The Campbell Reporter

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Riggins takes over as new CEO of YMCA

After three decades, Kathy Riggins is adept at gently correcting people who assume she meant to say YWCA, not YMCA.

It is YM, and Riggins is quick to tell you the organization is not about men or women, but about families.

Riggins assumed the post of president and CEO of the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley on May 5, spending her first day on the job visiting each of the six branch facilities in Silicon Valley. She replaces Dave Thornton, who retired May 1 after 33 years with the organization.

Riggins comes directly from the YMCA Mid-Peninsula, where she served for five years as president and CEO.

The move is a natural progression, she says.

"Both the Mid-Peninsula, and the Santa Clara Valley YMCAs are dynamic organizations. Both are mission-driven and tremendous community assets in their respective service areas," Riggins says.

"I felt my experience and background would lend itself to continue the mission, and I also could have a personal impact."

Riggins says she is particularly impressed with the Santa Clara Valley Y's role in Project Cornerstone.

The Y has served as the lead agency for the project, which was founded in 1999 by the Youth Alliance of Santa Clara County, a collaboration of the YMCA, YWCA, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs, Campfire USA, Estrella Family Services, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.

Project Cornerstone's mission is to help youngsters gain as many as possible of 41 research-identified developmental assets they need to thrive by building a web of support that includes families, schools, community centers, faith communities and local businesses.

"Project Cornerstone is so unique, and what has already been accomplished is known all over the country," Riggins says.

"It's the model, and the opportunity to be a part of it and continuing to have an even greater regional impact was very, very appealing to me, to be a part of that in a more personal and hands-on way."

Although Riggins' parents met each other at the YMCA in Pittsburgh, Pa., her own involvement with the Y didn't start until 1976 when she was a student at San Diego State University.

She was the first female program director hired by the Y of San Diego County, and she soon moved up to become executive director of the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA in Encinitas, the largest branch Y in the San Diego area.

During her tenure, the branch became one of the largest and most successful in the United States, with 30,000 program participants and a $6.5 million operating budget.

In 1998, Riggins became senior vice president of operations for YMCA of San Francisco, where she supervised four Ys with a combined revenue of $10.3 million.

In October 2002, Riggins took over the president and CEO post of Mid-Peninsula Y, overseeing five branches and a $21 million budget. Her accomplishments there include raising $17 million in funding to build the Lewis & Joan Platt East Palo Alto YMCA, which operates on an innovative income-based pricing scale.

Additionally, Riggins is chair of the California State Alliance of YMCAs, co-chair of the YMCA of the USA Women's Leadership Network, a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum--Silicon Valley and is a member of Youth Alliance of Santa Clara Valley.

Within the Y, she has been recognized on a national level with Fundraiser of the Year from the North American YMCA Development Organization and the Spirit of the Woman Award from the YMCA of the USA.

Locally, Riggins is taking the helm of a $40 million a year program with more than 121,000 members and 4,000 volunteers.

As a "first woman," Riggins is conscious of her role.

"The name indicates its heritage as the Young Men's Christian Association, and over the years the YMCA has continued to look to the future, and it has shifted to a not just male or female but a family focus," she says.