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06/08/2022 08:30 AMA new era has begun at the Valley Shore YMCA (VSY). The organization ended a six-month search by naming Tony Sharillo as its new CEO. Tony started officially started May 30.
Tony has been with the VSY for a just over seven years and previously worked as the director of operations for the organization. However, in January, Chris Pallatto, the former CEO of the Y, announced he was leaving VSY for a new regional YMCA opportunity.
“I think we were all a little shocked at first, he drove this job for so long. But once I got over that, I thought it was a something I wanted to do right away,” Tony says of his decision to apply for the job. “I was very excited, honored, humbled, to be chosen after a nationwide and months-long candidate search.”
As CEO, Tony will still be intimately involved in the operations of the VSY, just in a different way.
“The biggest duty for me is I transition from more of dealing with the day-to-day stuff to working on overall planning and long-term vision. I’ll continue to drive programming and working on community needs and working to recover from COVID,” explains Tony.
Tony’s involvement with the Y in general goes back decades.
“I started my career really as a summer camp counselor at a YMCA camp in Portland, Connecticut,” Tony recalls.
Tony says it was a summer job for him that first caught his attention because his friends mentioned how much fun they had working outside between college semesters. Soon that job turned into something more.
“I realized I was able to have a significant positive effect working with the kids,” says Tony.
For example, Tony remembers getting letters from parents of campers later in the school year thanking him and the other counselors for helping instill confidence in their kids that was translating to better grades in school.
“That’s kind of when I realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” says Tony.
Tony worked at other YMCA organizations around the state before getting recruited by Pallatto to the VSY.
As the CEO, Tony says there’s two major areas on which he wants to focus. One is on refreshing the VSY’s capital campaigns. Earlier this year the VSY completed a major renovation when it opened the Brady Wellness Center in February. The center is named after Bob Brady, a longtime supporter of the VSY who contributed to the fundraising for the project.
The center includes not just a gym with weights and treadmills, but also space to meet a wide variety of community health needs.
“It’s been received very, very well. So, we want to think about what’s next and how we can best serve our community going forward,” Tony says.
The other area on which Tony wants to work is refreshing the strategic plan for the organization.
“We want to make sure we’re still meeting community needs. We last did a plan in 2017,” Tony says.
In particular, Tony says the COVID-19 pandemic is still having an effect on the VSY.
“When the pandemic hit, we were closed and we canceled all memberships. We reopened and are getting people to rejoin, but we still need to rebuild our membership to where it was. We have a little bit to go,” says Tony. “However, we are fortunate that we have programming that is back and better than ever.”
Tony says the VSY’s swim lessons are drawing at a higher level now than before the pandemic.
“Where we were seeing 60 kids a day now, we’re serving 160 kids a day,” says Tony.
Asked his favorite part of working for the VSY, Tony says, “I’m really driven by impacting people. It’s something I like to do, help people. And it’s not just helping the community, but part of my job is helping our volunteers and staff, too. Our volunteers and staff are just as driven as I am.”
As for the flip side, Tony says the hardest part isn’t even a drawback.
“The hardest part is not knowing what each day will bring. But that also keeps things exciting and fresh,” says Tony.
Tony grew up in Marlborough, Connecticut, and has lived in Middletown since graduating UConn. In his spare time Tony says he likes to spend time with his kids, whether its coaching or watching them play sports. Tony says he liked the Westbrook community for “the people down here.”
“It’s one of the most active communities I’ve been at. Especially the seniors,” says Tony. It’s phenomenal to see them come in day after day and work to better themselves.”