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Tom Hilk is new CEO of YMCA
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YOUNGSTOWN
Tim Hilk, a Youngstown State University graduate, was selected in a two-month national search to be the new chief executive officer of the Youngstown YMCA.
Hilk will take office in January, replacing Ken Rudge, who has been executive director for 20 years and will retire at the end of the year, said Jay Yerian, president of the YMCA Board of Trustees and chairman of the eight-person CEO selection committee.
At present, Hilk is president and CEO of the YMCA of Saginaw, Mich., where he is responsible for the operational management of the organization.
Hilk, a native of Cincinnati, earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing management in 1984 from YSU where he was captain of the swim team in 1981-1983.
He began his YMCA career as physical and aquatics director of the former Eastwood YMCA in Niles. Since then, he’s held leadership and management positions at YMCA’s throughout the Midwest. He has been at the Saginaw YMCA for 21 years, including the last 10 as CEO, Yerian said.
Hilk and his wife, Jeannie, a daughter of John and Millie Campean of Boardman, have three children. Two are engineering students at Michigan State University: Samantha, a junior on the swim team, and Jeffrey a freshman. Jessica, also a swimmer, is a freshman at Heritage High School in Saginaw.
“We are extremely excited about coming back to the Youngstown area and taking on the important work of the YMCA. The Youngstown YMCA is the kind of organization I want to have longevity with and serve to my fullest capacity,” Hilk said.
“We are excited to have Tim on board to continue — and build upon — the excellent work performed by Ken Rudge over the past 20 years,” Yerian said.
The selection committee first met July 29 and Hilk was selected Oct. 14 from among three candidates who were interviewed in person. The Youngstown YMCA received 49 resumes and interviewed seven via telephone before narrowing the search to three, Yerian said.
During his career with the Saginaw YMCA, Hilk led a successful $5 million capital campaign to demolish, remodel and construct new facilities.
“Ken spearheaded construction of the $11 million Davis Family YMCA in Boardman and the just-completed $6 million expansion of the branch, oversaw extensive development of Camp Fitch on Lake Erie and undertook major capital improvements at the Central Branch, all while giving us 20 years of balanced budgets and zero debt,” Yerian said.
“We are confident that we have selected the candidate that best matches the long-term futures needs for the YMCA of Youngstown and the communities in which we serve, and we wish Ken well in his retirement,” Yerian said.