directors has announced Sarah Cowley will take on the role, effective March 22. Cowley will succeed Gayle Graham, who is retiring after working as the Family Y’s CEO for the past 23 years.
YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce Board President Bruce Price says in a statement the non-profit achieved many accomplishments under Graham’s leadership. Among them: increasing its early learning and before and after programs to 21 community sites, providing employment services, housing support, alternative justice and community initiatives, as well as developing in partnership with the City of Owen Sound the health, fitness and aquatics facility at the Julie McArthur Regional Recreation Centre.
“Please congratulate Gayle on an enormously successful career as she soon begins her well-deserved retirement,” Price says. “Her legacy is having built a robust, sustainable YMCA that will continue to benefit and serve the Owen Sound Grey Bruce region for years to come.”
A release from the YMCA says Cowley’s appointment as CEO comes after an intensive search process undertaken by the board, which involved a national job posting and screening of over 50 candidates for the position.
“Sarah lives in rural Grey County where she resides with her family and serves her local community,” a statement from the local YMCA board explains. “With over 10 years of operational and strategic leadership experience in health and social services, and having been responsible for local, regional, provincial and nationally-renowned programs, Sarah is an experienced and enthusiastic community leader who is known in the Grey Bruce community as someone who is passionate about building strategic and collaborative relationships that drive efficient, effective service delivery and positive outcomes for clients, staff and the communities at large.”
The announcement from YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce comes as the organization prepares to re-open its health, fitness and aquatics centre at the Julie McArthur Recreation Centre when the stay-at-home order ends on Tuesday.
The organization confirms on its website the health, fitness and aquatics centre will open on Feb. 16 at 6 a.m., under the same protocols that were in place in December prior to the shutdown with additional enhancements in line with updated guidelines.
