None of my Business S4:E7- Jason Fry

This week on the show, I have Jason Fry. Jason is currently the CEO of the Idaho Youth Ranch. He and I discuss his path to this role and everything that prepared him to step in and hit the ground running last year.

Jason grew up in a midwestern household that was similar to the show, Friday Night Lights. His father was the head football coach of the high school team for 30 years he thought his path was laid out for him with a career in football.

After working as a position coach at Ithica College, he soon realized that the life of a coach didn’t quite fit him. After some soul searching, they headed west and he and his wife landed in Sun Valley Idaho. What started as a chance to take a 1 one year break, turned into a life changing 15 years.

It was here they found a home. Deep down, Jason has a need to give back and be a part of a community and over the next 15 years he became entrenched in serving Sun Valley. He saw a need for an event planning company so he started one of his own.

He was approached by the board of the YMCA to start some new programs even before it was built. He was asked to build some programs by scratch in order to lay down the foundation for what would become programs for the Y when it opened.

Once it opened in 2007, he was the Associate Executive Director and was overseeing all of the programs and reported to the CEO and supervised about 100 volunteers.

We discuss what his background in coaching did for preparing him for for a leadership role off the field. Jason also talks about what are the similarities and differences in supervising employees and volunteers.

They eventually moved their family to the Boise area but he kept the CEO position at the YMCA. He commuted back an forth for 4 years and it eventually took its toll. He gave notice, stepped down and moved back to Boise full time.

Jason soon had a fortuitous meeting with a Idaho Youth Ranch board member and he knew this was going to be a good fit and he started with some fundraising. I think the IYL knew what they had with him, and after their CEO stepped down, Jason was approached to fill the role. We discuss what his first year has been like and what the future holds.

Thank you so much Jason for coming on and sharing your story. You have a great deal of expertise to share and I appreciate you sharing with us.