‘I love everything about this.’ Former city spokeswoman Stephanie York leads Shaw JCC

The 60-acre campus was a blur of activity.

Swimmers splashed around in the outdoor pool, women played mah-jongg in a quiet room, cooks prepared food in the kitchen, pupils chatted excitedly between classes, counselors trained for summer camps, staffers greeted visitors at the front desk.

“I love it,” said Stephanie York, the new executive director of the Shaw Jewish Community Center in Akron, as she surveyed a bustling hallway. “I love everything about this.”

York has been on the job since May but hasn’t found the time to decorate her office. She’s been too busy learning the inner workings of the White Pond Drive complex, familiarizing herself with the myriad programs and memorizing the names of more than 170 staffers, a process she likened to “drinking water from a fire hose.”

“I did not know everything that went on here,” she said. “It’s impossible. I’m still learning every day.”

The campus includes the Shaw JCC, JewishAkron (formerly known as the Jewish Community Board of Akron), Beth El Congregation, Jewish Family Services, the Lippman School and Schultz Towers.

With individual, couple, family and corporate memberships, the JCC offers everything from water aerobics to spinning to pickleball to yoga to book club to tennis to bridge to personal training to tai chi to charcuterie making. There are more than 65 classes a week and 10 weeks of summer camps.

“We always have so many activities going on every day,” York said. “We have between 900 and 1,000 participants for all our classes every week.”

York succeeded Shaw Executive Director John Keverkamp and interim leader Judi Shapiro. She reports to Chief Executive Officer Daniel Blain, whom the board appointed in early 2022.

“I chaired the committee to hire him last year,” York said. “So he’s about 18 months on the job. He was on the panel to interview me. So I go in and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ He’s like, ‘Yes, how the tables have turned.’ ”

JCC leader was Akron official

York, an attorney with a law degree from the University of Akron, is well known in Northeast Ohio. For 23 years, she worked for the city of Akron, serving as assistant law director and director of communications for Mayor Don Plusquellic. She later served as public relations director for Cleveland Clinic Akron General and vice president and in-house counsel for Hennes Communications, a Cleveland PR firm that specializes in crisis communications and crisis management.

She has served on several nonprofit boards, including United Way, Akron Symphony, Downtown Akron Kiwanis, Stewart’s Caring Place and JewishAkron. She was class president of Leadership Akron and has hosted the program “Forum 360” for nearly seven years on PBS Western Reserve.

York said she remains friends with Plusquellic and goes to lunch with him several times a year. Serving from 1987 to 2015, he was a highly effective mayor whose intentions were always in the right place, she said.

“No matter what decision he made, whether you agreed with it or not, he thought it was the best thing for Akron,” she said.

York said she didn’t always agree with Plusquellic — “Oh, we loudly disagreed about things” — but once he made a decision, she fully supported him.

“Which is how I feel in this position,” she said. “I will listen to people. I will listen to my directors. Once I make a decision, I hope they realize that I make the decision thinking it’s the best thing for not only the JCC but JewishAkron. When the board makes a decision here, I will advocate my position, but if they make a different decision, I will support my board.”

Only three weeks on the job, York faced her first crisis. A Summit County Jail inmate was on his way to a doctor’s appointment May 30 when he escaped from custody near White Pond Drive and hid in the woods behind the Shaw JCC.

The center went on lockdown. Campus security director Gary Rhines consulted with York and the directors before closing the campus.

“It was the right decision,” York said. “Nothing happened, thank goodness, but you never know. Desperate people do desperate things. He was on our campus.”

Having handled “every crisis imaginable on the communications front” in recent years, York calmly stood before TV cameras to address what was happening at the center.

“But that’s where my training comes in,” she said.

‘I get my energy from people’

Although she liked her previous job at Hennes, York feels invigorated to be out in public and communicating in person after working from home for seven years.

“I find when I’m on campus and I’m walking around, I get my energy from people,” she said.

On a recent afternoon, staffers and members stopped York to introduce themselves, congratulate her on the new position, ask work-related questions or offer a friendly “Mazel tov.”

“Hi, everyone! Nice to see you,” York said as she peeked in on a roomful of mah-jongg players.

York said she doesn’t have any plans for major changes as she adjusts to her role at the center.

“First of all, my staff is amazing,” York said. “This is not a turnaround situation where I need to come in and fix things. Are there things I see down the road we may need to do better? Of course. But I’m not here to change things up right now.”

Oh, there was one thing.

“I did change the way people answer the phone,” she said. “They now answer, ‘Shalom, Shaw JCC. How may I help you?’ Instead of ‘Hello, Shaw JCC.’ ”

The community center is open to all members of the community without regard to race, gender, religious preference, marital, sexual or economic status. While 85% of the members are not Jewish, York thought it was important to reflect the center’s values.

“The basic ones are respect of self, respect of others and respect of the environment,” York said. “That’s pretty much what we tout throughout. I just thought saying ‘Shalom’ reminds that we are a Jewish community even though we serve non-Jews. And I looked it up: It’s in the Old Testament and the New Testament. It’s a very welcoming way to greet people.”

York has been involved in the Jewish community all her life.

She was born in Georgia, lived in Virginia and Kentucky, and raised in Cleveland, but her family roots are in Summit County. Her grandmother was one of 11 siblings to grow up in Akron.

Her parents, Harold and Judy Post, practically lived at the JCC when it was on Balch Street. They attended Buchtel High School and the University of Akron. Harold Post served as executive director of Jewish centers in several cities, and ended his career as a United Jewish Appeal fundraiser.

She and her husband, John York, Akron assistant law director, have been married for 25 years and attend Beth El Congregation. They are the parents of Sam, Audrey and Ellie, who grew up at the JCC and went through the Early Childhood and Lippman programs on campus.

With the opening of the outdoor pool, Memorial Day weekend was the biggest event of the season. It also happened to be York’s 25th wedding anniversary. She still went to work

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” she said.

JCC plans party in September

The Akron center was established in 1920, moved to Balch Street in 1929 and relocated to White Pond in 1973. In 2003, it was named for businessman and benefactor Jerry Shaw, whose family founded what became Sterling Jewelers.

The Shaw JCC is planning a Sept. 10 event called “50 @ 750” to mark 50 years since the center moved to 750 White Pond Drive. The festivities will include music, food and a walk through memory lane.

“We’re having a huge party,” York said. “It’s truly going to be a celebration, and we can’t wait for that to happen.”

York said her immediate goals are to keep improving the center and to make members happy.

“I’m in customer service,” she said. “I was in that when I was with the city. I don’t mind trying to solve issues and problems.

“How can we best serve people? That’s all I want to do. I want people to leave here feeling good about it.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Former Akron spokeswoman Stephanie York leads Shaw JCC