YMCA of South Hampton Roads welcomes new Co-Chief Operating Officers and Chief Strategy Officer

On July 1, the YMCA of South Hampton Roads will welcome their new Co-Chief Operating Officers, Adam Kahrl and Bill Zazynski, along with Anthony Walters as Chief Strategy Officer, a position new to the YMCA of South Hampton Roads. The gentlemen will join existing Chief Executive Officer Billy George and Chief Financial Officer Susan Ohmsen in the leadership of a network of 19 family center locations and their myriad of youth, health and wellness and social responsibility program operations.

The change in leadership comes after the retirement announcements of long-time Y professional staffers Tom Flynn, existing Chief Operating Officer, and Lynn Skeele- Flynn, Senior Vice President of Program and Leadership Development. “The strategic placement of these incoming leaders will ensure that our YMCA stays on a successful path to meet the future challenges of fulfilling our cause to strengthen the communities that we serve”, says CEO, Billy George.

These leadership placements include nearly 60 years of combined Y service and experience between Zazynski, Kahrl and Walters, spanning across the country from Kansas to New York, down to North Carolina. Zazynski and Kahrl will lead center operations, including responsibilities overseeing property and equipment assets, membership, marketing, and aquatics. Walters will hold the YMCA of South Hampton Roads’ very first Chief Strategy Officer position and will have responsibilities in the oversight of human resources, program and leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and will provide leadership in such areas as strategic project planning and public policy. All three men will serve locations from the Eastern Shore of Virginia down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and as far west as Franklin, including locations in the South Hampton Roads cities of Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Portsmouth.

Mr. Kahrl began his Y career in New Castle, Indiana nearly twenty years ago where he served as a Senior Program Director, focusing on health and wellness. From there he served as the Executive Director for multiple YMCA operations, responsible for opening two locations and leading volunteer boards and successful, innovative fundraising efforts. Kahrl is the recipient of various five-star recognitions, awarded after meeting or exceeding all major areas of center operation expectations. He is a proven leader in streamlined budgeting who maintains the integrity and quality of program and membership services.

Mr. Zazynski began his professional career at the Y of Greater Buffalo as a Youth Program Director for sports, teens and camps. From there, he found his passion serving the community and climbed the Y ladder, taking him to Boston, Winston-Salem and Roanoke. In 2007, he was hired as the Executive Director and District Vice President at the Great Bridge/Hickory Family YMCA. He was most recently Senior Vice President of Association Services overseeing membership/marketing, property assets and risk management. Zazynski holds various leadership accolades including serving as past President of the Virginia chapter of the Association of Y Professionals, and is a recent graduate of LEAD Hampton Roads. Mr. Zazynski also serves as the Executive Director to The First Tee of Hampton Roads, where he shares his passion for teaching important values such as integrity, responsibility and respect through the game of golf with youth throughout Hampton Roads.

Mr. Walters describes his work with the Y as a “re-investment in community” and a way to align with his own purpose in life, a purpose he has been serving for nearly fifteen years. Walters worked as the Director of Service Learning and Outreach Programs for the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before beginning his Y career in 2005. He has served the Y at the Executive level in operations since 2007, including roles such as Executive Director for the YMCA Achievers Program in Charlotte, a national initiative to increase the graduation rate of minorities, while inspiring youth to go on to positive post-high school experiences, and Association Director of Organizational Advancement for the YMCA of South Hampton Roads where he has achieved milestones in diversity and inclusion, academic leadership and performance, and mission advancement. He comes into his new position with a proven record in staff-engagement and development and a hope to “continue to build and inspire a stronger community”.