At the YMCA, they believe in the power of people and the potential that lives within each of us. As a leading charity helping tens of thousands of Albertans each year, they are committed to building healthier communities by breaking down barriers and providing opportunities for all. By joining their team, you will be part of a mission-driven organization that empowers individuals to shine—offering programs and support that foster belonging, growth, and lifelong wellness.

THE ROLE

The YMCA of Northern Alberta (“the YMCA”) is seeking a visionary and results-driven leader to provide strategic visionary focus for the organization. Reporting to a volunteer Board of 18 Directors, the President & CEO (“CEO”) oversees a team of almost 1400 professionals, 400 volunteers across four regions (Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Red Deer and Wood Buffalo) in Alberta. The YMCA operates 4 health, fitness and aquatic (HFA) centres ,3 community centres, 36 community programs and 57 childcare programs. Serving more than 3800 children, the YMCA is the largest provider of licensed childcare in the province.

The CEO will continue to drive the current Strategic Plan “Igniting Potential”, which is focused on enhancing the well-being of communities throughout Northern Alberta, and will ready the organization for the next plan, which will be underway soon.

THE CANDIDATE

Core Competencies

The successful candidate:

Culture and People Leadership

• Has a proven track record of organizational leadership and change management. Can demonstrate successful experience creating, mentoring and leading a cohesive leadership team across a multi-site organization.
• Can demonstrate sustained success in building staff engagement and retention, including through periods of organizational change.

Strategic Alignment and Organizational Influence

• The successful candidate demonstrates the ability to translate vision into action. They communicate strategy in a way that builds understanding, alignment, and commitment across all levels of an organization. They have a proven track record of leading meaningful change while maintaining stakeholder confidence and engagement.

Leadership at Scale

• Has a proven successful track record in leading a complex, multi-disciplined organization of size, including a large workforce and multi-site operations.

Additional Competencies

• Has post-secondary education in a relevant field and evidence of ongoing professional development. Equivalent experience may be considered.
• Has experience reporting to a Board of Directors.
• Demonstrates a proven track record and a deep commitment to enhancing and improving the lives of people and communities.

Key Responsibilities

Board Governance

• Fostering a collegial, collaborative, and supportive relationship with the Board.
• Work closely with the Board to provide professional and technically sound advice to support effective governance, communication, and collaboration.

Culture and People Leadership

• Is a values-driven leader who builds trust through authenticity, humility, transparency, and genuine engagement.
• Recognizes and builds upon organizational strengths while thoughtfully leading change.
• Has a demonstrated ability to unite diverse teams around a common purpose and create an environment where employees, volunteers, and stakeholders feel valued, heard, and inspired to contribute.
• Fosters a high-quality workplace, by providing strong, collaborative leadership to staff and demonstrating effective people management skills, reflective of the values of the organization.
• Builds and maintains a positive organizational culture.
• Establishes, supports, and retains an effective executive leadership team such that the organization can achieve its mission and priorities, and ensures leadership contingencies are in place.

Operational Leadership

• Ensuring the YMCA fulfills all its responsibilities as set out in the strategic plan.
• Monitors program outcomes and making necessary recommendations to ensure appropriate outcomes are achieved.
• Adapts the current strategic plan as necessary, in a rapidly evolving operating environment and leads a new strategic planning process.
• Identifies key challenges and opportunities and provides leadership to support the development of innovative and strategic approaches that enable the achievement of strategic vision.
• Ensures the organization has a strong commitment to quality and process improvement.
• Oversees the financial health of the YMCA of Northern Alberta. Demonstrated through experience leading an organization with diversified revenue including government-funded and regulated program streams, and accountability for financial sustainability across multiple business lines.

Relationships and Relationship Management

• Serves as a role model in the development of an organizational culture that exemplifies and supports the vision, mission, and values of the YMCA.
• Interacts with internal and external partners, on a municipal, provincial and national level to influence the direction of key YMCA initiatives on matters of significant interest.
• Creates a positive image of the organization.
• Ensures appropriate information flow both within and outside the organization.
• Creates and building commitment to the vision set out by the Board.

Collaboration and Partnerships

• Cultivating strategic partnerships with industry, all three levels of government, YMCA organizations across the country and around the world to further the mission and objectives.
• Collaborating with northern Alberta communities, industries, cause-driven organizations and community leaders to strengthen the collective voice and programming opportunities for the YMCA of Northern Alberta.

Philanthropy

• Creates, builds and nurtures a culture of philanthropy throughout the organization.
• Provides leadership in the YMCA’s philanthropic efforts by maximizing community partnerships, engaging volunteers, and cultivating major donors and community leaders.
• Actively engages in donor relations, cultivation and stewardship, serving as an exemplar to the overall team.
• Provides leadership in the shaping, strategizing and leading the overall development of an anticipated major philanthropic campaign (currently in development) to align with the YMCA’s strategic direction.  

We understand and appreciate our clients’ ever-increasing desire for candidates to reflect the communities in which they work and live. The Vogel Group is committed to inclusivity and diversity as we search for outstanding leadership talent for our clients.

We encourage candidates of all ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, physical challenges, sexual orientations, and identifications to feel confident in exploring and declaring candidacy for any of our search assignments.

For a full profile or to apply, please contact:

Rick Vogel, ICD.D                       

Founding Principal                       

780.665.4965 ext. 101                  rick@thevogelgroup.ca