Wiggins to lead area YMCA

HARDYSTON — The son of a U.S. airman, Rob Wiggins lived in five states and Germany by age 18. It never took him long to call each place home.
“Playing baseball is how I met people everywhere I moved,” said Wiggins, who has worked for YMCAs across the country for 25 years.
On Nov. 1, Wiggins will fill the Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges’ newly created position of Sussex County District Executive Director, overseeing both the Sussex County YMCA and the Fairview Lake YMCA Camps.
“This new position was created to allow Rob to leverage new and existing relationships within the county to make both Ys stronger,” said Metro YMCA Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Edward Philipp. “We are excited to have someone with Rob’s experience and skills joining us, and I have full confidence he will lead our Sussex County YMCA and Fairview Lake YMCA teams to much success.”
“I’m looking forward to getting to know people, and listening to staff, members, and board members,” said Wiggins, president of the YMCA of the Coastal Bend in Corpus Christi, Texas.
He began working at a YMCA the summer before his junior year at Metropolitan State College of Denver in Colorado. He was pursuing a degree in physical therapy, but the summer of 1993 changed that.
“I needed a job. I walked into the Y in downtown Denver, which had just lost its camp director,” he said. “I said, ‘I could do it!’ ” Wiggins hired fellow players from the college’s baseball team and members of the women’s basketball team. “We were all very energetic, and I fell in love with the work,” he said.
When he returned to college for the fall semester, Wiggins switched his major to recreation administration and interned at the YMCA. “There was fun stuff for kids who could and couldn’t afford it. I thought that was really special,” he said.
The YMCA hired Wiggins as youth program director when he graduated, and over three years, he took on more and more responsibilities. He left in 1998 to become senior program director at the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis in Indiana, but was promoted to associate executive director within six months.
The Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA in Florida hired him in 2002 as an executive director of one of its branches. By 2006, he was group vice president, a position he held for more than seven years.
Under Wiggins’ leadership, the Tampa YMCA raised $5 million to create a youth and family center complete with ball fields, a teen center, a gymnastics space, and a pool with slides. That created more space in the main YMCA building for health and wellness programs.
He moved to Texas five year ago to gain experience as a CEO of a 4,000-member YMCA. Working for the Metro YMCA offers new challenges. The Sussex County YMCA has more than 10,000 members and plans to further expand to meet community needs. Fairview Lake YMCA attracts 1,000 campers each summer, and runs year-round environmental education programs, family programs and weekend retreats for groups and individuals.
“I’m looking forward to this opportunity,” said Wiggins, who has two children, Carter and MacKenzie, and a longterm girlfriend.