MARSHALL - He's moving on, they hate to see him go, but the transition to a new leader should be unnoticeable.
Tim Olson, executive director of the Marshall Area YMCA, is leaving his position after three-and-a-half years.
Olson will take over the executive director position at the Fergus Falls Area Family YMCA, which is near the Minnesota/North Dakota border.
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Photo by Karin Elton
Tim Olson, executive director of the Marshall Area YMCA, greets a well-wisher Wednesday morning in the ‘Y’ lobby during his farewell reception. Olson is leaving the Marshall facility to head the one in Fergus Falls.
Olson said the driving factor behind his decision to leave was to be closer to family.
"My wife and I are both from North Dakota," he said.
While he is eager to be closer to North
Dakota, he has misgivings about leaving Marshall, he said.
"I'll miss Marshall and the community members," he said. "This YMCA is a great asset to the community and I'm sad to go."
"He's a good guy - we're sorry to see him go," said YMCA regular Joanne Valentin.
Olson said he also would have liked to see programs that recently have been implemented come to fruition.
"We have a new strategic plan and we have laid the foundation for that and we are on the cusp of initiatives coming together," he said. "We are exploring child care options, working with other community entities and corporations. We have great things on the horizon. Members of the Y, board and staff have been blessed to be given this opportunity and I'm glad to be leaving with the Y in a better place."
A new director will most likely be in place in July, said Jana Reilly, the vice chairwoman of the Marshall Area YMCA board of directors.
"We're shooting for July 1," she said. "If the person has to give more notice, it could be mid-July."
The board of directors is using the national YMCA infrastructure to find a replacement.
"The 'Y' national headquarters has a formal national CEO search process," Reilly said.
Locally, there is a 10-member search committee comprised of board members and general community members, she said.
"We started accepting applications April 5," she said. The application process will be closed May 5. "At the mid-point, May 10, we will do some screening and will follow up with interviews and orientation - the applicants have to buy into our community as well as us to them."
The search will be narrowed down to four to six applicants - "typically the applicants will be from within the Y community but can be from the general community," she said. "This is a thriving entity and we want to find the right person. The key thing is to find someone with great collaborative capabilities. We want to loop in with other services without duplicating efforts."
Reilly said an interim director will be announced later in the week.
"The transition should be seamless," she said.