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Warren leaves local YMCA

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

gnewman@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2009

PLANT CITY - Scott Warren has stepped down as branch executive of the Plant City Family YMCA to take a similar job at a new YMCA branch in Pembroke Pines.

Warren started his new post Monday, three days after leaving his job in Plant City, where he worked for more than four years.

Warren, 38, was offered the opportunity to request and then interview for the branch executive position for the Broward County facility a few months ago, he said.

"My stay in Plant City has been a beautiful experience," Warren said. "Working with the volunteer board of directors, a dedicated professional staff, and a large group of resident volunteers has been exciting and tremendously productive for the Plant City YMCA."

Warren and his family came to Plant City in March 2005, after he worked as program director and CEO at the Clinton Community YMCA in his home state of Illinois. He and his wife, Jennifer, and their children, ages 8 to 12, moved from their Walden Lake home to their new location last weekend.

"We'll live just over 1 mile from the Y in Pembroke Pines," Warren said last week. "That's the way it is here and I like the short trip to work."

The Pembroke Pines YMCA, southwest of Fort Lauderdale, was formerly a Broward County Recreation and Parks facility that is being renovated and turned over for operation by the Broward County YMCA.

"I will walk into an empty building there," Warren said Oct. 15. "But it will be a very large YMCA with 40,000 square feet of operating space, not quite twice the size of the Plant City facility. We will have three times the aquatic space with four wading and swimming pools, and we expect three times the membership at that Y because of the population density in the area. I am looking forward to the challenges facing me there."

Warren said each community's needs differ, and each YMCA must be modeled to fit those needs. But he expects to take what he learned in Plant City with him to Pembroke Pines.

"The residents and city government in Plant City have been tremendous supporters of the YMCA," Warren said. "The number of volunteers who are dedicated to the success of the YMCA in this town is something I hope to duplicate in Pembroke Pines. But Plant City is a unique town.

"I will surely miss the people on my staff, the friends I have made and the tremendous support the YMCA has received from the entire community."

Warren said he doesn't know when his replacement will be named for the Plant City Family YMCA.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 731-8161.

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