YMCA CEO exits nonprofit

The CEO of the Ozarks Regional YMCA has exited the nonprofit.

Kathryn Custer, who led the local YMCA for nearly six years, is no longer employed by the organization, according to a statement provided Feb. 16 to Springfield Business Journal by the Ozarks Regional YMCA Board of Directors.

“Kathryn Custer resigned from the Ozarks Regional YMCA. We thank her for her service and wish her the best of luck in the future,” the statement reads.

The statement did not disclose a reason for Custer’s exit or her last day on the job.

Custer’s LinkedIn profile, which indicates she exited the Ozarks Regional YMCA in January, states: “Actively seeking executive roles to apply my skills in leadership development, fiscal management and community engagement. Let’s connect and explore how I can bring my wealth of experience to benefit your team.”

Attempts to reach Custer for comment were unsuccessful by press time.

Custer became the Ozarks Regional YMCA’s CEO in 2018, when she succeeded the retiring Steve Gimenez, according to past reporting.

A veteran in the national YMCA system, Custer was named the Ozarks Regional YMCA’s chief operations officer in 2017, and she has experience as executive director of the Jorgensen Family YMCA in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Danielle Wise, vice president of development for the Ozarks Regional YMCA, said the organization is working with its board and the Missouri State Alliance of YMCAs to bring on an interim CEO who is currently serving another YMCA organization in the country.

“We do not have plans in place as of now for a search committee, and no job description has been created for the permanent position,” Wise said via email.

Custer’s exit is the latest in a series of transitions for the Ozarks Regional YMCA in the past year.

As CEO, Custer helped oversee the Ozarks Regional YMCA’s sale last year of its Ward Downtown branch building to Phelps County Bank, as well as the purchase of the Yellow Bonnet building, also in downtown Springfield.

The Ward building, located at 417 S. Jefferson Ave., sold to Rolla-based Phelps County Bank in May 2023 after the Y closed down shop at the facility less than two months earlier, according to past reporting.

The YMCA in the summer bought the Yellow Bonnet building downtown at 323 N. Patton Ave.

Wise said the YCMA’s staff, leadership and school-age services now operate in the building.

“The association is working on plans to provide programming and community activities in the Yellow Bonnet space in the future,” Wise said.

The Ozarks Regional YMCA, which has a 2024 operating budget of $11.3 million and 541 employees, had 16,605 members as of Jan. 31, said Wise.

“This is a decrease of approximately 690 members since closing the Ward Downtown facility at the end of March 2023,” she said. “Members had the option to transfer to Pat Jones, and many did.”

The Ozarks Regional YMCA also has branch locations in Monett, Lebanon, Ozark, Cassville and Dallas County, according to its website.